Chickadee predators include raccoons, cats, squirrels, rat snakes, birds of prey, chipmunks, squirrels and more. Additionally, larger birds such as blue jays and crows can be a threat to fledgling chickadees.
Chickadee Predators Quick List:
- Blue jays, crows & other corvids
- Bears (uncommon)
- Chipmunks
- Hawks, owls and other birds of prey
- Opossums
- Outdoor cats (loose cats)
- Raccoons
- Squirrels
- Snakes
With all these threats, there is good news:
- Predator protection is very easy.
- Two of the best ways to protect nesting chickadees is with a hole reducer and a stovepipe baffle that is at least 8 inches by 24 inches (though taller is better).
- In order to best protect your backyard chickadees and other backyard birds, it is important to develop a heart for bird conservation.
For your ease, we’re providing an easy table that shows different chickadee predators and the best way to protect them. And then this article will go into more detail.
Table 1. List of chickadee predators and devices to protect their nest boxes.
| Chickadee Predators | Primary Threat Type | Nest Box Protection Device |
| Bears (low threat) | Nest box destruction | Reinforced Pole |
| Blue jays, crows | Threat to fledglings | Noel guard Don’t feed during nesting season |
| Chipmunks | Nest box threat | Stovepipe baffle |
| Hawks & Birds of Prey | Nest box threat Fledgling threat Adult bird threat | Noel Guard |
| Opossum | Nest box threat | Stovepipe baffle |
| Outdoor Cat | Fledgling threat Nest box threat Adult bird threat | Stovepipe baffle Belled collar Keep cats indoors |
| Raccoon | Nest box threat | Stovepipe baffle |
| Squirrels | Nest box threat Fledgling threat | Stovepipe baffle |
| Snake | Nest box threat Fledgling threat | Stovepipe baffle (taller the better) |
1. Bears (Less common)
When it comes to chickadee predators, bears are one of the lower tiered threats. However, bears have been known to go after nest boxes, eating nestlings and the brooding adult. The bigger concern with bears is that they can easily bring down a nest box and destroy the mounting pole due to their large size.
Unfortunately with bears, it is harder to protect nesting chickadees from.
The best means of protection is using a very strong, reinforced metal pole to mount your nest box.
Never mount your nest box to a tree. That will only make predator access easier.
Another tip, if you have bears in your area, is to use a screw to keep the box’s access panel shut instead of the standard latch. When you do need access to the box for monitoring, all you need is a screw driver. Unscrew the screw that is acting as the latch and open the box up using it’s pivot door. When you’re done, just screw it back in.
While bears are harder to defend nest boxes against, they are a very uncommon predator to chickadees.
2. Blue Jays, Crows and other Corvids
It is not very likely that a crow or blue jay will raid a chickadee nest box – though you should never say never. Corvids like crows and blue jays are known to go after fledglings.
To clarify, fledglings are young birds who have just flown out of the nest for the first time. Their parents keep a close eye on them once they’re in the real world, and they can fly. But they are not so quick on their wings and do not easily maneuver in the air.
For blue jays and crows, fledging time can mean dinner time.
One of the best ways to minimize the threat of corvids going after your young chickadees is to not attract them to your yard during nesting season in the first place.
Crows, blue jays, magpies and ravens really like peanuts. If that’s a type of seed you’re putting out, it’s a good idea to hold off from the months of March-July.
Furthermore, it’s not a bad idea to halt bird feeding altogether if you know you have active nests.
Seed, no matter the type will not only attract corvids, but they will attract other predators. You would be amazed at what visits your yard at night for seed.
Don’t worry too much about your birds not having enough food during nesting season. During this time, many birds are going after bugs. And there are plenty of them. If you have a yard with a fair amount of plant variety, your yard will also be producing a lot of bugs for your birds.
We do want to touch back on an earlier note about corvids and their threat to chickadees. While they are primarily a threat to fledglings and are less likely to bother a nest box, that doesn’t mean your nest box won’t be tempting.
To protect your nest box from raiding birds, you may want to consider a Noel Guard. This is a mesh guard that goes around the entry hole and makes it harder for certain predators to access the box.
We only suggest using a Noel Guard as a defense against corvids if you have heard them or seen them in your area. Noel guards can sometimes be too much of an obstacle for birds. And they can make it harder to add on other protective devices.
3. Chipmunks
Due to their small size, chipmunks can easily access a nest box for chickadee eggs and nestlings by crawling inside. This makes all birds inside the nest box vulnerable to predation.
The best way to defend chickadees from chipmunks are to install a stovepipe baffle that is at least 8 inches by 24 inches, and to use a 1-1/8 inch hole reducer around the entry hole.
