Thursday, January 31, 2013

My Little Chickadees


Today I’m happy to say goodbye to January, which often seems like the longest month of the year. The holidays are past, it’s cold outside and it seems a long time until spring. Sitting by a cozy fire, wrapped up in a warm blanket sipping tea and reading books will get you through for only so long. You long for warm days when the sun hits your back, the feel of the good Earth in your hand.

Today we’ve had sunshine, but tonight there’s a chance of snow flurries. Oftentimes the weather reports predict them but they “miss it” many times. On the other hand, we may wake up to 5 inches of snow (it has happened before when it wasn’t predicted).






When I need a reminder that spring will return, I place my little oil painting of a Carolina Chickadee in plain view. The Chickadee happens to be my favorite songbird, and this painting with its sunny yellow background was a gift many years ago from my sister. It’s been a source of much enjoyment.

carolinabirdclub

Speaking of Chickadees, I bought a bird feeder two weeks ago and hung it outside my kitchen window where I could have the best view from inside. Five days passed and not a single bird visited. I decided the feeder was hanging too low and moved it onto the limb of another tree. Three days passed and still no birds.  I finally decided it was too near some evergreen foliage and moved it again.

Finally, I have small birds, including chickadees. They visit the feeder daily while some of the larger birds such as Blue Jays, Mockingbirds and Doves eat seeds that spill to the ground.

Chickadee Size
The Chickadee is a tiny bird (4-5 inches; 11.5–13 cm) with a distinctive body shape – a short neck and large head. They have a black cap and bib separated by stark white cheeks; the back, wings, and tail are soft gray.

bgoldon.com/birds


Chickadee Feeding Behavior
The Chickadee is an inquisitive and acrobatic little bird. When outdoor feeders aren’t available, they hop along tree branches searching for food, sometimes hanging upside down or hovering. I’ve read they may make short flights to catch insects in the air. Insects form a large part of their diet, especially in summer; seeds and berries become important in winter. They sometimes hammer seeds on a tree or shrub to open them and also will store seeds for later use.

Except in the breeding season, associates with other Carolina Chickadees and a variety of other small species in feeding flocks that roam within a fairly large area. Despite being a flocking species, they normally space themselves fairly widely while eating.

Chickadee Habitat
These birds prefer forested areas, urban and suburban yards or parks with large trees. Their breeding habitat is mixed or deciduous woods in the United States from New Jersey west to southern Kansas and south to Florida and Texas; there is a gap in the range at high altitudes in the Appalachian Mountains where they are replaced by their otherwise more northern relative, the Black-capped Chickadee.

They are permanent residents here, not usually moving further south even in severe winter weather.

pinterest

Chickadee Call
The most famous call is the familiar “chick-a-dee-dee-dee,” which gave this bird its name. This little call is music to my ears! Its song is “fee-bee-fee-bay.”

Coping with Cold Weather
Now here’s something interesting I learned: Carolina chickadees are able to lower their body temperatures to induce an intentional state of hypothermia called torpor. They do this to conserve energy during extremely cold winters. In extremely cold weather conditions they look for cavities where they can hide in and spend up to fifteen hours at a time in torpor; during this time they are awake but unresponsive; they should not be picked up and handled at this time, as the stress of being held may cause their death. I don’t know if other birds are capable of entering torpor or not.

Seems the Chickadees have found a way to cope with the cold weather! I'm sure they, like me, are happy to say goodbye to January and hope February weather will be somewhat nicer!

My sister has found a way to cope. She emailed me a picture of a new project she has begun -- a needlepoint canvas imprinted with Carolina Chickadees in a Pine Tree. Won't this be lovely in shades of blue and green?

I complain about the winter; she finds a constructive way to pass the time while being trapped indoors! I have decided to turn over a new leaf beginning tomorrow. No more whining; just get myself involved!



Are you tired of winter? How does your winter routine differ from other times of the year?

Do you place bird feeders outside your windows? If so, what kinds of birds do you attract?




19 comments:

  1. What a sweet post. I love the chickadees too and have tons of them at the feeder. Thanks to you for the project I'm enjoying so much. Didn't think about it until I read this but we've given each other a gift of cickadees! So much beauty if we only look for it even in the dead of winter but please hurry spring! Thanks for info on these wonderful creatures..they go thru lots of bird seeds.

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    1. I didn't think about that either! I already can tell I'll be buying as much bird seed as I do cat and dog food!

