One of our favorite birds all year long is the Black-Capped Chickadee. They busily flit to and from the feeders. They grab a sunflower seed and hold it down on a branch with their feet while they peck it open. Then, it is back for more. We have never seen where they nest and raise their young, until this year.
A few feet from our bedroom window is a sad broken cherry tree. It has suffered broken limbs from branches that have fallen from taller nearby trees. A derecho storm last August nearly put an end to it. Yet is persists. This spring, two Chickadees were going in and out of a hole in the trunk. We wondered if they might nest and raise some young.
It seems they are doing that. Video recorded for about 15 minutes was edited to include these brief highlights for about a minute and a half. The final 30 sec was slowed to make it easier to follow the action. Watch when the bird exits at the end with something in its beak. Can you guess what that was?
Our View From Iowa 
Mucking out the nest with its built-in pitchfork! Chickadees are dear.
You got it. Gotta keep those kids clean.
Cloaca – neat and tidy! We put up 6 new birdhouses in our yard this spring. Looks like we might have tree swallows and wrens, and (probably) the same chickadees have picked the old box they used last year. I love seeing all the nesting birds in our hedge too. Great time of year for birdwatching.
It is always fun to see them busily tending their broods. Our wrens refill the house each spring. I empty and clean it each fall. They have me trained.
They are great pest control – I read that a chickadee will hunt around 3000 caterpillars to feed a single brood over a few weeks. Can’t beat that!
I believe it.
They are so pretty! Not sure what it had in its break though 🥴
They remove poop sacs from the nest dropped by the young ones. The small space gets pretty messy if they don’t.
I suspected that a chickadee pair had babies somewhere, just because of all the to-and-froing around the feeders. Sure enough, the kids are out of the nest now, and I’ve discovered the joys of listening to their demands for food. Such chattering! At least when they still were in the nest, the parents knew where to find them. It seems it’s a little more complicated now.
Really more complicated. It is a challenge for all parents.