The hole reducer or metal hole guard is a metal, flat ring that goes around the nest box entry hole. For chickadees, it reduces the size of the hole in order to exclude larger animals and protect the chickadees. But hole guards serve another purpose – they prevent animals like chipmunks and squirrels from gnawing at the nest box and enlarging the entry hole for better access.
Metal hole guards are easy to find on Amazon*, just look for one that is 1 1/8 inches for chickadees
Likewise, there is a stovepipe baffle on Amazon* that we recommend and works very well. You can also find them on our site as well.
4. Hawks & Birds of Prey
Hawks, owls and falcons (birds of prey) are considered predators of chickadees, but interestingly, chickadees are able to distinguish the level of threat depending on the type of raptor they see and whether it is perched or in the air.
In a 2009 publication, Chad Soard, and Gary Ritchison observed eight Carolina chickadee flocks to understand how they rated different birds of prey as a threat.
Their research found larger hawks like red-tailed hawks did not provoke as heavy of alarms as eastern screech owls and other smaller birds of prey.
Chickadees are known to have a chicka-dee-dee-dee call, and they vary the emphasis on the chick or the dee depending on what they’re communicating. For higher predatory threat levels, the warning calls will emphasize the dee, where more dees frequently sounding off suggest a more deadly predator.
When Soard and Ritchison played back various versions of the call, some emphasizing the chick (lower threat level), and others emphasizing the dee (higher threat level), they observed chickadee flocks responding more to the played back calls where the dee was emphasized.
This is not just an observation in Carolina chickadees. Other species of chickadees including black-capped chickadees to the very same thing.
And if you’re hosting nesting chickadees, understanding their alert calls can let you know more about any incoming threats.
Even though hawks may be a lower perceived threat to chickadees, they have still been known to reach into nest boxes with their talons and grab nestlings or even the parent.
So how do you protect your nesting chickadees from birds of prey? A Noel Guard, in this case, is a great option. The way the Noel guard is engineered, makes it difficult and uncomfortable for larger birds to reach in.
We only recommend using a Noel Guard if your nest box is on a large patch of land where you cannot frequently monitor the box. Or if you have seen hawks frequent your yard.
Additionally, we suggest always using a 1 1/8 inch hole reducers when you have nesting chickadees. Reducing the entry hole size can protect them from larger invading animals, and prevent eviction from larger birds.
Learn more about Noel Guards in this detailed guide
Learn more about stovepipe baffles in this guide
5. Opossums
Opossums are known to have a lot of benefits, but they are also known nest box predators, which means they can threaten nesting chickadees.
Even if you haven’t seen an opossum in your yard, doesn’t mean they’re not there.
Opossums frequently come out at night, masked by darkness. And they can be quite stealthy.
The best way to prevent opossums from invading your nest box is to use a stovepipe baffle that is at least 8 inches by 24 inches.
Larger baffles are better, but because they are not commercially available, you will have to make them using duct pipe from a hardware store.
6. Outdoor and Indoor/Outdoor Cats
Cats are incredible hunters, and are very good at catching birds. Despite chickadees being very active and flighty, they are no exception to cat predation.
A 2013 peer reviewed paper estimated that cats kill 2.4 billion birds in the US annually (median value). Outdoor cats and cats who are indoor/outdoor cats have been documented taking a toll on US songbirds (Loss et al., 2013; Woinarsky et al., 2017).
When it comes to chickadees, cats threaten nest boxes, fledglings and even adult birds out in the open.
If you own a cat, we strongly recommend keeping your cat solely indoors. Not only does it protect songbird species that need help bringing their numbers back, but it also helps your cat.
At the very least, a belled collar can minimize risk to birds, giving them advanced warning of a possible threat.
If you don’t have a cat, but have had a neighbor cat frequent your yard, you’ll have to address this issue with a lot of tact. Never remove the cat or have it taken away.
Instead, talk to your neighbor, talk to your city about resources, suggest or even offer a belled collar. Sometimes, unfortunately, there isn’t much you can do in this situation.
However, when it comes to nesting chickadees, there are easy ways to prevent cats from invading the nest box:
- Properly mount your nest box to a metal pole. Never mount the box to a wooden fence post or tree where predators can climb and get in.
- Use a stovepipe baffle. The 8 inch by 24 inch (or taller) baffle offers almost universal protection against many types of predators including cats.
- Consider planting shrubbery and bushes in your yard to give chickadees more places to hide. This is especially helpful during fledge time.
7. Raccoons
Raccoons invade chickadee nest boxes and will not only eat eggs, but will also eat nestlings and even adult chickadees within the nest box. Raccoons can easily reach into nesting cavities and capture nestlings and roosting birds.
Nest boxes with only a single entry means anything within is trapped inside the box.
The best way to protect chickadees from invading raccoons is to use an 8 inch by 24 inch stovepipe baffle or larger that also wobbles. Baffles create a sufficient obstacle for many mammalian predators, and the wobbling effect adds significant instability.
