The feeders are up! Presumably the bears have all gone to bed and won’t disturb our feeders until spring. Some of my friends leave them up the year around, but they consistently take them inside every night. I can’t be relied upon to do that, so I put them away in the spring - except for the oriole and hummingbird feeders. It seems like a fair balance for the birds to come to me in the winter and for me to go looking for them in the woods in the spring and summer.
Within hours of hanging up the black oil sunflower seeds the first scouts have arrived - the chickadees. It isn’t long before these black-capped adventurers are followed by flocks of finches, juncos, titmice, sparrows, and nuthatches, and then the big guys - the blue jays, cardinals, woodpeckers, and mourning doves. But the brave chickadees always come first extracting one seed and returning to a nearby tree to crack it open and eat it or to slip it carefully under a sliver of bark for later. Chickadees can remember the location of these mini-caches for days, even weeks. In the cold months ahead, they will eat 10 times their body weight every day so now they are busy stashing food.
Chickadees are another of those birds who say their name. Chick-a-dee-dee-dee. The other birds rely on this call as an alert to threats in the area. Chick-a-dee with only one “dee” seems to mean that all is clear, but chick-a-dee-dee-dee-dee warns of a hawk overhead or human approaching. The number of “dees” seems to be a measure of the seriousness of the threat. As a familiar presence, I am happy to have become only a two “dee” threat in our backyard. Chickadees have a few other familiar songs including “Hi Sweetie” and “Fee Bee.” Here’s a great video from Lesley the Bird Nerd with all of their songs.
A group of chickadees is called a banditry perhaps because they wear black masks and hide their loot. But, bandits bring to mind that classic 1940 western starring Mae West and W.C. Fields!
Update: Warm November weather means the bears may not be tucked in after all. NH Fish and Game is saying keep feeders down until December. Which I forgot to do until two evenings ago when the bears took them down for me! Live and, hopefully, learn.