I woke up to find our bird feeders empty this morning (thank you squirrels!!) so added some fresh black oil sunflower seeds to them. In a matter of minutes a group of four Chestnut-backed Chickadees was hard at work trying to get as many seeds as they could.
We see Black-capped and Mountain Chickadees in the nest boxes that we check, but never the Chestnut-backed. Looking at this group I am pretty sure that they are breeding successfully as they seemed to have a couple of the kids along.
The adult birds look smooth and seem to have their feathers sorted out nicely.
The youngsters look a bit scruffy. I suppose that they are still getting their adult feathers.
They whole family whirled around the feeder for about ten minutes and must have grabbed 100 sunflower seeds. And then off they went to do whatever chickadees do. I wonder how long the fledglings will stay with their parents?
Here's looking at you!
Mark
The biotechs just did a bird survey here... the chestnut backed chickadees were on their count. I haven't seen any here yet... They are cute little birds, aren't they?
ReplyDeletechestnut backed? or chestnut sided?
DeleteI've got a few chestnut backed chickadees at my feeder too. They don't stay too long before scurrying on.
ReplyDeleteGreat pictures.
ReplyDelete