Just a... chickadee

I think that, for the next week, I'll blip some of my most common backyard birds. It will be nice to look back on them in the year ahead, when I won't have a backyard. So, today's bird is a Black-capped chickadee (closely related to the Coal Tit in the EU). This bird doesn't range as far south as Florida; but it's very close cousin, the Carolina Chickadee is resident in FL. These two chickadee species look nearly identical and while a trained eye can discern the tiny differences, the best "tell" is their song. The southern Carolina has a much faster song than our northern black-capped.

Seen here, the chickadee is foraging for insects in my garden. I cut back the bee balm, leaving about 2 foot stalks, which is where the little one is perched here. Such cute, friendly little birds - always the first to find a new feeder and very easy to train to eat from your hand. They seem to me to be happy birds.

I had a lovely brunch at a friend's house this morning - partly as a farewell and partly to celebrate her birthday. Then, back home to meet the clock guy who got our grandfather clock ready for the move. Then, the realtor came - she stayed only about 5 minutes so I suspect that the house isn't what her client is looking for. Oh well. In between all of that, I packed a few more boxes and tidied up a bit. I think we are headed for another beautiful weekend, so I may try to get out and enjoy it a bit. I'm really well ahead of the packing now, so I have a little breathing room.

I posted 4 shots on Flickr, starting HERE with a pensive chipmunk.

Seven more sleeps until hubs is here. This has been our longest separation yet and I'm really missing him.

Cheers - and happy Friday...

Debbi

PS: and for you fellow titmouse-lovers, here's one of those little over-achievers about to take flight with a peanut...