Cheering for Chickadees

Besides the Downy Woodpeckers (see previous post), I love the little chickadees that visit my bird feeder.  I didn't see them much over the summer, but now that the cooler weather is here, they are more frequent visitors.  I have two feeders up - one just has safflower seeds in it.  I have hoards of house sparrows (sometimes a flock of 20 or 30 shows up) and that's one seed they're not very fond of which gives the other birds one feeder that's not inundated with them. In the other feeder I have a variety of seeds, but nearly always have black oil sunflower seeds in the mix.  The little chickadees like both safflower seeds and sunflower seeds, but unlike the cardinals that like to dine in and sit at the feeder for a time, the chickadees prefer take out!  I have a terrible time getting photos of them because they grab a seed and then either fly off or head for the butterfly bushes to break the seed open, eat it and then make another trip to the feeder.

 Source:  www.allaboutbirds.org

I always know when the chickadees are around though with their familiar chick-a-dee-dee call.  Several sources say they hang out in flocks, but I've never seen any more than two or three at a time.  Chickadees have been known to hide seeds to eat later like squirrels, and have a very strict hierarchy within the flock.  Chickadees are in the same family of birds as titmice and they often hang out in the same flock.  I've noticed that now that the chickadees are hanging around again so are the titmice.  I'm sure once the really cold weather sets in, I'll be seeing a lot of them.

 Source:  University of Washington