It was a dark and stormy night

Did we have a rip-snorter of a storm last night....our power was out from 7 pm until 6 am this morning.
After the first wave of storms I went out back to check on everyone. (earlier in the day, I noticed that there were no chickadees in the box, and the nest material had been scattered about...gulp)
But lo and behold, there sat a lone chickadee chick under the tree. It had no baby down, but was barely able to get off the ground. So I collected the family and the camera and got some cute shots. Then I noticed a small black and white speck hopping away, and it was another chick!
Did they fledge earlier in the day, or were they the only survivors of a nest attack?
Isabelle was in transports of joy to get and hold a real baby chick. We sat them them on a branch above the nest box and wished them the best. What a night to come out into the world. Good luck, little guys!
The house sparrow nest had yet another egg it in, making the total 5, so I once again did some soft-boiling.
What really set my heart to soaring was this: I had to adjust the level of the gourd and purple martin house on the pole due to the storm, so I thought I would finally give the TRES nest a good check. Mama swallow came flying out, so I did the fastest nest check in history: I reached in and instead of trying to get pictures, I counted 5 sweet, warm eggs. Hallelujah! It's about time, you guys. Mama came back as soon as the house was back up. I've heard something about TRES, and it seems to be true: It takes a sledgehammer to make a Tree Swallow abandon its nest. I love to watch Mr. Swallow singlehandedly fend off 4 starlings or a mockingbird. They are super tough birds.