Cool observations, Dave! CHickadees nested in a skinny, very rotten trunk in my yard years ago, and one day the trunk broke off just above the nest. I found the parent chickadees fluttering around it anxiously. So I got some duct tape and stuck the broken off piece of trunk back on, and they carried on raising their young and fledged them successfully. Hurray for duct tape!!
Marie Marie Read Wildlife Photography 452 Ringwood Road Freeville NY 13068 USA Phone 607-539-6608 e-mail m...@cornell.edu http://www.marieread.com ***NEW*** Music of the Birds Vol 1 ebook for Apple iPad now available from iTunes http://itunes.apple.com/us/book/music-of-the-birds-v1/id529347014?mt=11 ________________________________________ From: bounce-83770344-5851...@list.cornell.edu [bounce-83770344-5851...@list.cornell.edu] on behalf of nutter.d...@me.com [nutter.d...@me.com] Sent: Saturday, April 20, 2013 8:58 PM To: CAYUGABIRDS-L Subject: [cayugabirds-l] unusual chickadee nest Many times when I've seen Black-capped Chickadees excavating or using cavities in ridiculously narrow dead branches or stubs of trees I've worried about the risk of it breaking off and wondered what the birds would do. A couple evenings ago during a walk in the Mulholland Wildflower Preserve I learned about one option. I saw a pair of chickadees approach a narrow high dead tree trunk, and one of them entered what appeared to be an old hole with a ragged entrance, one of three holes spaced along its length. The odd thing is that this tree trunk was not connected to a tree. It had snapped off, turned upside-down, and been caught in the top of another tree. When the ceiling becomes the floor, just do a little redecorating. --Dave Nutter -- Cayugabirds-L List Info: -- Cayugabirds-L List Info: http://www.NortheastBirding.com/CayugabirdsWELCOME http://www.NortheastBirding.com/CayugabirdsRULES http://www.NortheastBirding.com/CayugabirdsSubscribeConfigurationLeave.htm ARCHIVES: 1) http://www.mail-archive.com/cayugabirds-l@cornell.edu/maillist.html 2) http://www.surfbirds.com/birdingmail/Group/Cayugabirds 3) http://birdingonthe.net/mailinglists/CAYU.html Please submit your observations to eBird: http://ebird.org/content/ebird/ --
