Carolina Chickadee (SC2)
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Species: Carolina Chickadee (Poecile carolinensis)
Location: Kiawah Is., SC
Status: Five incubate
Location: Kiawah Is., SC
Status: Five incubate
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Technical difficulties with the camera coupled with the impending hatching date led us to switch to another active nest in the vicinity. |
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April 26 - Females alone incubate the eggs. Here, the female takes a break from incubating, but overall she has been seen on the nest for an hour at a time and then off the nest for an average of five minutes. |
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April 24 - All seven eggs are visible. This nest is atypical of Carolina Chickadees in that it is often uncovered when the female leaves the nest and lacking a cup-like center and fine materials such as hair or feathers. |
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April 23 - It appears that the female is trying to squeeze all the eggs underneath her body and uses her wings to shelter them. While the female incubates the eggs, the male will often bring her food. |
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April 22 - It looks like the female is on her way out of the nest. The incubation period is between 11 and 12 days. During this time the female will spend very little time away from the nest. |
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April 21 - A female Carolina Chickadee attempts to incubate her seven eggs. Although she has a difficult time incubating all the eggs at once, she makes sure they get equal coverage by rotating her body around the eggs. |
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April 19 - The female laid a seventh egg today. Clutches usually have six eggs, although anything between 5 and 8 eggs is not unusual. |
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April 18 - A sixth egg was laid today! Since songbirds tend to lay one egg per day, we can figure out the clutch initiation date by counting backwards from today. This means the first egg was probably laid on Friday, April 13th. |
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April 17 - Our first glimpse of all five Carolina Chickadee eggs. It is unknown when the first egg was laid, and therefore when these eggs will hatch. |