u/GurAlternative3502

I'm so upset. I think I have lost another chick. It's been in the 90s the last 2 days and it has been in this corner for an hour. The other 2 have moved around, panting.

They are starting to check the outside world at the entrance 😊

Almost fledging time ☺️

So many like my chickadee updates. Here they are today 😊 they are starting to look like mini chickadees.

One of them is starting to venture out of the nest cup 😊

I got my first hummingbird this morning and just put the feeder out on sunday. I have a birdfy stand alone camera pointing at it but it's too far back to see the details and colors of the hummingbird. Does anyone else use the stand alone camera with a regular hummingbird feeder? Does it work just as good as the birdfy hummingbird feeder? If I move it closer will it work just as well? I don't want to spend anymore money right now since I just got this birdfy camera and the birdbath.

The chicks are doing great since the wren attack on Friday. I'm so thankful the wren didn't do more damage or kill them.

I'm so excited! Hagerstown, MD.

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I'm so over this. Wren got in and threw some of the chicks around. The smallest chick was thrown outside. I picked it up and it was moving so I put it and it's 2 siblings who were thrown out of the nest cup back into the cup. None of them have any wounds. At first only one was begging for food but after mom sat on them for a bit, more started to beg. I made a cardboard wren guard and mom figured out how to get in after a minute. I hope dad figures it out too. I also hope I did it right 😭 miraculously the chicks survived this and I really hope the ones that were thrown around make it. They are moving and starting to respond to food. This chickadee pair has been through so much and I will be devastated if these chicks don't make it to fledge. Too many damn predators. And I was worried about the house sparrows.

I know a lot of people commented on my last post a couple days ago about the chickadees being harassed by house sparrows. I'm here to give an update. The HOSP continued on until around 2 pm. The female would wait until the chickadee left for feeding and then stare in the box. At one point she had nesting material in her mouth. She thought she was going to sneak in while chickadee was gone and build. But she tried to enter and realized she isn't going to fit easily. After a few more visits they went away. I still put up some shiny ribbon and no HOSP have been back since. The chickadee didn't mind the shiny ribbon being added to her home. Chickadees are thriving and on a busy feeding schedule. Today's visitor is a European starling.

It's been truly amazing to watch these chickadees and their dynamic. Mom was feeding the chicks, and dad brings in another bug. Mom tries to take the bug to feed, and dad takes it back so he can join in. It was his first time feeding them.

We are on day 10 of incubation and a nosey starling perched at the entrance and made chickadee a little fiesty.