I was in my garden today, the little one just beyond my patio, when a pair of chickadees arrived at the feeder. It's just a simple thing, a shallow frame made of wood with a screen bottom, suspended from a garden hook by wires. Inside the feeder I have a couple of jam jar lids filled with shelled and broken sunflower seeds, a tiny bowl of peanuts, and another tiny bowl of suet balls.
There was a brief fracas when they first arrived at the feeder and one flew a metre and a bit away while the other (at a guess, I would say, it's parent) fed. When the first one had had its fill it flew back into the maples and chickadee number two ventured over. First to the top of the feeder stand. Then over to the fence. Then back, closer, landing on top of the suet block cage. And repeat. Finally, when the coast seemed truly clear, it made a bold hop to the feeder with the sunflower seeds.
It landed, as I have seen it's relatives the bushtits sometimes do, upside down on the bottom of the screen. This didn't work very well so it flew back to the suet feeder, then back to the fence, then to the bottom of the screen again.
Meanwhile, the sun shone, bumblebees climbed into the mouths of waiting bellflowers, a hover-fly inspected the sedum, and a bald-faced hornet searched for something low down among the leaves. I glanced over at the hole in the fence this chickadee likely hatched out in. It had been taken over by bumblebees after the chicks had fledged and now I noticed there is an impressive funnel shaped web opening around the entrance to the cavity. It's delightful to think of the succession of creatures making use of that one small hole in so short a period of time.
At this point the more confident chickadee returned. Our unsuccessful diner appears to have paid better attention to what its associate did this time: It landed inside the feeder, spent a moment or two snatching up sunflower seeds, and returned to the trees. Immediately the young chickadee copied the action, landing on the upside of the feeder and settling down to eat.
Another skill acquired. There is so much to learn in our first year of life.
Image: "Poecile atricapillus 1513, A Black-capped Chickadee at Blanche Lake, Minnesota USA” by Tattooeddreamer, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons
