Black-capped chickadees are one of my favorite birds because they are just adorable. While I’ve heard them frequently throughout the years in forest preserves and even our neighborhood, I’ve rarely ever seen one. Not only are they pretty tiny (4-6 inches), but they are very fast. Now that we have a feeder, they’ve recently started visiting us. We had our first visitor on Saturday, in fact, and I was able to snag this really nice photo of it.
This morning I spotted two chickadees at the feeder which made me so happy! Since then they’ve been coming by every hour or so. They like the suet I put up, but will also grab the black oil sunflower seeds and fly off to crack them open in a tree. Unlike the sparrows, finches, and mourning doves, they will not eat at the feeder. I guess they prefer their privacy.
Besides how cute they are, I love their distinctive little chirps, because I know they’re there before I even see them. Wookie, however, doesn’t like their vocalizations for some reason, and she gets huffy when she hears them. I told her to leave my little bird buddies alone.
Another creature we’ve never seen, not even once in this neighborhood, is the Eastern chipmunk, so imagine my delight when I spotted one under the feeder on November 6th.
I’ve not seen one since, but I think I heard one further away from the house when walking Wookie earlier today. They retreat to underground burrows for the winter, so I suspect it was gathering sustenance and we might not see another one until spring.