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  3. Your little chickadee is very similar to our coal tit - such sweet little birds.
    It is correct that you cannot just place a bird feeder in the garden without thinking about the habitat. I have my feeders hanging on a very large tree with a high hedge enclosing two of the corners. We have a hawk that visits the garden and the little birds sense his coming and dash straight into the cover of the hedge. They feel secure if they have somewhere to escape.
    I normally find January a long month but for some reason it has whizzed by. Hope to summon up the energy to spring clean the house now February is here.

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    1. These chickadees are the sweetest and cutest little things. But quite loud. February seems, and is, a short month and we know spring will soon arrive after February.

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  4. My mum has a bird house and one of my favourite things about living in the country is the delight of drinking the first morning coffee and watching out through the window as the birds come for their breakfast. We used to let Rufus sit on the kitchen table and watch the birds with us, he'd get all excited and make funny screeching noises. Good times!

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    1. Oh, I do wish the cats would leave birds alone. There was a report out a couple of days ago that cats, both domestic and wild, are the biggest threat to the bird population -- that they killed 3 billion birds in the U.S. alone last year. But how can they know that???

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  5. Sanda, this is a delightful post, making me smile. The little painting is gorgeous with the yellow background and sweet chickadee. Last time I went to Canada I got some bird seed and set up a little feed station in daughter's back garden. Along came chickadees! I guess they were the Northern Chickadees, but they were soooo cute. I feed birds from our deck, mainly lorikeets and cockatoos, every day. They call out to me if there is no seed in the feeder, so I have to be accountable :)

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    1. The birds you picture in your posts are quite exotic looking; so bright and colorful. They do get spoiled to all that free food, don't they?

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  6. Sanda, I love chicadees too, and so do the cat boys. I tried bird feeders and the squirrels got everything, then I tried spreading seeds and only attracted huge pigeons so I am done with the seed business. I was only thinking this morning about the weather elsewhere as we are now very much into spring. The last two weeks we got some rain and some cold weather.

    Hope you have a great weekend and not too much snow.

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    1. The weather reports were wrong yet again, thank goodness. No snow; just cold; 23 degrees tonight. I am thinking of getting little bells for my kitties so they won't be able to catch my birds.

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  7. In our small orchard facing the Barn we have 3 bird feeders,visited by a large family of Blue Tits,Great Tits,Coal tits,Greenfinch,Chaffinch,Siskins,Sparrows,Robins and a Spotted Woodpecker,etc.
    Henry the Pheasant(luckily he has evaded the shooters!)visits to peck up their leavings.
    I enjoy watching them through the binoculars from the 2nd floor mezzanine with my morning coffee,they have helped cheer me through a depressing January.

    February is here,lighter nights,and the snowdrops are showing their white nodding heads on the drive awwwwh Spring around the corner.
    Blissful February Sanda,and to all your followers.Ida

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    1. You attract quite an array of birds. How pleasant it must be to sit on your elevated perch with your morning cup and watch their antics. And a pheasant! How nice.

      Would love to see a field of snowdrops. Thank you Ida, and I'm hoping spring weather for you soon, too.

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  8. I can never think about Chickadees without thinking about W.C. Fields. Thanks for showing me the other side. Fascinating - and they look adorable. I can't believe how quickly my feelings about snow changed as soon as I retired. Now that I don't have any responsibility to show up somewhere, I quite like watching snow fall outside the window..

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    1. Well, I almost mention W.C. Fields and Mae West at the beginning, so glad you brought that up.

      Do you have snow on the ground in Tulsa?

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  9. The painting is just wonderful. I'm sure the needlework piece will be too. We have bird feeders but darned if I know the names of the birds - other than the Hummers or Jays. DH knows and tells me but I can never remember. I just enjoy them whatever their names are.

    Darla

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    1. The painting, with it's yellow color, cheers me during the drab days of winter. All the birds behave differently, don't they?

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  10. Sanda, thank you for the Chickadee story - love those cute little things. I have several feeders just outside den window and love watching chickadees, wrens (who would just move into the house with you if you'd let them, such perky things), cardinals, finch, titmice, woodpeckers, hummingbirds, numerous others. Found out that if you use only safflower seeds you will not have undesirable birds such as blackbirds, sparrows, grackles, etc.; they will not eat safflower. If course, this does not include finch who have their own thistle seeds. Can't wait for them all to return early Spring. Snowing in Nashville right now!

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    1. My, you have a wonderful mix of birds that visit your feeders. It's true that only the desirable birds will eat sunflower seeds. That thistle seed is quite expensive -- a gourmet treat for the finches. But they are so worth it. Did you get much snow accumulation? We received only a dusting and it melted quickly.

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