Among the customers at our bird feeder this time of year, one we can count on for daily visits is the Carolina chickadee.
And that’s just fine with me. I never tire of watching the lively, inquisitive little bird with such a cheerful disposition. With its spiffy black cap, black bib, white cheeks and white belly, it appears as if always dressed for a formal dance.
Weighing only as much as three pennies, the brave little chickadee will alight on our bird feeder — even when bigger birds are present — and quickly snatch a black sunflower seed with its tiny beak. It then will fly swiftly to a nearby tree limb, clench the seed with its feet and, with its bill, hammer away at the husk to expose the nutritious kernel.
All of this occurs within seconds. After eating a seed, the chickadee will return to the feeder for another treat. It must, in fact, eat constantly, especially on cold winter days, to maintain its amazingly high metabolic rate, driven by a tiny heart that beats nearly 700 times a minute.
On warm winter days, though, as much as half the chickadee’s food may come from insects, larvae or small spiders that appear on tree leaves and twigs. To get at the morsels, the little bird will become acrobatic, even hanging upside down on branches if necessary.
Chickadees in winter also may form small foraging flocks with other chickadees, which, in turn, may be joined by other small bird species, including tufted titmice (close cousins of chickadees), nuthatches, downy woodpeckers and kinglets. The chickadees and titmice, though, are almost always at the core of these roving, mixed flocks.
It is no wonder the Carolina chickadee tends to bring a smile to folks who watch it this time of year. As one writer described the little bird: “It is a lively spark of personality. It can be a ham actor, a bully, a wheedler, an acrobat, an unpredictable little gamin.”
IN THE SKY: From David Dundee, Tellus Science Museum astronomer. The moon will be new on Friday (Jan. 20). Mercury is low in the east just before dawn. Venus and Mars are in the west around dusk and set about two hours later. Jupiter rises out of the east around midnight. Saturn rises out of the east about two hours before sunrise.
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