Another Tiny Visitor

  Our rain continues which is normal February weather down here in the Deep South.  Fog, warm, rain then a short cold spell and back to fog again seems to be the routine.  This year, however, those cold spells seem to forgot to come.  As a rule, it is warm enough to be called spring but we are all holding out on the thought that there will be one more "freeze" before the gardens are planted.  Critters, on the other hand, have already declared that spring is here and that love is in the air.  Nesting has begun.  

  Braving the drizzly rain this morning, I put more birdseed out on the tray on the lawn table.  I still have no feeders but the birds do not seem to mind.  As long as they are getting free food, they are happy.  As I stood just a few feet away from the table, a pair of chickadees popped in for breakfast. These tiny birds are often found flocking with their buddies the titmice and sure enough, I could hear them in the nearby cedar tree.  The little chickadees are more vocal about demanding seed if I dare forget to fill the feeders but the titmice express their elation when I do.  

  Here, we have the Carolina Chickadee which closely resembles the Black-capped Chickadee.  Really, the only visible difference is the Black-capped Chickadee has deeper grey on its back and more pronounced white wing edgings.  Our little Carolina Chickadee has greyish wing edgings.  The songs are different between the two birds which helps somewhat but the biggest factor in knowing what type Chickadee is found here is the range maps.  Black-caps do not range this far south and Carolina Chickadees do not range far north.  Their ranges do overlap a tiny bit and the birds are not overly concerned.  They get along fine and will often hybridize.

  Chickadees of all types are very approachable birds.  If you have enough patience and the gnats are not too bad (our bane), these tiny birds will often land on your hand to feed.  Put a bit of seed in your hand, sit still and wait.  Soon the little ones will come to visit!  

  Chickadees are cavity dwellers just like the titmice.  They will, however, create their own holes in rotted wood if no empty holes are available.  The male and female bond and stay together for many years. During courtship, the male will bring food to the female.  Both build the nest and both share parenting responsibilities.  Folks, fill the feeders and watch for these sweet birds.  They are perhaps the most adorable birds to visit and will be happy to visit a spell with you.  

Tiny One to the Rescue!

I consider the critters of the Bayou to be some of my best friends.  I watch them from a distance and after a bit, they grow used to my presence and lose all fear of me.  Once this happens I can usually walk rather close to the critters and even hand-feed a lot of them.  No matter how many times I do this, it never loses that thrill of the first time.  You would think that the larger critters would be the tamest but for some reason, it is the tiny ones that seem to be the friendliest.  Take, for instance, the tiny chickadee.  These birds are only about four inches long and weigh in at about a whopping one half ounce!  When I say tiny...I mean itsy-bitsy, teeny-tiny, wee-little things!

While out and about the hillside yesterday, I noticed that one Carolina Chickadee seemed to be following me.  As I moved along the marsh line, the bird stayed within a few feet.  At times, I could have reached out and plucked the little rascal from the brambles. The bird was acting mightily busy and making all sorts of "chipping" sounds.  If I stopped the bird would hop from limb to limb and literally fuss at me. My first thought was that I had bumbled my way too close to its nest.  I could be disturbing the bird unintentionally.  I would hate to cause my friend any stress so I eased back from the  marsh edge and started down toward the canebrake.  The bird followed and seemed to be growing more agitated by the minute. What had I done to irritate this poor bird?  I wondered about this and then realized that I had not refilled the birdfeeders for the day.  Oh, my goodness!  The tiny bird was trying to get my attention to let me know that breakfast should have been served long before my hike began!

 I rushed back to the house and grabbed the birdseed.  How could I forget my friends?  During the night, raccoons and flying squirrels empty the feeders leaving nothing for the birds come morning.  I had to smile when I reached the feeders.  There, birds of all types had gathered together for breakfast but no meal had been served.  The entire mass was a bit agitated but soon broke out in song when they realized that I came bearing gifts!  The Carolina Chickadee was the only one brave enough to come forward and demand that I get hopping on my chores.  The tiniest of the crew made the biggest impact for the entire avian gathering!  My little Chickadee friend came flying back near me as if to say "Thank you!"  Yep!  That made my day a bit brighter!

Birds of a Feather...

Today when I was out filling the bird feeders, I decided to see just how close I could be to the feeders and still have birds enter. I sat directly beneath the feeders on the boardwalk path that leads to the pier. Three feeders hang from old driftwood pieces about four feet from the ground. At any given moment, I could have easily stretched up my hand and grasped the feeders. I did not particularly try to be "un-noticeable" as I wanted to know if the birds saw me as their friend. I sat there with a mug of coffee in one hand and the camera readily available. It wasn't even a full minute before the smaller birds started flitting around the feeders. They would fly in and immediately zip back to the safety of the trees. Then a brave little Brown-headed Nuthatch landed and started pulling sunflower seeds from one feeder. That was all it took to entice the other birds in for breakfast! Besides the Nuthatches, there were Tufted Titmice, Carolina Chickadees, Swamp Sparrows, Cardinals and Mourning Doves all withing arm's reach of where I was sitting. Not a one of these birds showed any fear of me at all. To say it was exhilarating is such an understatement of the thrill I had sitting there among my avian friends! I plan on repeating this action as often as possible to record the actions of the birds. What an adventure!

Just a note..Spring cannot be too far away so think warm thoughts! As I was sitting there watching the birds, I noticed the the small transplanted Red Maple tree was showing signs of budding! This was a tree that my son pulled from the middle of a pathway on the other side of the house and transplanted on the Bay side. At the time, I told him that there was no way a "pulled up" tree would grow if replanted. Boy, was I wrong! It is doing so well! This little tree serves as a perch for the birds as they wait their turn at the feeders.