Black-Capped Chickadees!

This past summer, I kept a daily vigil over an American Robin's nest, snapping photos and doing my best to maintain a birdwatch log. Of late, there has not been much aviaray activity of note in the backyard, but we are hoping the traffic will increase. With the occassional bird appearance I will again endeavor to document the types of birds, as well as their activities, using a format borrowed from the small spiral bound notebook we keep in the kitchen for spontaneous "bird-sign"...

Date: December 3, 2006
Time: 12:30-12:45 p.m.

Weather Report: Mostly Cloudy, 40°F, 59% Humidity, Winds: WSW @ 13 mph; feels like 33°F.

Location: The backyard of my home in the upstate New York City of Rochester. (See map at the bottom of the left column for some spacial reference.)

Bird Species/Markings/Features: Black-capped Chickadees (BCC)

Sights/Sounds/Activities:The BCCs are very chatty and their precense is initially "seen" simply listengin for the chatc chatter. By focusing on thier easily distinguishable "song" and scanning the general vicintiy, they are not too challenging to find.

The BCC's coloring makes it very necessary to listen-up...

Notes:While working in the kitchen this morning, Anne noticed a couple of black-capped chickadees flitting around the recently re-filled feeders. Pulling myself away from the X-Box (yet another Madden loss to my son!), I came down to observe for a few minutes before sneaking out the side door with the goal of snapping a few picks. Once again, my handy-dandy copy of Stan Tekiela's Birds of New York Field Guide offered some interesting info about the birds.

I counted a total of 3 different birds which were flitting around the back area of the yard, primarily in the area bewteen the shed (on which one bird feeder is hung) and the house. There is an old fence running along that side of the house on which this black-capped chickadee decided to take a rest:


And here is another chickadee in a loaction on the fence just a few feet from his friend. I attempted to get a pic of the birds on our feeder, but they were too fast for me!


This last pic offers some overall perspective to my backyard. The chickadee is located near the center of this second fence inside the yard. just behind this smaller fence, and between another larger fence, is where we grow our vegetables druing the summer months. Immediately to the left, hanging from the shed, is the cylindrical feeder the black-capped chickadees were flitting to and from:


It was nice to reconnect with the aviary bature of our backyard... it allows some perspective about our relationship to the "wild," even as it exists alonside us in our backyards!