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    what would cause a population of black capped chickadees to spook from our yard?

    We have had a steady, small population of these little birds for the better part of 3 years now...last year they even had their 1st  nesting with about 4 or 5 babies.  We cleaned out their house over the winter...no chemicals, repainted the outside only and got it back out this year after it aired out.  Sure enough, they started building again!  Next thing we knew they were in and out feeding their young.  Then one day I didn't see them in the yard...I got conerned so I opened the little back door to find that all of the babies were dead.  We don't understand what happened!  There have been one or two around to get seed since then, but nothing like it was.  Can anyone tell us what may have happened please?

    +1  Views: 581 Answers: 2 Posted: 12 years ago
    Tags: chickadee

    2 Answers

    I would guess some sort of predator......

    I dont know if you have Crows in your area, but they will kill small birds, but dont eat them.They may have killed the parents of these young birds. Also Blue Jays will try to steal another birds nest when they have babies and kill the newborn birds. It also could have been some sickness, the the little birds died from. Lots of possibilities. So sad. I love birds.



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