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Chickadee's are back!

14 years ago

Chickadees have been absent from my feeder of late. After I installed a DIY magic halo, the house sparrows went away. shortly afterwards, the Chickadee's came back. I think they were not fond being swamped. Hell, the house sparrows can swarm a cardinal off the feeder.

The Chickadees are chiefly the reason I got into bird feeding in the first place. When I first put up a feeder, no one came for a long time. One day, a tiny bird appeared and ate out of the feeder. I have never seen a Chickadee before. I used to live in the city, so all I got were pigeons and house sparrows.

Initially, I thought Chickadee were timid, because they only stay on the feeder for a brief second. Now I realize that Chickadees are probably the boldest of birds. When I am loading the feeder, most of birds flew away, but I often see a chickadee or two munching away in a feeder nearby. They only seemed timid initially because they are so fast. they come in grab the seed and then run off. Unlike a lot of birds, they seem polite because they only take one seed at a time (though they make a lot of return trips).

I love how acrobatic they are, they easily zoom through the hoop. While I am not fond of their lord chirps, I am impressed by how loud they can be for such a tiny bird, so I salute you Chickadee, one the smallest yet one of the boldest birds.

Paul

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Comments (4)

marricgardens
14 years ago
We get chickadees at our feeder every day. It's neat to see a chickadee and a woodpecker at the suet feeder at the same time, one on each side. At first after we put out the feeder nothing came. Then the chickadees followed by a woodpecker and then finches. I've just started birdwatching/feeding, isn't it fun? Marg
chickadeemelrose
14 years ago
Paul, I totally agree with you (I guess that's why I am "chickadee melrose.") I love watching the chickadees too, and sometimes when I am filling a feeder they will come within a foot and watch me, unafraid, and often chirp as if to acknowledge someone is there. And they are indeed amazing the way they fly around. I have been photographing them lately and they are one of the most difficult to get a good picture of.

The black-capped chickadee is our state bird (Massachusetts) so I guess a lot of other people have admired them over time too.
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LOL Tsuga. I think with the warmer weather we were having I was getting overzealous. I even started painting my garage, yet to be finished. I've been feeding suet all winter. In the past month, I've seen my first downy woodpecker as mentioned earlier, and another unidentified bird...same size as a sparrow, almost looks like a sparrow at a distance, but a closer look shows a muted red on its head and neck region, and when they spread their wings you can see a red spot on their back. Not bright red like a cardinal, a soft muted red. I've never seen them before. In one glance, I have robins, cardinals, juncos, the unidentified bird, chickadees, and usual sparrows in my yard. Tons of activity. They seem to be enjoying the new evergreen thuja green giant I planted last year too. I just purchased some black oil sunflower last night, have to figure out where I'm going to put it. I read the seeds inhibit plant growth.
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My observation is that in the egg-laying phase, the female roosts in the box to lay an egg in the early morning, then she leaves the box for the day. This is what the 'book' also says. However, there is a difference between what the 'book' says and what I have observed this year as to the start of incubation. The 'book' says that she starts incubating, i.e. she stays in the box for the day with short interruptions (and roosts in the box at night) when she has laid her penultimate egg. In other words, the 'book' says that she will lay another egg the next morning after she stays in the box for the first incubation day. What I have observed this year is that she did not lay another egg after she stayed in the box for the first incubation day. (She is incubating 7 eggs now) As to fur blankets, what I have observed are fur blankets of up to perhaps half an inch thick. Last year bird was somewhat diligent in covering the eggs when she left the box. This year bird mostly leaves the eggs uncovered when she leaves the box. This different nesting behavior is perhaps another indication that it is not the same bird that nests in the box.
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paulsiu
Original Author
14 years ago
A couple of cool items about the Black Capped Chickadee

* They are adapted to the cold. To conserve energy, they can lower their body temperature by 10 degrees when resting. There's even a species of Chickadee call Boreal Chickadee that live even further North.

* They cache food in several places and have good memory of where and when they cached it. This is so they can eat the food before it goes bad.

* Chickadee often arrive in small flocks which has a hierarchy.

* Studies have shown that they only eat about 20% of their food from the feeder. Taking away a feeder won't aversely affect them. In really cold climate, it will increase their survival rate.

* They are often harbinger of other birds to the bird feeder. They are good at finding food and other birds watch them.

* Their beaks are too small to crack a seed, they carry it to a branch and break it open by pecking on it.

* They are fairly bold and can be trained to eat out of your hand.
lisa11310
14 years ago
Try having a conversation with one! I have "talked " to one for nearly 10 minutes. If you listen to their daily activities you can learn their language. I can tell when they are happy, sending out a warning signal, mad at other birds etc. The more chic chics before the dee dee dee the happier the bird. Ok call me crazy! LOL

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