House Hunting?

This new chickadee house I put up on one of the apple trees in our back yard didn't look so dark when I took the picture, but I'm still excited. There's chickadees going in and out of it now.

I think they're just house hunting right now. There's more consistent traffic when they're actually building a nest or have chicks inside. Right now their visits can be hours apart.

A friend gave me a big flat one inch board. Remember the real 1" boards? This was one of them. Real rough cut- lots of splinters. I figured I'd try making a chickadee house with it. I was worried they might not like it because of all the shiny screws I used to put it together, plus I thought they might not be happy with the thick board. Maybe it would be too difficult for them to go in and out of with the thicker wood?

Sounds silly, but I just wondered. After we got into March and I didn't see any chickadees around it, I thought maybe my concerns were justified. Then a few days ago I saw a pair sitting on, and going in and out of it. I was stoked. Now we'll just have to wait and see if they decide to nest, but I just saw one fly out of it a short time ago so they're definitely interested.

This is my second serious attempt at making a chickadee house. The first one was a success from the start. I put that one up on the chestnut tree on the south side of our house. Chickadees nested in it the first year. I even got to see the baby chicks fly from it. Hopefully, that's what will happen with this one.