Happy Thursday!

This photo of our back patio is from last Friday evening. We are having many nice days for enjoying the outside. The bleeding hearts (dicentra), viburnums, violets and lamium are in full bloom.

No fresh veggies from my garden on the grill yet, but that will come.

I checked the chickadee box just to the upper left of this photo and she is in there and doing a good job of tending eggs, I assume. Since I haven't seen any birds near the box in a week, I knocked on it. No response. So I started to open the latch in the back and she flew out. They have built a beautiful deep nest inside, layered with all different materials and lots of soft fuzz on top. Too much fluff to see what was inside. (There are great photos of chickadee nests here.)

On April 27 I noticed that the chickadee pair were building their nest, bringing moss and grasses. A few days later they brought fluff and fuzz. Maybe around May 1 she probably started laying eggs. The female lays one egg a day for about a week. On May 8, I noticed she was staying in the box and the male was bringing her food. Chickadees incubate their eggs for 12-13 days once all the eggs are laid. If she started incubating around May 7, then the eggs should hatch around May 19-20. Then the parents will feed them for 16 days and the chicks will fledge on Friday June 5.

It seems like a long process!

I am thinking maybe I should put a wren guard on the box. I will listen for the wrens, which often come to our yard and are very aggressive. I have become quite fond of the quiet little chickadees.

my back patio
more backyard patio photos