Date: 4/21/24 3:44 pm From: Miller Johnson via Mnbird <mnbird...> Subject: [Mnbird] Let the Games Begin, Nesting Season
Today I saw Northern Flickers copulating.
The Yellow-bellied Sapsuckers are up to their breasts in a nest hole. Interestingly, it's a red-capped female using the same aspen as last year. Unfortunately, her male was wooed away by the black-capped female that was his partner the prior year; the red-capped female was seen around the yard periodically all summer. Will the black-capped female re-appear this year?
A male Downy Woodpecker is up to his breast in a nest hole. It's in a really dead aspen that has many nest holes started by chickadees and downies over the past couple of years. The wood always looked pretty spongy in the previous holes. This hole looks firm; it's at the base of a dead branch so it may be a winner!
A saw a Black-capped Chickadee inside a Gilbertson tube box. Later I looked and it appears the little fellow was chipping off teeny pieces of the floor. Better hope he stops before he breaks through to the outside.
Bluebirds have deposited grasses into two of our nest boxes: one a Gilbertson, the other a more standard wooden box. Both have hosted bluebirds in past years.
A male Cardinal is patrolling our windows, and still has time for chasing and mate-feeding his female friend.
May we all have good birding stories to share this year!
