Happy not to be an enabler....

Did you see the article on whether city chicks.... (Black Capped Chickadees that is)...... are getting lazier than their country cousins?  Because of us bird feeders.

Apparently a couple of gals studied 100 of them and put them through the paces of caching food and then finding the caches of seeds and things and discovered that people who feed birds are not doing them a disservice.  Whew.

There was no difference between the rural and urban little guys... all found their caches about the same ..

There is plenty of info on the fact that the size of a chickadee hippocampus changes with the seasons... (we always joke about it when they stop coming to the feeder as often when it finally warms up) and the fact that they need, or don't need, to find and cache more food at certain times of the year.  Hopefully this latest study took all of that into consideration.

They also don't show up in moulting season because they are too embarrassed to be seen with big bald patches...like one I saw a year or so ago.  Poor little thing was hiding in the lilac leaves so I wouldn't see him.
I was pretty mean and did take his photo anyway.... I feel kinda bad showing it.  Awww... poor wee thing.

The recent article also said more study was necessary to see if urban vs rural birds had differing responses to "novelty".... not sure what that means.  It didn't explain.

However, I like to think city birds have a very curious nature... and love to explore new things .. like this little guy having a shower and a bath and a drink in my new little fountain...about 3 minutes after I filled it and turned it on.

I had one come last year to the other fountain...about the same time frame after we turned it on... maybe it is the same little curious guy/gal?  Who knows with chickadees? ..

All I know for sure is they sure have all the "c" words going for them.  Cute, clever, curious, clean,


....etc...............

First of all....isn't this the cutest little water fountain you have ever seen?  $60 at Home Depot.  Love it.




So did this little guy.....

First, he sat on the edge and had a sip of the waterfall...then, he jumped right into the centre of the leaf and had a bath...then he got up on the edge... and then..he jumped into the leaf above.  I was waaayyyy too slow to get more than these two photos.

I was peering through the slats of a venetian in the kitchen window and didn't want to put it up and scare him off.  Silly me... I finally did put it up and totally ignored me.  Darn!  Why didn't I just do it sooner?  I could have had much clearer shots.

Linking to Stewart's blog for Wild Bird Wednesday.  Click on his name or the photo below to be immediately transported.........

Three more chin ups.......

..and I can have another nut. ...

... Oh, yeh.......

                         

Linking to Paying Ready Attention Gallery..just click on the photo below to be transported there.

Wild Bird Wednesday

Well, sure ...it isn't Wednesday any more..but, I'm here ..

So were all the birds we usually see about this time of year.  In the space of 20 minutes...I took 84 photos... not all of them good enough to use... so there was a lot of deleting.  Normal for bird photos ... Dave will attest to that.  He has a blog totally devoted to bird butts... I'm serious..check it out. He has the cutest photos.

We had nuthatches, black capped chickadees, sparrows, Northern Flickers, Downy woodpeckers, ... Even a robin came to see what they were all up to, but robins don't do bird feeders so he just had a bath instead in the birdie bath and carried on his merry way, looking for Mayday berries.

Black Capped Chickadee

Red Breasted Nuthatch

Male Downy Woodpecker

Female Northern Flicker

Male Northern Flicker

American Robin (but, he lives in Canada)

My lovely half hour sitting near the window watching the patio feeders.... what fun.

Have some fun going to Stewart's blog too....lots more birds to see over there.. click on the badge below to be immediately transported there.

Wild Bird Wednesday

Hey!  It's Wednesday.... and, I will actually be posting on the correct day.

It's a bit cooler today but only because the sun can't even penetrate the smoke layer.  Golfing was kind of weird.. almost like a thick mist all the time we were out there.  Luckily, I don't seem to be bothered by it .. some of our group seemed to be having a bit of difficulty.

The birds have been around the new little fountain we got for the patio... but, so far I've only seen a brave little chickadee and one Flicker and one crazy crow land on it... this little guy had several sips from one portion of it.  The Flicker was gone before I grabbed my camera.  They all look at it and several fly down and up again without landing...but, this little guy...or gal.... loved it.  Sat there quite a long while and then...turned to look straight at me.

It almost looks like he is drinking from the little waterfall... nope.... just the angle...

Did ya get enough photos yet lady??

Linking up with Wild Bird Wednesday... have a look at other people's birdies.........

SNowmaggedon !!

Things came to a standstill all over the city with that last dump of snow.  It was easily a foot and more..
It took us over 2 hours to shovel ourselves out of the house and around the city sidewalks and our own walkway and front porch area... oh, and patio.... a LOT of shovelling!

I think the movements and strengthening of Tai Chi have helped a lot.  No soreness in the rib tissue at all today... even my mid back which was feeling it yesterday ...is fine this morning.  A beautiful brilliant sunshine morning.... so pretty with all the snow.  But, the driving!  Yikes!

