Chickadee at my window

Chickadees are members of the genus Poecile, part of the same songbird family, Paridae, as titmice. The Poecile genus includes 15 species, but only the seven that are found in North America are called chickadees; birdwatchers in other parts of the world know these birds as tits.
~abcbirds.org


"The humble Black-capped Chickadee is a hardy bird, remaining sprightly and active even in the depths of a New England winter. The Massachusetts state bird, chickadees can be found in all corners of the Commonwealth wherever there are at least a few trees. Their vocal nature and acrobatic antics make them pleasant and interesting little neighbors. "
~massaudubon.org


“Black-capped chickadees have a wonderful assortment of adaptations for the winter,” says biologist Susan M. Smith, who has studied the birds’ biology and behavior for more than a quarter century at Cornell University and Mount Holyoke College. “Carefully hidden food items, dense winter coats, specially selected winter roost cavities and, perhaps most remarkable of all, the ability to go into nightly hypothermia, thus conserving large amounts of energy, greatly increase the chances of survival.”

The chickadee’s ability to go into regulated hypothermia enables it to actually lower its body temperature, in a controlled manner, to about 12 or 15 degrees F below its normal daytime temperature of 108 degrees F. This allows the bird to conserve almost 25 percent of its hourly metabolic expenditure when the outside temperature is at freezing. The lower the outside temperature, Smith found, the more energy the bird conserved."

~nwf.org

"Every fall, generally in October, Black-capped Chickadees undergo a change in their brains. Flying around in an area up to 10 square miles, they gather hundreds, even thousands of seeds to cache. Of course this does no good, if one can’t remember where the seeds are hidden.
According to professor Diane Lee at Cal State University, every fall the part of a chickadee’s brain responsible for remembering where things are expands in size by approximately 30 percent. This growth is in the number of neurons, or brain cells in the hippocampus. This cell growth was first described by neuroscientist Fernando Nottebohm in 1994. Other scientists did not at first believe this could happen. However further research has proved this is true.
In addition, when winter is over and the old information is no longer needed, the brain shrinks back to its smaller size, erasing the unwanted memory. These forgotten memories will be replaced with new memories the following fall as they again grow more brain cells and go about the business storing food."
~centerofthewest.org


For the Record,
This day came in dismal and gray with drizzle every now and then.

All hands disgusted by the foolishness in the Oval Office yesterday