A Chickadee And A Thumb

This morning while out (tardily, the birds would add) filling my feeders, there was a Mountain Chickadee "cheep a cheep" -ing at me. It was in a smallish aspen in my back yard.. I put a handful of seed out toward it in open palm fashion and sidestepped toward the tree. All the while it's going "cheep a cheep". It flies to my hand, talking constantly, pecked my thumb several times, looks me in the eye, glances at the food in my hand and flies to the nearby feeder for a seed.

What fun.
(picture is mine, but not of that instance)

Hungry Corvids In Estes

Al and I spent the weekend in a great cabin on Fall Creek in Estes park. Of course I had to put seed and nuts on the railing and in a few short hours we had numerous guests. First were the Mountain Chickadees, who announced to near and far there was food for the taking. Next were the beautiful Stellar's Jays who began filling their larders as soon as they found the food. After them came the bold and friendly Clark's Nutcrackers who seemed to have contests as to who could stuff their mouths the most, and lastly the regal Black-billed Magpies joined in.

There was non stop action all day. I spent sometime outside on the deck, bundled up and enjoyed and photographed the spectacle. The Stellar's Jay shown here was having a conversation with him or herself, chattering, wing-fluttering and generally giving everyone an opinion.

The nutcrackers were my favorite and while I was outside I would talk to them as they came in. They actually stopped for a second, cocking their head toward me to listen to what I has to say. Then they'd continue on the very serious business of stashing food.

This is "Bullet" the Clark's who knew what to do with the peanuts.

Bobcat Ridge Snowy Hike

It was a day for exploration.

Al took our 10 year old daughter Maggie to work with him, so I suited up and headed out to Bobcat Ridge. The City of Fort Collins has opened up new trails, good day to check them out. My plan, which I followed was to go up the Ginny Trail and come down Powerline Road - about an 8 mile round trip.

Most of the hike was through burned out forest. I saw only 2 Hairy Woodpeckers working on the dead wood. There was a ravaged beauty to what was left of the forest.

Took me about 2 hours to get to the top where a spot of Ponderosa Pine trees were, I took a short side trail and rested in the pines. Not for long though, snow was moving in and I got cold fast, so bundled back up and hit the trail.

I rounded the ridge and found myself on the back side, looking west into beautifully forested land. Walked into a flock of 8 Mountain Chickadees who were very tame.

By now the snow was coming steady and I was thankful there was no wind. By the time I got to Mahoney Park, the world was a different place. And finally, birds!

There was a female Hairy Woodpecker hanging from Mullen Stalks, another flock of tame Mountain Chickadees, Pygmy and White-breasted Nuthatches, and a delightful flock of about 2 dozen White-winged Juncos.


The quiet, falling snow decorated all of this with a whispering white beauty. By the time I was near my vehicle, I'd seen a flock of Bushtits, heard a Stellar's Jay, and startled a couple of groups of American Tree Sparrows. My last bird of the hike was a beautiful male American Kestral.

When I got back on the main road, glancing toward Masonville caused me to change course and check out a gorgeous flock of nearly 30 Wild Turkeys.

I love this shot with just the tail end of the bird, it blends right in!

Loud Mouth Jays And The Owl

The other day I was out in the yard cleaning up after the snow melted. I had been hearing Blue Jays screeching, but it took awhile for it to really penetrate my brain that they weren't stopping, but getting louder and more localized. I looked up in my neighbors spruce tree and saw about a half a dozen Jays there. Grabbed my camera and went to the spruce, stuck my head in at least 3 different spots around the tree, looking up to see what was causing the jays dismay. Nothing.. until I stepped back from the tree and looked up. A large, disgruntled Great-horned Owl stared back at me.

The Jays were satisfied somebody knew. They left.

An Amazing Month

The Story of Pedro

Saturday, December 8th, was a typical Colorado snowy winter day. I had just come in the house from sweeping the snow off and filling my feeders having only ten minutes before I had to leave for work. My husband Al calls to me saying “there’s something different at the feeder!” That “something different” turned out to be a Streak-backed Oriole. So much for typical.

