The Nesting Hole Saga
A House Wren claiming its territory after stealing the nesting hole in my yard.
I had known that that birds protect their nesting holes, but until this 'Stay-at-home' I had never realized the how much competition there is for such nesting sites. The nesting hole in mu yard has been used by Carolina Wrens and Chickadees in recent years.
So I have been watching the activity at the nesting hole. Over the last couple of weeks, I have seen bluebirds, nuthatches and Carolina chickadees inspecting the hole, but eventually chickadees nicely claimed the hole, and busily added nesting materials.
Then a couple of days ago the House Wrens flew in, threw all the chickadee's nesting material and added their own. As can be seen from the photograph, the wrens very nosily and aggressively defended the area around the hole, including chasing away a pair of gold finches that had started building a nest close by.
Suddenly yesterday chickadees reappeared, threw out all the wrens nesting material andante again added their own.
For the past day or so there has been very little activity around the nesting hole. Either birds have given up and decided that it is too difficult to protect, or more likely someone, maybe a chickadee, wren or house sparrow is inside the hole incubating eggs.
I am fascinated to see the next episode in the Nesting Hole saga, and when something interesting happens I will make a follow up posting.
2020_04_16_EOS 7D Mark II_2471-Edit_V1
The Nesting Hole Saga
A House Wren claiming its territory after stealing the nesting hole in my yard.
I had known that that birds protect their nesting holes, but until this 'Stay-at-home' I had never realized the how much competition there is for such nesting sites. The nesting hole in mu yard has been used by Carolina Wrens and Chickadees in recent years.
So I have been watching the activity at the nesting hole. Over the last couple of weeks, I have seen bluebirds, nuthatches and Carolina chickadees inspecting the hole, but eventually chickadees nicely claimed the hole, and busily added nesting materials.
Then a couple of days ago the House Wrens flew in, threw all the chickadee's nesting material and added their own. As can be seen from the photograph, the wrens very nosily and aggressively defended the area around the hole, including chasing away a pair of gold finches that had started building a nest close by.
Suddenly yesterday chickadees reappeared, threw out all the wrens nesting material andante again added their own.
For the past day or so there has been very little activity around the nesting hole. Either birds have given up and decided that it is too difficult to protect, or more likely someone, maybe a chickadee, wren or house sparrow is inside the hole incubating eggs.
I am fascinated to see the next episode in the Nesting Hole saga, and when something interesting happens I will make a follow up posting.
2020_04_16_EOS 7D Mark II_2471-Edit_V1