14 Comments

Great information! I will watch theses little birds with a lot more appreciation.

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Hello Ann, I am glad to hear you plan to increase your appreciation for chickadees. That was my goal with this newsletter.

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Wonderful addition to my appreciation of chickadees, Bill. Thanks for this. And your photos are really, really great.

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Thank you. I am glad you appreciate my writing and photos. My next newsletter focuses on the Eastern Phoebe.

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Sounds great. FYI, there's a great singer-songwriter here in Maine, Jud Caswell, a friend of ours, who has a lovely song called Phoebe on a Fencepost.

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Thank you for this. I like the line about slowing down to learn about the birds. When do they usually lay their eggs?

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Chickadees lay eggs in April and May. They start earlier if April is warm and dry and the female is in good physical condition. They are inspecting potential nest sites now in preparation for the breeding season.

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"...they use their enhanced hippocampus to recall the locations of thousands of seeds that they have stored..."

The next book that I want to read to my dad is " An Immense World" by Ed Yong. It's about all of the amazing ways that non-human animals perceive the world through senses such as smell, vibrations, and heat.

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Standing on one leg while holding a peanut in the other, balancing on a branch in a snowstorm. Holy moly! Birds are amazing.

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This is so full of great information! I had a leucistic Chickadee in my yard the other day. So exciting to think no other bird looks like it! If you want to see the photo, look at my Instagram page, goldfinch29. I’d also email you a high quality image if you want one.

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Hello Mary Ann, I checked out your Instagram page and that is a fascinating chickadee. It looks so different than the normal plumage. I wonder if it will stay on your property as a breeding bird. It will be interesting to see if you have more birds like that in the future.

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I hope it does, that would be so fun! Thank you for checking out my image!

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I have a question. If I know I have an owl or two hanging out pretty constantly in my yard (and from the hooting, I suspect it's a Great Horned Owl) am I setting up chickadees to be preyed upon if I put up a nesting box for small birds?

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Hello Mary-Margaret, That is a good question. Screech owls are more of a threat to chickadees than Great Horned Owls. Either way, putting up a nest box gives chickadees a place to nest and roost and ultimately improves their chances of survival and raising young.

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