For the Birds: Baby Bird Season

Baby song sparrow in weeds
Photo by Elaine Chuang

By Christine Southwick

Tis the season for baby birds! Listen for begging sounds, and watch where you do careful yard cleanup.

I just saw and heard my first-of-the-year fledgling Chestnut-backed Chickadee! With its little baby-voice it announced its first solo visits to the feeder. Talk about cute!

How long do you have to wait for local birds to finish their ground nesting, or move out of your hanging baskets or door wreaths? How long before can you cut tall grasses or ferns and still keep some leaves, tree debris, or weedy areas for the safety of nesting ground birds?

Oregon Junco nest now empty- in hanging fuchsia basket
Photo by Chris Southwick

Most of our resident bird breeds have an incubation period of 10-13 days, followed by 5-13 days of babies being fed while in the nest, and usually have 2-3 broods a year. Many baby birds leave their nests before they can fly because nests are magnets for predation. Ground nests may also get destroyed by early yard cleanup.

Ground nesters like Song Sparrows and Spotted Towhees don’t use birdhouses. Their nests are hidden on the ground in tall weedy areas, often behind a fern, woody debris or a large rock.

Baby Bewick's Wrens hidden in garage
Photo by Peggy Bartleson

Dark-eyed Juncos are also ground nesters but have become creative and often use hanging baskets and raised planters for nesting locations, or occasionally thick bushes like rhododendrons.

It takes our Oregon Juncos (our local sub-species) about 3-6 days to build their nest, 12-13 days of incubation, and about 10 days before the babies leave their nest. 

People often don’t even know there’s a nest until they see parents going into/out of the nest, so most people only need to wait about two weeks before the nest is empty. 

The male feeds the first brood while the female is raising the second brood. Added to the fact that not all Juncos start breeding at the same time, people can expect to have Junco nests as late as June-July.

Male junco feeding fledgling
Photo by Christine Southwick

Black-capped Chickadees and Chestnut-backed Chickadees are cavity nesters, and prefer aging Alders and Pines, but will use nest boxes. They also may have a second brood.

Bewick’s Wrens will use nestboxes if they are placed close to a building. These wrens are creative nesters—behind, beneath or under unlikely objects like hose bibs. They are usually the first babies of the season.

So when you are making your yards look beautiful after a drab winter, be on the lookout for ground nests. 

Those ferns can wait to be trimmed, and a weedy section can be left. Bird habitat is shrinking, but you can help with a little planning.