Do chickadees and wrens co-parent? (2 Viewers)

Hi! I have two birdhouses in my backyard about 12 feet apart. One has baby chickadees and the other has baby wrens. One of the chickade parents has started feeding the wrens as well as her own babies.

I've asked people about this, and they don't believe me. So I took a video and you can see it all here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Thc9P23vc_s

As you can see, the chickadee mom is DEFINITELY feeding the wren babies even though the wren mom is feeding them too.

Has anyone ever seen this before? I googled it and can't find ANY talk about this. Thanks very much for any help.

Very interesting! I was never aware of this but perhaps you'll get some answers.

Hi nixthenorm and a warm welcome to you from those of us on staff at BirdForum :t:

This can happen with other bird species apparently when nests are in close proximity - it's because the response to the food begging call is reasonably universal to the extent that it overrides the fact that it's not its own nest!

That is so interesting Dan!