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Chickadee 5246 |
My mom always had a bird feeder when I was growing up, but I never paid too much attention to the birds. Mom loved to watch the cardinals, house finches, and tufted titmouses who frequented the feeders, but she had a special place in her heart for the tiny chickadees. Their deep scolding call “chicka-dee-dee-dee” was one I often heard my mother imitate as she watched their antics. Her biggest challenge was trying to keep the squirrels out of her feeders and she and my dad were always buying the latest squirrel-proof feeders which were only marginally effective at keeping the seed safe for the birds. She loved to take pictures of her feathered friends.After I moved out on my own, I never gave much thought to the birds but I did enjoy watching them whenever I went home for a visit. The year I turned 40 I lost my mother to lung cancer. The first year without her was particularly difficult but I began to notice birds around me and every time I saw one I recognized from my mother’s feeder I felt like it was a messenger she sent to say “hi”. One morning as I was walking into my office to take a certification exam, a saw a little chickadee in the tree by the door and its familiar “chicka-dee-dee-dee” instantly brought back my mom’s cheerful imitations and I knew she was rooting for me to pass my exam.
Chickadee in a Pear Tree |
The Christmas before she died, mom and dad gave me my first “good” camera; a 35mm Canon film camera that could accept telephoto lenses. As I started to learn photography I found myself drawn to big birds like ducks, geese and swans. On a whim, I decided to take a birding class through my town’s local adult education school. We learned about the familiar feeder birds but also about ones I had never noticed before like red-winged blackbirds, woodpeckers, cedar waxwings, and killdeer. He also pointed out the differences between the various kinds of sparrows; they weren’t all just LBJs (little brown jobs)! The instructor explained that the first part of birding is listening and recognizing the various calls and songs of birds to help look for and identify a bird you see. I bought a CD of birdsongs and listened to them on the way to and from work to help me get better at identifying the calls and songs. I was definitely hooked!
Chickadee Welcome |
Over the years I have added several feeders to my yard to attract as many varieties as birds as I can; black-oil sunflower seeds for cardinals, titmouses, house finches, blue jays and chickadees; suet for woodpeckers and the occasional warbler, sugar water for hummingbirds. I plan my gardens to attract birds and other wildlife. The mockingbirds feed their babies from the berries in my mulberry tree each year and the cardinals enjoy them as well. I love to watch the goldfinches plucking off the petals from the sunflowers seemingly in an attempt to get the seeds to ripen faster. They spend hours each day, often upside down, eating the seeds from the sunflowers I plant as well as the ones that spring up under the feeders from seed that was scattered by the impatient blue jays. I include several different kinds of tubular flowers, especially red ones, to entice the hummingbirds to summer in my garden. They often buzz around my head and hover just above me curiously watching while I am weeding or pruning. They are such a delight.
Dinnertime at the Chickadee House |
My love of birds has inspired me to make them one of my favorite photographic subjects and has prompted me to buy longer lenses over the years as well as upgrading to digital. I joke with friends that I have created my own backyard bird portrait studio! In fact, I have taken the screen out of one of my windows to the backyard and often leave my camera set up on my tripod so I am always ready to capture a moment. Last spring a pair of chickadees began nesting in a birdhouse I had added to a new garden bed next to a Bradford pear tree. I loved hearing their familiar song and I found myself answering them back just like my mom used to do, “chicka-dee-dee, chicka-dee-dee, chicka-dee-dee-dee-dee-dee”. Both parents brought food to their growing brood and after a few weeks they looked pretty tired and ragged keeping up with their hungry demands. The day before they fledged I caught a photo of a parent at the entrance of the house with one of the babies’ wide-open mouths clearly visible waiting for a tasty treat. The next morning they were out in the trees and shrubs around the house, still calling for food from mom and dad. They eventually learned to eat from the feeders and I took many photos of them.
Newly Fledged Chickadee 0062 |
Mom has been gone for seven years now, but I feel like her spirit lives on in the joy I feel each day when I look out my window or wander in my garden and I see my feathered friends. I am thankful for the connection I feel due to our shared interest in birds. And I too now have a special place in my heart for the chickadees.
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