Noel Guards can also be effective. And they are ideal to use if you do not have your nest box properly mounted.
A properly mounted nest box will be on a tall metal pole, whereas improperly mounted nest boxes are mounted to trees, fence posts, hanging on shepherds hooks or mounted to your house.
Improperly mounted nest boxes make it harder to defend your backyard birds from predators, and makes it incredibly easy for predators to gain access.
You can make your own metal pole by using rebar as a stake and 5-6 feet of 1 inch thick EMT conduit. Both can be found at a hardware store for very cheep.
If you don’t want to mess with the DIY approach, you can find commercially available poles. We recommend finding one with a built-in auger that makes driving the pole into the ground significantly easier.
The Universal mounting kit is one affordable option on Amazon* that we recommend.
However, if you have the extra money, Droll Yankee’s Ultimate pole kit on Amazon* is a sturdy, easy to use option. It comes with a lot of things you won’t need, but it has a very sturdy auger and pole.
When it comes to Noel guards, there are a few drawbacks. For instance, raccoons are very smart and very persistent. They have been known to tear the guard off completely.
Noel Guards can also make it hard for you to mount other protective devices to your nest box like wren guards.
Sometimes birds like chickadees and bluebirds do not accept the nest box once a Noel Guard is added. If you see your resident bird struggling to get inside for more than 2 hours, especially if there is an egg or young in the box, remove the Noel Guard.
8. Squirrels
Squirrels can reach into chickadee nest boxes and eat nestlings and eggs. They can also gnaw away at the entry hole, enlarging it and making it easier for them to access. Brooding mother chickadees and nestlings are especially at risk of squirrel invasion.
Even though the entry hole may seem too small for a squirrel, they are clever little mammals that are able to angle their bodies giving them the best reach into the nest box.
You can protect chickadee nest boxes from squirrels by properly mounting the nest box to a metal pole. Use a metal hole guard (1 1/8 inch) to prevent hole enlargement, and add a 8 inch by 24 inch stovepipe baffle to keep squirrels from climbing up to the nest box.
9. Snakes (rat snakes and coachwhip snakes)
Snakes are a very common nest box predator of chickadees, bluebirds, tree swallows and other native cavity nesting birds. Snakes can easily crawl into the entry hole and devour eggs, nestlings and adult chickadees.
Even if you have your nest box mounted to a metal pole, snakes are able to climb the birdhouse poles without any trouble.
Too often, bluebird trail monitors (who also monitor chickadee boxes) will find snakes coiled up in a nest box while doing their inspections.
Though you have never seen a snake in your yard, it does not mean you do not have snakes in your area. Rat snakes and coachwhips, which are frequently reported nest box invaders, have a wide range in the United States, and are very good at not being seen.
You can protect your chickadee nest boxes from snakes by having your nest box properly mounted to a metal pole and adding a stovepipe baffle that is at least 8 inches wide. It is ideal that your stovepipe baffle be 5 feet tall, though taller baffles are not commercially available.
If you cannot make a tall stovepipe baffle, an 8 inch by 24 inch baffle is your next best option. It will not prevent invasions by larger snakes, but will usually prevent invasions from snakes smaller than 3 feet. And it is definitely better than not having anything at all.
Krueger traps, which are a netted style trap that sits on the pole under the nest box are used to protect purple martin colonies. But they are not recommended for protecting chickadee, bluebird and tree swallow nest boxes.
Krueger traps require a lot of monitoring, and can be a challenge to work with.
You might be curious about whether a Noel Guard, especially with its sharp ends, will offer some protection from snakes. It will not.
Snakes can easily maneuverer around the Noel Guard and still get into the nest box.
If you discover a snake in your nest box, do not kill it. Coachwhips and rat snakes are not poisonous. They are belong to the ecosystem and serve an important role in keeping the balance.
You don’t have to handle the snake to drive it out of the box. Snakes are easy to scare off. And if you are not sure the type you have and are nervous about accidental bites (which are still painful) or if you worry you might still have a poisonous snake in your nest box, we recommend calling a professional service or animal control. You never want to put yourself in danger or potential danger.
References
Grabarczyk, E. (2014, January). Vocal responses of adult Eastern Bluebirds (SIALIA Sialis) to potential nest predators and the behavioral responses of nestlings. Retrieved April 16, 2021, from https://encompass.eku.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1261&context=etd
Soard, C. M., & Ritchison, G. (2009). ‘Chick-a-dee’calls of Carolina chickadees convey information about degree of threat posed by avian predators. Animal Behaviour, 78(6), 1447-1453.
*Amazon products noted are affiliate links. Please note that we have tested the products we are recommending and recommend them based on our experience.
