Field Notes: Chickadee

We went for a walk at a new preserve this week. Though there were some pretty views, we were struck by both the chilliness and the quietness of the setting. A fitting reminder for Labor Day: we’re heading into the fall.

We met another birder on our way out and he also commented on how the quietness of birds is a characteristic of fall. Not long ago the world was alive every morning with an intricate symphony of birdsong. Not so now.

However, along with a fleeting yellow-rumped warbler sighting, we did see chickadees. I love these friendly, talkative little birds and find them reassuring. They’re here, as Anna Botsford Comstock points out in the Handbook of Nature Study (#ad) all year. She points out that:

• They have at least 3 songs/calls, from the “Chickadee-dee-dee” to the “Fee-Bee” of spring to the “delightful yodel” they occasionally make;
• They often travel with nuthatches. The nuthatches focus on insects embedded in the bark of trees, while the chickadees harvest insect eggs — estimated at up to 100 a day — in the tips and twigs of the branches.
• They usually have 8 chicks, all snuggled together in a cavity of a tree, fence post, or birdhouse.

I love these little birds and commend them for their hardiness in staying here year-round.

What have you been seeing in your nature explorations this week?