The snow shovellers who do our neighbours' driveways .... got good and stuck when they tried to leave.  It took them at least 45 minutes of struggling and digging and moving trailers and snow machines off and onto their truck to get out of the predicament.   They used almost all of a big bag of mixed salt and gravel too.... nothing was working.  I figured they must not have proper winter tires or something... and, man...why would they not have a 4 wheel drive for that type of thing?  Snow shovelers getting stuck in snow.  Great.  Wonder where they are today?  there is another 6 inches to shovel since they were here last.... mine is all done.  Thank goodness we kept shovelling as it was falling.  It would have just been too heavy to even move by now.

The birdies were around all day looking for seeds and suet... the snow cones on the tops of the feeders fell onto their little heads if they hit the perches very fast or hard...especially the big Flickers... it was pretty funny ...  my entertainment each day anyway...

And, today ...I give you a little Black Capped Chickadee nibbling at a seed.  They take one out of the seed dispenser and fly onto a branch to nibble away at each seed til it is gone.  Such dainty eaters.

Well, still have one side of the house to do some final shovelling ..... off I go .. maybe it would be a great day to walk around the block to see if any photo ops present...although it is still -29C this morning in spite of the sun...... hmmmmm..... we'll see....

Somewhere under that bump...is the birdie bath ..... I know it is ......

Wild Bird Wednesday

So, I looked back through my Wild Bird postings...and, didn't see this one.  Doesn't mean I didn't already post it... I could have forgotten to mark it with "label" and it may not have come up in my search.

Seeing as I have pretty much photographed all the little guys that do come around...I am digging up one from my archives... man, that makes it feel oollldddd.... but, it was only from the past summer or fall ....

I thought it was so cute that they were sharing... as not all birds seem to like doing that.  Nobody likes to sit beside a sparrow.  I've taken to calling them the "stinky sparrows" for that very reason.  Or...as somebody else calls little brown guys she can't immediately remember the names of; LBJ ... and no, that is not the 'Lyndon guy'... it means Little Brown Job...... which I thought was so cute; likely the reason I remembered it.  If I like a word, or find it interesting...I remember it.  Like, say, pingueculum ... who would remember that word?  Me.  That's who.  And, especially if my eye guy said it.  I  need to know what is going on.

Sorry, I digress...hahahha..... as is my usual, of course, if you know  me.  I call it round-about thinking..... you know, where one thing leads to another until you forget what the beginning of the conversation was all about and you can't remember how you got on that particular topic at all.... sometimes, a lot of detective thinking later, you do all of a sudden remember what you actually wanted to say, but, by then, the other somebody has gone home, or it is 2:00 am......

Now, where was I ?  oh, yeh..... birds!!

The cute little Black Capped Chickadee and the White Breasted Nuthatch..... the nuthatches always hang upside down like that.  Never seen one upright ...oh, well, one time..on the wall...and I didn't even recognize what it was in that unusual position.

Click on it to see them a bit bigger if you like.                                                                
                                                                                     



















I'm linking this up to Stewart's Wild Bird Wednesday.... check out the great birds they have all been seeing and photographing...

It gets better...

...I managed to get a few better pics of my little chickadees... and, now...I'm even able to call them to the lilac bushes just outside the patio.

I stand in the patio with my handful of seeds and if there are none around...I call to them.  I do my best "chick-a-dee-dee-dee" sound...and also just say... "come on little guys... here's your seeds".. "come on".  Within a minute or two I hear one across the street and then... at least one will fly over to check me out.

I'm still making at least one guy hop on my hand for a seed before I sprinkle a few out on the top of the patio wall for them.  I try not to put too many..and I also wait til way late in the day to do it..or the hordes of sparrows just eat them all ...

A little white breasted nuthatch came to the suet feeder today along with several different Flickers... I try to chase the silly magpie away from the suet feeder when I see him.  He has figured out how to hang on it ... using the tail rest for one of his big feet... doing the splits and risking groin injury just to peck a bit of peanut butter and bugs ... crazy bird.  Sometimes when he lands he scares a Flicker off it ... and, the Flicker lands on the Hawthorn or the wall top and squeaks....if I hear him I know what it is and run to the closest window.  All I have to do is move the latch and off flies the magpie.  The Flicker then gets back onto the suet... it's a mad house around here .... well, it probably always was ...just a bit more so now with birds...

Anyway... without further ado...here are the two best ones I now have ..

and, finally, I actually have two witnesses that have seen them land on my hand even though I haven't managed a photo of that yet.  I'm still working on it........... I just need a few more hands...........

Click on the pic to enlarge....

Chickadees again.... and, me.....

How do the weeks go by so quickly?   Sheeeesh......

Anyway....I've been trying to get a chickadee to land on my hand for a seed.  It took about 3 days of standing there with a handful of seeds ... at late feeding time.  Finally, it happened ...with the tiniest little one.  So brave.

He pecked gently at my fingers first.  I don't know if he was checking to see if they were edible or if they dispensed a seed.  And, then..one hopped right onto my hand and off again with a seed .. so quickly it could hardly have been called a landing.  They are so quick.  And, so light...I hardly felt a thing.

