[obol] failed chickadee nesting

[Andy Frank]

There is no joy in the Frank family today.  Last year we put up a few nest 
boxes but had no takers.  This year we had been having a great time having 
Black-capped Chickadees using one of them.  We got to watch the parents 
bring lots of moss to line the box, and found they laid eggs about 2 weeks 
ago.  Every few days while the parents were out, we would look in to check 
on them, and got to watch them grow from bug-eyed featherless creatures to 
miniature chickadees.  The young were surprisingly noisy requesting their 
food, and were easily heard from some distance.

When we last checked on Thursday we saw two young moving around while two 
stayed still.  We didn't think anything of the two still ones as on a 
previous check, none of them moved.  As of yesterday morning there were 
still live young, who were very vocal, and the parents continued to 
dutifully feed them.  But last night the box was quiet, and today, fearing 
the worst, we found that all of the baby chickadees had died..

Is some type of infestation the usual cause for nest failure?  It was a 
previously unused nestbox.   There wasn't a lack of food as we saw the 
parents were regularly using our feeders and seemed to be returning to the 
nestbox with food every few minutes.  Would the cold damp weather play a 
role, even though with the nestbox right against our house and under the 
eave of the house, it was relatively protected?

Thanks, Andy Frank
Portland