Sunday morning brought a flurry of activity, after postings on our state listserve COBirds Saturday night, bringing a total of 80 birders to view and photograph the bird. Emails and phone calls came flooding in. This bird is the potential first Colorado state record, how could we turn people away? So we flung open the doors of our home and after posting a few rules there and our email listserve “COBirds”, let people come by anytime between 7:00 a.m. and 3:00 p.m. for nine days straight, whether we were home or not, through our garage and into the kitchen where they could quietly and warmly wait and watch. By the end of the second day we’d had a total of 120 people in our kitchen. Also by the end of that day, the bird had a name – Pedro.

After the first day, in which she was eating roasted peanuts, I began putting out roasted and live mealworms, orange halves, grape jelly, a suet block and “Suet-to-go” suet pellets on a tray feeder. She began adding the jelly and pellets to her diet, but only once even tried the orange. She tasted a few of the roasted mealworms, but is now solidly preferring the live mealworms which I put out 3-5 times a day depending on how fast they went and how harsh the weather was.

I counted one morning and her first breakfast was 23 live mealworms. She seems to be eating really well and able to make it through some very cold nights. The lowest temperature she’s endured was –5 degrees.

I've fallen in love with this little bird. She’s adept at avoiding daily Sharp-shinned Hawk attacks on the small birds in her tree. She can back off most starlings, but her and our flickers have good manners when they eat together. Red-winged Blackbirds are boorish in her opinion though she'll stave off a few then retreat into the spruce when their numbers get overwhelming. One exchange she had involved two starlings that landed on either side of her on the tray feeder. You could see she was not happy about this and went beak to beak with them as they stretched themselves to full height intimidation. It didn’t work, Pedro Maria held her ground - or mealworms - and the starlings were forced to vacate. Viva La Pedro! We also witness two foot to foot brief battles with an American Robin who discovered - and quite liked- the mealworms.

Once the Starlings and Blackbirds discovered the mealworms it was time for a new tactic. I hung a dinner bell feeder that ha an adjustable hood. It worked. She figured it out quick but the starlings are too pudgy and the blackbirds to big. This worked well and cut down the amount of mealworms I needed to feed her. I loved it that she knew when I put out fresh worms and was usually at the feeder before I got back in the kitchen and to the window to watch her eat!People came steadily while she was here, 448 successful views, 5 people who missed her. They came bearing gifts of cash for the birdseed and mealworm fund, oranges, grape jelly, suet, birdseed, cookies, fudge, candy, wine, champagne, and Enstrom’s toffee signed; “From a wayward vagrant, muchas gracias for your hospitality!! Pedro” my goodness we were blessed!

My family’s reaction to all this has gone from “what are these people doing here” to “why is this bird so special” to “wow – look at all these goodies for us” to “gee, we miss her where’s our Pedro?” I have done a live radio show, had 5 newspaper interviews published and had two television reporters come and do stories that aired on major channels.

It was good while it lasted.

The last several days before she left, we noticed an increase in her mealworm consumption. Original estimates had been about 100 mealworms a day. Lately, almost 200 per day. Had she reached a body mass acceptable for migration? Possibly taking nearly a month to get back in condition for the flight ahead? Or were the wind and temperature right for her departure?

She’s gone now and we miss her.

I watched this bird as much as I possibly could while she was here, and yet, now that she’s gone I wish I’d done more. More watching, more notes, more pictures, more video. “Did Pedro show up?” Is the family’s first question through the door. It’s quiet here, and emails are no longer inquiries to view, but condolences of loss or speculation of her departure. They came by the dozens; “we’ll miss her” and I hope she finds her way home” and “I’m lighting a candle now”.

Hasta la vista, Pedro Maria, we wish you well.

A New Year And A New Site

I decided to change my old website to this blog for several reasons, the biggest one being ease of use. So here you get to read my adventures, life stories, The Biscuit Trilogy II, exciting bird finds and other things you won't want to miss.