[Mnbird] polygamy in chickadees?

[Al Batt]

Susan, 

Polygamy and polyandry are rare. Promiscuity not as rare. 
Cool report.

Al Batt

“Do something wild today. Look at a bird.” — Al Batt

> On Jun 3, 2021, at 3:06 PM, Susan Kennedy via Mnbird <mnbird at lists.mnbird.net> wrote:
> 
> 
> For many years, I have had a successful chickadee nest in a box hanging from the south side of my front porch in SW Mpls. This year, the babies are peeping louder every day, and both parents are arriving every 30-60 seconds with food.
> 
> I also have a nest box hanging on the north side of my porch, just about 15 feet away ("as the crow flies" through no crow has every been on my porch), and surprisingly, chickadees are nesting in that box. These boxes can't be seen from each other, other than if the birds would see through the porch screens. But I hear no peeking yet from that box. I can't tell the chickadees apart, but one flies in the north box every so often, and stays a minute or two. And weirdly, I have seen one fly from the north box to the south box.
> 
> The fact that they tolerate each other so close, and the one flying between the two boxes leads me to think there might be one male and two females in this arrangement. When I googled polygamy in chickadees, I found one scientific reference to a case, but nothing else.
> 
> Has anyone else observed this, or have any thoughts on the subject?
> Susan Kennedy
> 
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