Tuesday, April 5, 2011

Last week before our weekend snow, when it was fairly spring like
I went to the nearby park at lunch. I took pictures of a number
of chickadees before I found one working away high up in a poplar.
I assumed it was caching something but it kept working away 
twisting it's body like a little drill it's head completely disappearing
and I kept taking photos. I vaguely thought they inhabited spruce trees
or woodpecker holes in the winter and never gave summer much
thought. Despite having lots of bird books I tend to read up
on less "common"  birds. At some point I began to realize the
chickadee was actually excavating a hole. Of course when
I got back to my office I checked on that Canadian institution
the Hinterland Who's Who.

It was not until I got home I was able to really check the photos.


"Together, they dig out a hole in the rotting wood of a dead stump,
usually about 1 to 3 m above ground. They may also nest 9 to 12 m up
in the dead parts of live trees, or in hollows abandoned by
other hole-nesting birds. "

                          Bird Fact Sheets: Black-capped Chickadee

                                Hinterland Who's Who







"Everywhere
the stream
of life goes on,
and I try to
go with it,
non-swimmer,
paddler in a leaky 
canoe."

                              Notes to My Mother
                                         Linda Pastin

5 comments:

Kathie Brown said...

Guy, I did not know they did this either. Wow! always good to learn someting new! That little bird is certainly going to town!

Guy said...

Hi Kathie

Yes it was working very hard to make a big hole with a tiny bill.

Thanks for stopping by.

Guy

Anonymous said...

What a nice capture!

Jan Roseneder said...

Yeah, I always thought they just adopted some other bird's abandoned hole... they really are energetic little critters.

Guy said...

Hi Jan

Yes it certainly was putting in a lot of work.
If I could remember which tree it was I would go visit their finished digs.

Guy