Quote Originally Posted by cspan37421 View Post
I'm not feeding birds as I'm tired of feeding squirrels - and I've had multiple "squirrel proof" feeders. I've given up on it. However, I do enjoy making birdhouses, and we have two of them right outside our kitchen nook, handing from a shepherd's crook. Over the years they have alternatively housed chickadees and bluebirds. The latter are really beautiful but I have grown tired of them pecking on the window. I almost suspect they're doing it to annoy, rather than out of mistake in seeing a reflection. Anyway, this year was a changeover, and we're seeing chickadees there. Bluebirds took over one of my carpenter bee traps (enlarging one of the entry holes).

About a week ago the removable bottom fell out of one of the two birdhouses. Two bits of wood pivot under to hold it in place. Somehow both got pivoted outward. I felt bad as I thought there was some nesting going on in there (as there was in the other). Once the coast was clear of any recovery efforts (by the birds) I replaced the floor. Within just 3 days I noticed chickadees going in and out again.

The next day, I saw a wren REMOVING chickadee bedding from the other birdhouse! Trying to evict them! "No my friend, we must not interfere, for it is nature's way ..."
[can anyone get the reference without googling?]

Saw some other nice birds in the area too. Female cardinal; what I thought was a finch (like the kind I see in doctors' offices) but had more of a "mohawk" atop the head. I need to look that one up. And our usual assortment of sparrows, crows, bluebirds, and so forth. All without feeding! Granted, when I was buying the $pendy birdfood, we were getting amazing birds. But this is still pretty good.

***

Curious if this was bird action:

I went to mow the yard yesterday, and as part of my pre-mow walkaround, I saw two adjacent piles of freshly-cut, small branches at the foot of our oak tree. The branches were a bit thinner than a pencil's diameter. My initial reaction was, "Did our gutter guy come out today and cut those off - were they encroaching the house?" No. "Could that be the start of a failed squirrel nest, that got blown out of the tree?" Well, we haven't had unusually high winds in the last few days. Now I wonder if birds cut them, and were actually collecting them there to pick up and move later. Would be a big bird. These little branches were about 1.5-2.0 feet in length, with leaves on them. I don't know what to think. Any ideas?
Maybe Big Bird got tired of New York?