Courage

Chestnut-backed Chickadees are the less common, slightly smaller, cousins of the Black-capped Chickadees. Neither species is particularly migratory, although the Chestnut-backed may move up and down the mountains depending on the weather. The Black-capped Chickadees exist coast-to-coast in North America, while the Chestnuts are mostly found in the western portions of Pacific Coast states and British Columbia. This All About Birds map shows that they also reside in a smaller area in the Northern Rockies.

I discovered this nest-building pair while taking a short, solitary walk near my home with my daughter's dog, Ginger.

The chickadees were excavating their nest in the shadows just behind the small limb. Over and over, they cautiously removed a single beak-full of soft decaying wood and carried it away from the nest site.

They were very industrious and focused. They carefully rotated the selected sites for dropping the chips from overhead branches.

I was surprised to see one of the chickadees fly over and shoo a slightly larger Yellow-rumped Warbler out of a nearby tree. Apparently, their nest site comes with an invisible territorial boundary that requires courage and enforcement.

I was less surprised when I saw a male Downy Woodpecker land on the same snag. Over the years, I have seen Downy Woodpeckers nest in this snag multiple times. 

Finding this little old snag still standing may actually have been my biggest surprise of the Spring. The continued use of the snag emphasizes that the older and softer the wood the better for cavity-nesting birds.

The male woodpecker (note the red on the back of his head) quickly hitched his way up the snag, stopping just below the Chickadee site. The Downy fired off a number of lengthy, loud, bone-rattling attacks on the tree. With all of the holes from previous nests to amplify the sound, the rat-a-tat-tat from the little Downy sounded more like a Northern Flicker. 

Downy Woodpeckers are the smallest of our local woodpeckers. Four Downy Woodpeckers would still weight less than a single Northern Flicker. However, a single Downy outweighs both of the Chestnut-backed Chickadees combined. In this context, I feared for Chickadees. I wondered if the Downy might save a little work by taking over their nest site and sending the smaller Chickadees on their way.

When a raccoon, descending from a tree on the far side of the clearing, appeared to be heading for the little snag I was almost certain that the Chickadee's luck had run out. Thankfully, the raccoon took a turn toward the water and ended up climbing a small conifer. Apparently, the raccoon had been sleeping during the day and not paying much attention to its neighbors. The conifer was very close to a nest being assembled by American Crows. The corvid harassment was basically instantaneous.

In just a few moments the raccoon was down out of the conifer and scurrying back across the clearing to its original resting site. Once it settled back into the fork of the tree, which was probably still warm, the crows turned and left it alone.

The next visitor was this Brown Creeper. It worked its way up the snag looking for insects. The Chickadee site is fairly far up the tree so it was not surprising for the creeper to abandon the snag when it got near the top. Brown Creepers almost always work a tree from bottom to top.

In spite of the resounding rhythms of the Downy, the raucous raccoon reception and the visiting creeper the courageous little Chestnut-backed Chickadees simply resumed their nest-building.  

With wings closed, from over a foot away, the Chickadee dives into the nest site looking as though it was fired from a canon. 

A few days later, the persistent little Chickadees were still working on the site. By working together they will finish the nest twice as fast. Once it is complete they will have a safe spot to lay their eggs, hatch out their young and give the next generation a good start in life.

In times like these, with uncertainty seeming to surround us on all sides, I find the courage and cooperation demonstrated by these little Chestnut-backed Chickadees, refreshing and inspiring. Life is always a struggle but when we work together we increase our odds of success.

Have a great day on Union Bay...where nature lives in the city!

Larry

Going Native:

Without a well-funded Environmental Protection Agency, it falls to each of us to be ever more vigilant in protecting our local environments. Native plants and trees encourage the largest diversity of lifeforms because of their long intertwined history with our local environment and native creatures. I have been told that even the microbes in the soil are native to each local landscape. I hope we can inspire ourselves, our neighbors and local businesses to respect native flora and to support native wildlife at every opportunity. I have learned that our most logical approach to native trees and plants (in order of priority) should be to:

1) Learn and leave established native flora undisturbed.

2) Remove invasive species and then wait to see if native plants begin to grow without assistance. (If natives plants start on their own, then these plants or trees are likely the most appropriate flora for the habitat.)

3) Scatter seeds from nearby native plants in a similar habitat.

4) If you feel you must add a new plant then select a native plant while considering how the plant fits with the specific habitat and understanding the plant's logical place in the normal succession of native plants.

My intention in my weekly post is to include at least one photo each week and visually challenge us to know the difference between native and non-native lifeforms. 

What species is this? Is it native to Western Washington?

Scroll down for the answer.

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Eastern Cottontail: It is non-native. I believe the rabbits we commonly see around Seattle are generally the Eastern Cottontail, the exceptions being an occasionally-released European Rabbit. Click on the highlighted name to see the ranges of all the various rabbit species that reside in Washington State. (Once you get to the Burke Museum screen, clicking on a species name will bring up the appropriate range map.)

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The Email Challenge:

Over the years I have had many readers tell me that Google is no longer sending them email announcements regarding my posts. Even more frustrating when they go to 're-sign-up', hoping that will enable them to once again start receiving the announcements, they get a message which says 'Sorry, you are already signed up.' Google has not responded to my requests for help with this issue. 

My functional workaround is to set up my own email list and each week I manually send out a new post announcement. If you are experiencing the issue and would like to be added to my personal email list please send me an email requesting to be added. Thank you for your patience!

My email address is: LDHubbell@Comcast.Net

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As a reward for reading this far here is a female Downy seen near the Chestnut Chickadee nest.

While digging through my old photos I stumbled upon this photo of a male Downy look into an active Pileated Woodpecker nesting cavity. I hope the poor bird's ego recovered enough that it could still reproduce.