Other than the Hummingbirds of summer, he is the smallest bird to visit my yard. He is my Chickadee and every year I have a pair that nest in or near the yard.
He is also fun to watch.
We have just put one those see-through feeders on our den window so that Foster (our pet parakeet) can watch and try to speak to other birds. You should hear the racket that Foster makes when a bird lands on the windowsill. I don’t know if she’s fussing at them or begging to join the flock, but she screeches and squawks throughout the day.
A curious chickadee was the first to find the feeder and is now a regular. He flies to the perch, inspects the buffet line and if there is a peanut available, he’s off with it, flying to a nearby tree limb. With one foot, he holds the nut in place, then pecks it apart with his beak and then eats it without dropping or spilling a crumb
Try that sometime, from a tree limb no less.
Then Mr. Chickadee is back for seconds, perhaps choosing a juicy black oil sunflower for dessert. From his treetop perch you can often hear him calling to his mate, “Chicka-dee-dee-dee-dee!” Thus, his name.
An interesting thing about chickadees. They make their nests out of moss and animal fur and on occasion, a chickadee will swoop down and pick some fur from a sleeping dog or cat, who then looks around and asks, “What the hell was that?”
It was just a chickadee. Go back to sleep.