A pair of chickadees has been nesting again this year in the nesting box in our back yard.

I don't know if it is the same pair that have nested each year for the past 3 years. It is either them or offspring of the original pair (probably).

I spent some time photographing the parents popping in and out of the nesting box and, while they were away, I gently opened the side of the box to see how many youngsters there are. I counted at least 5. I didn't take any stills of the babies but got some videos of them. I can't post the videos but at least you can see the images.

UPDATE...

I went out to take more photos of the chickadee chicks....

Before I went out. Mom said that she hadn't heard the parents out there at all today, though I saw one of them looking into the box a few minutes before going out. When I got about 2 or 3 feet away, I could smell something not right.

I opened the box and found that they were all dead.... very dead...

We think it was simply too hot today. I think I am going to move the nesting box into a more shaded spot, or as shaded as I can considering we only have one tree in our yard. I am also going to drill some holes in the back for ventilation and paint the box white to better reflect the sun.

I can't help wondering if that is the reason why we have never seen any babies learniing to fly. Perhaps the box is simply too hot....

Oh, I am so upset.