Sunday, September 13, 2009

A Carolina Chickadee catches me in the act...

I put a tiny little ceramic water bowl on my deck railing hoping to lure in a Carolina Chickadee. The chickadees around our house love tiny water bowls and tiny feeders. I also placed it fairly close to the door...only 7 ft. out. Sure enough, Chiggy showed up for a drink, and I fired off a few shots. I was shooting through glass, but all of our windows were open and every time the shutter clicked, he would stop drinking and look directly at me through the kitchen door. Have you ever seen a Chiggy head on?

I love this shot. He has near perfect symmetry--
the eyes, the bill, his little black cap--all perfect!
He definitely seems to have spotted me too.

...not quite head on...more of the old crazy eye look....

Oooh...caught again!

I'm just going to go back to being cute.
I don't have time for all this shutter clicking nonsense...


For more great bird photos from around the world, see:

47 comments:

Anonymous said...

Nice job - it's tough to get close enough to get such great shots.

Chris said...

hi Kelly,
Very funny attitude of this little bird, but obviously he had something to tell you!! Straight in the eye! Gorgeous shot! I love them, I wonder how you looked like when you took the shots, probably very funny for the bird to watch like this!

Gabrielle said...

That's great! Funny how bossy and sure of themselves they are for their size. Bit like my MIL - hee-hee.

Elaine said...

I love these shots! Chickadees are such friendly little guys, and you just gotta love them. I only put out feeders in the winter, and they are about 8 feet from my window. I'll have to try putting some tiny feeders out and see how the Black-capped Chickadees respond.

Laure Ferlita said...

Just love these shots! What a cutie pie!

Larry said...

Beautiful captures of the Carolina Chickadee Kelly! Nice commentary and the last photo is to die for! Very cute :-)

mick said...

Beautiful! How nice to have that little bird come that close to your house.

Janice K said...

Great close ups....you really got the twinkle in those eyes!

Dave said...

p, the second one is definitely the crazy eye! We heard a Carolina on a hike this morning, never did see him though.
See you at MBS!!

Susan Ellis said...

Great shots! I put out a little clay saucer too and they love it...cutest bird winner!

Betsy Banks Adams said...

Kel, Great job.... I've never seen this picture from that angle. How CUTE... Those little guys are just so busy and I love to hear them chatter!!!!! We have lots of them around --but I don't get many pictures.

Thanks for a great batch of photos...
Hugs,
Betsy

Kerri Farley said...

Fab captures! We have these little guys everywhere...never thought about putting out small bowls...I'm going to try it tomorrow!

Richard said...

Great set of pictures. I like the last one best.

andrea said...

Awesome shots! The Chickadees here are just flourishing. I love to watch them busying from feeder to feeder. I can almost touch them now. What's the difference between Black-capped and Carolina Chickadees?

Kelly said...

Andrea....their song is a bit different. Carolinas have a four-noted song and a faster call. The Carolina Chickadees are southern and the Black-capped are northern. We live on the border of both of their territories so we get Black-capped as well, but mostly Carolina.

Penny said...

Hi Kelly thanks for stopping by, I love looking at your bird photos, not much of a bird photographer but it is interesting to see what people are doing in other parts of the world. I really could do with a better camera, perhaps one day but I like my little digital.

holdingmoments said...

Lovely birds Kelly. Great to have them come so close for their picture to be taken.

Anonymous said...

These are lovely shots Kelly of a nice little bird. He was posing for you after putting out the water for him.

Midmarsh John said...

Great shots. I think the look says, "You do realise I charge for these extra special shots." :-)

Caroline said...

These are just wonderful and I love your commentary too! The last pic is my favourite - so adorable.

Sue said...

Smart move putting the bowl that close. These are very sweet pictures Kelly.
Every time I try to shoot through glass, I get terrible reflections.

Jayne said...

How fun they are! Such sweet, inquisitive little birdies. :c)

ShySongbird said...

Beautiful photos of a sweet little bird. Talking of small dishes, I hid a very small mesh feeder deep inside an old Clematis for the tiny birds only to find I was in fact feeding a tiny mouse/vole, I haven't seen it for a while but the food is still going!

Les Barr said...

You have some really great Images about birds. I enjoyed reading about them. Will stop by again and thanks for sharing.

Nick S said...

wow those lil guys are hard to distinguish fro ma Black-capped Chickadee. Very cute !

Tammie Lee said...

cute indeed. How did you ever discover that they like tiny bowls and tiny feeders!

Redzlan aka Tabib said...

Cool and nice eye contact!

Warren Baker said...

Good pics kelly. I suppose the nearest 'tit' we have to your chikadee is the Marsh tit. Enjoy the Autumn birds!

Eve said...

Oh my gosh... he is ADORABLE!!!

That is so cute - that they love little feeders and little bowls - haha. :)

Bob Kaufman said...

Nice "full frontal" shot of the Chickdee, Kelly!

Kelly said...

Tammie....it was by accident. I made a little bowl in ceramics and left it on the table one evening. It rained.....the next morning I heard a chickadee and there he was sipping out of the tiny bowl. He has used it ever since. I then made a tiny feeder to match, and he started eating from it. This summer he brought his little babies...three come regularly now!

gwen said...

Fun series and great shots, Kelly.
I can almost imagine him asking for the 'do not disturb' sign. :)

Jenny said...

Great head on photos Kelly. You're right, they are fun! (-: Yes, your BC Chickadee is very much like our Coal Tit.

Amy said...

What a wonderful encounter with a perfect little model!

Montanagirl said...

He's a cutie that's for sure. Great shots of him, Kelly.

Busy Bee Suz said...

HE is SO cute!!!! What a great shot Kelly.

Creative Cards said...

OHHHHHHHHH Very cute!! Very good work there Kelly. My fav would be the last shot...so great!

Greener Bangalore said...

WOW! Great Great shots as usual Kelly....!!!

Unknown said...

So CUTE!!!!!!!!!!!

Adrienne Zwart said...

So cute. We have black-capped chickadees up here in NE Ohio. I know the ranges of the two species overlap so do you have a tip for telling one from the other? The markings seem so similar. I'm not sure I would know if we have both or just the black-capped.

Kelly said...

Adrienne....I can barely tell them apart. The best way I've found is by song, but there are other differences too. Carolinas have a four-noted song and a faster call. Carolina's are a bit smaller (smaller head and shorter tail)....wings are mostly gray.... Black-capped song is lower and slower (sounds cool)--Carolina is higher and faster (sounds sweet). The call in the Carolina is longer (4 notes), Black capped is just Fee-bee. We mostly get Carolinas, so I don't have to worry too often.

Kelly said...

...thanks, everyone!! The cuteness-ratio of that bird is crazy! Thank goodness they are as hardy and strong as they are cute, because their happy little song helps get us through the winter. It always amazes me how such a tiny bird can withstand day after day of subzero temps without batting an eye! This isn't the last we've heard of this very photogenic little bird either. I have enough photos for another series...maybe we'll go with the profile for the next time.

E said...

Beautiful little creature of God, great shots, Kelita, very interesting articles. Hugs.

Larry said...

That chickadee shows a lot of character-Do the Carolina version of chickadees start their chickadeedeedee call with a y'all?

Kelly said...

...haha!! You're a funny guy! As a matter of fact.........(they do). :-D

Kelly said...

Enita.....thank you!! They are a beautiful little creature of God...everything about them is perfect...

Dawn Fine said...

Hee hee..Adorable!