Re: Something cool, cold, chilly, frigid, but very cool
Jim Elbrecht
-snip-
>Almost immediately one of the chickadees swooped down, landed on my fingers, and
>helped himself to a seed.
>
>So I stood there for about ten minutes in the freezing cold, holding out my
>handful of seeds, waiting for it to happen again. It didn't, of course, which
>explains the cold, chilly, frigid part of the subject line.
I've seen that with my own eyes once. . . about 1956.<g> This great
old couple that my dad and I ran into while snowshoeing were feeding
the chickadees out of their hands. they gave me some ?berries? but I
couldn't get any to take them from me. I was 5 so I probably just
wouldn't stay still long enough.
I have lots of chickadees at the feeders, and they will land on a
branch or feeder inches from my face-- but I still haven't gotten one
to feed out of my hand. Lucky you!
>
>But it was still cool to feel those tiny birdie feet on my fingers, for just
>that one moment.
>
>Tara J. Ballance
>Montreal, Canada
Jim
[about 6-7 hours south]
Ray
> It happened again this afternoon. I was in the house, and I could
> see the chickadees coming and going at the feeder.
I wonder if someone in your area has been hand-feeding them, so they've
learned what it means when someone stands still with a hand held out.
My dog and I were hiking with a group in my favorite park yesterday.
There's a place in the park where lots of people hand-feed, so I amazed
everyone by holding out a few sunflower seeds and getting a couple of
chickadees and a titmouse to land, even with a dozen dogs milling
around. Nobody else was willing to take off a glove to try it and see
that anyone could do it -- temp was in the low teens (F).
--
Ray
(remove the Xs to reply)
Fred Pierce
A few years ago I was hiking/birding in the Royal Botanical Gardens in
Hamilton. Sat down on a bench to have a bite of a Nature Valley bar
and a chickadee flew down and landed on the bench beside me. Broke off
a piece and offered it. It flew to my hand, looked a bit dubious, but
took it. Further down the trail I did the same thing, only this
Chickadee perched in my palm, picked up a piece, dropped it, looked up
at me, walked out to the end of my fingers, looked up at me again,
gave the end of my finger a pinch, looked at me again, and took off.
After that I noticed that the feeders and the school children were
giving them sunflower seeds. How was I to know?
Encountered a Downy Woodpecker working a tree. Offered a chunk of NV
bar. The bird flew right to me, perched in my hand, rolled the chunk
around, got a good grip of it and took off. I was a bit concerned that
he'd do some woodpecker work on my hand but he was quite careful.
At home in Maryland last winter (I live in Maine now) a Pine Siskin
took over my palm and defended it from all the other Siskins -
pugnacious little critter.
For six years I had a hand-feeding Catbird. He learned to look for me
elsewhere in the house if I wasn't at my desk. I'd look up from my
chair in the living room and see him pressed against the glass. He'd
want me to feed him even when there was plenty of food available
(dried grubs from Audubon Workshop - more popular even then
mealworms).
Also tamed Carolina Wrens but they never seemed to really like the
idea. But then Wrens don't like much of anyone except their mates.
fdp
-------------------------------------
cobscookbaymusic.com
Ray
> Goodness, if I had been there, I would have had my gloves off in a
> hurry. It's such a wonderful connection when a wild animal trusts
> you enough to permit even momentary physical contact.
>
> It's worth risking hypothermia for.
I agree. Don't know why nobody else wanted to try it. I've had them
land on my gloved hands as well, so there wouldn't have to be any
discomfort involved, but then you miss the best part, feeling the bird
on your hand.
I've also used bits of Martha's "suet" to try to entice woodpeckers,
but the closest I've come was a downy that hovered for a second before
skedaddling. The chickadees are happy to land for it. I've even had
them perch on/in the lens hood on my camera.
jadel
ago, the Alpendohle's would come right up to us as we sat at the
tables outside the restaurant by the cable car station. They'd
eagerly--rather aggressively, in fact-- take anything offered to
them. They were highly inquisitive and quite tame, rather pesky in a
kind of charming way.
J. Del Col
Jerry Avins
Alpine pigeons?
Jerry
--
Engineering is the art of making what you want from things you can get.
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jadel
> jadel wrote:
> > When I was up on the Untersberg outside Salzburg, Austria a few years
> > ago, the Alpendohle's would come right up to us as we sat at the
> > tables outside the restaurant by the cable car station. They'd
> > eagerly--rather aggressively, in fact-- take anything offered to
> > them. They were highly inquisitive and quite tame, rather pesky in a
> > kind of charming way.
>
> > J. Del Col
>
> Alpine pigeons?
>
> Jerry
> --
> Engineering is the art of making what you want from things you can get.
Corvids.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/jenson7/3770347770/
J. Del Col
Jerry Avins
> On Tue, 12 Jan 2010 13:52:25 -0800 (PST), jadel <delc...@ab.edu> wrote:
>
>> <(((*>On Jan 12, 4:04 pm, Jerry Avins <j...@ieee.org> wrote:
>> <(((*>> jadel wrote:
>> <(((*>> > When I was up on the Untersberg outside Salzburg, Austria a few years
>> <(((*>> > ago, the Alpendohle's would come right up to us as we sat at the
>> <(((*>> > tables outside the restaurant by the cable car station. They'd
>> <(((*>> > eagerly--rather aggressively, in fact-- take anything offered to
>> <(((*>> > them. They were highly inquisitive and quite tame, rather pesky in a
>> <(((*>> > kind of charming way.
>> <(((*>>
>> <(((*>> > J. Del Col
>> <(((*>>
>> <(((*>> Alpine pigeons?
>> <(((*>>
>> <(((*>> Jerry
>> <(((*>> --
>> <(((*>> Engineering is the art of making what you want from things you can get.
>> <(((*>> �����������������������������������������������������������������������
>> <(((*>
>> <(((*>Corvids.
>> <(((*>
>> <(((*>
>> <(((*>http://www.flickr.com/photos/jenson7/3770347770/
>
> Are they the ones with bright orange beaks? Smaller than our crows, but larger
> than starlings?
>
> If so, I've heard them called "alpine choughs" (rhymes with "chuffs").
I didn't mean to confuse the issue. I was merely opining that, just as a
red-blooded programmer can write Fortran in any language, any species of
bird with proper training can be a park pigeon. :-)
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jadel
And they are orange-beaked; attractive birds, smarter than the
feathered rats, IMHO.
J. Del Col