The second day I tried to hold the seeds with one hand and take a picture with the other hand.... oh, man...I was trying not to move too much..not to giggle and not to swear.  I got about 19 blurry photos.  Just couldn't get the auto focus working how I wanted it to.  I need a remote shutter release and to set up on the tripod I guess.... although, I don't know if the tripod is high enough. ...maybe on a box or something... that wall is 5 feet high... almost too high for me to get my hand on there...it cramps up after a while trying to keep my fingers out quite straight so they don't think I am going to grab them... as if they would know the difference.

Anyway...finally I did come up with a couple of not too blurry ones...

Click to make them larger if you like...

Here little chickadee-dee-dee

I have sunflower seeds.... the best kind.....

And, if I took my hand down to rest it....they jumped onto the top of the wall and glared at me....like...where's that seed you promised? .....

Hey, wait a minute here!  I just noticed when I cropped it... and could see better...he already has a seed in his beak!  Cheeky!  Gimme a break will ya?  Have to rest my hand...........

You can see I was having way too much fun.  Especially when I should have been paying more attention to what was getting quite brown on the stove ...

I'll try to see if I can get things set up a bit better or ... better yet... find another pair of hands to help take the photos....

Check out the other great birds on Wild Bird Wednesday.

Click the birdie below to go there ....

Just hanging out....

...or on...or, off .. or something.

Susan had a funny pic of a gull trying to swallow a too big fish... and this doesn't go anywhere near that for a laugh...but, maybe a little giggle.

He has a sunflower seed from the feeder in his tiny beak...but, why he chose to go to this spot with it I don't know.  How is he going to eat it hanging upside down?  Hmmm....

When they get a seed, they usually go to a branch...hold it down with one little foot and nibble at it daintily  ... til it's gone.

Surely he must have gone there after his unusual decision to do some calisthenics mid flight....

Click on the photo to see him bigger

Here is what they usually do.....
Much simpler ... hahahha..

                                                                 

Wild Bird Wednesday

... again, not 'til Thursday... oh, well, here I am...

This is a rare glimpse of the Lesser Canadian Snowrunner.... they go so quickly you hardly have time to get them into the frame, never mind focus... even with auto focus...

Isn't he cute?

Maybe I fooled somebody for a nano second.  But, most of you probably recognized him right away. Of course he is really the Black Capped Chickadee.  They are my favourite little guys. .. so cute, so quick and yet pretty brave, in that they come close to you once they get a bit used to the fact that you will continue to stand there for some time.

Click on the photo to see his feet..they're a blur!

I had brushed off the snow and laid out a few seeds on the top of the wall.  They would jump on the wall from the nearby lilac twigs... grab a seed and carry it back to eat it in the bush.  They hold it against a branch with one foot and nibble it ... so civilized they are...compared to the sparrows.
This guy must have been kicking up some snow to find that last seed he absolutely knew must be there .... somewhere.....

I got one or two other decent pics...

.....................and..............as usual....................

a lot of these.....

butts.....

in some frames there were no birds at all...just a few bits of tossed up snow as they left...

Why don't you check out the Wild Bird link below to see what gems the others managed to photograph...

Wild Bird Wednesday

Chickadees!!

Last week when it was reeeeely cold..... I was out there trying for a chickadee pic or two.  They used to be a bit less jumpy when the weather was warm..I'm sure they were.

I started out a long way off...hahhaha... .. but, this was too funny not to show it... if you look close, you can see a little guy in the Hawthorn tree...but, look down to the left... another one just zooming away from the feeder to the tree...or maybe further out at the speed he is going... hahahaha...it makes me laugh every time I look at it...

Eventually I had to get much closer to attempt any worthwhile shots...so I began sneaking up on them.  They scolded me .. and boycotted the feeder for a bit.  But, I "dee dee dee'd" right back at them and, tried to coax them ... they probably thought I was nuts...but, they did begin to go back and forth from lilac or Hawthorn to the feeder... keeping a watchful eye on me all the while.  I know they would get used to me if I was out there all the time, but in the winter?...I don't think so.... it's too cold to stand around outside talking to them.  I'll have to pick and choose the days.

It started to snow a bit ... my fingers were getting darn cold.  I need some thin gloves or I'll dig out Mr. BV's mitts with the flip tops so I can flip them on and off when the need arises... now where are those mitts?? .....

I begged them to land in the Hawthorn so I could get some pretty red berries in the pictures.... they didn't listen... instead they hung out on dead lilac bush branches...

And.... I know there is one guy out there who will appreciate this one....... they were always facing the wrong way.

Let's face it....that is a cute butt!!

Finally!  It all came together.  The berries ....the facing in the proper direction.... the soft little feathers blowing in the breeze..... wooohoooooo ......

Remember to click on the pics to "BIGGIFY" these cute little guys....

If you want to see more bird photos or to add one of your own... just click on the bird below and go to the Wild Bird Wednesday site...