Desiree and the Chickadee

Three chickadees hung around my house throughout the long winter.  Some weeks ago, I started feeding them crushed walnuts on a near daily basis.  Rather than using a birdfeeder, which lures in more birds than I care to deal with, I place handfuls of nuts on the brick ledge around my house whenever I see the chickadees flitting about.

One chickadee is particularly bold and will readily land on my hand to pick up a morsel to eat.  That particular bird also makes a point of fluttering up and landing somewhere nearby me when I am outside for any reason.

The other day when I stepped outside while carrying a bucket in my right hand, the chickadee looped around my head and then landed on the rim of the bucket as I held it by my side.

“You must need breakfast,” I said to the bird.  “Hang on, I’ll get you something.”  When the chickadee fluttered off and dropped onto the brick ledge a few feet away, I trotted back in the house to get a handful of walnuts.

Desiree also enjoys feeding the chickadees.  I have posted a photograph of our bold chickadee friend taking a walnut from her hand.

Desiree and the Chickadee

—Mitchell Hegman