A Tribute to the Black-Capped Chickadee
One of the things I enjoy about winter is watching the birds that frequent my feeder. My favorite, although not as exciting as a rare visitor such as a grosbeak, is the Black-capped chickadee. They are hardy troopers who spend the entire year in the northwoods. They visit my feeder on the coldest of days when other birds and animals remain silent in the woods. Personally I would like to see the chickadee as the state bird for Wisconsin, instead of the fair-weather Robin. Having the robin as the state bird would be like having a governor who spent half of the year in Florida.
Purple Finch Enjoying Some Sunflower SeedsSince I just started keeping my birdfeeder filled I haven't spotted that many species yet this fall. So far, besides the chickadees, we've had the hairy woodpecker, purple finch (I'm curious if he will spend the winter), dark-eyed juncos (they will probably head south in a week or so), and blue jays. In the past I have had problems with bears and deer raiding the feeders, but none yet this season.
Labels: Birds, Fish Creek, Photos
posted by BurdockBoy @ 3:26 PM
6 comments
6 Comments:
One cool thing about chickadees is that on extremely cold nights, they will find a hole in a tree, climb in, & lower their heartbeats to almost nothing. They do this in order to survive. Very cool, plus they are such friendly little critters. & if you notice, the winter one's are bigger, sincer they're from even farther north. Nice post. Thanks.
coldh2o:
I knew they found little holes in trees, but I never really thought about their heartbeats deceasing, but it makes sense. They are so friendly-I have heard of people feeding them out of their hands.
My grandfather taught me to feed them from my hand, it's very easy! (Nuthatches are just as friendly when it comes to feeding from your hand.) My daughter just had her first experience last Winter. The secret is to get them at feeding time (early morning or midafternoon) when you are refilling a feeder and don't swallow-apparently predators do this before attacking and it spooks the birds off. (which is why I wear a scarf).
What sort of grosbeak? evening or rose-breasted? We get both and the rose-breasted are cheeky, chattery fellows, very pretty both of them though.
I found it interesting that your juncos head south, ours stay here in central NH year round. The purple finches come and go(they are our state bird). We've yet to see any deer come near, we instead get bear (until the first snows) and bluejays. Our chicken scratch draws in the jays as well as wild turkey.
Thanks for the bird post, it is one of my favorite subjects.
Steph:
Thanks for the chickadee tips, I'll give it a try. I have seen both rose-breasted and evening grosbeaks, none this year though ):
Black-capped chickadees are amazing creatures. There wintering survival skills presented a mystery to the biologists in the Fairbanks area for quite some time. We can have 18 hour nights and -50 degrees up this way. Here's a link to an interesting article about chickadees and the extremes of cold. Enjoy!
http://www.gi.alaska.edu/ScienceForum/ASF16/1641.html
the fool:
Cool article. I can't believe they shiver that much fat off in a night. The article also mentioned their relatives farther north-those must be tough little birds.
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