I became immersed in a little chickadee drama yesterday. Seems a chipmunk was of a mind to go rooting around the chickadees’ “hole in the pole” nest. This chipmunk was just a young fellow, as cute as a button and digging his holes all over my garden. Mr. Chickadee starts diving the chipmunk; Mrs. Chickadee joins in. By now, this little chipmunk is thinking he stumbled into a bumblebee nest, because he’s jumping up and down and SCREAMING -- with me laughing out loud right in the middle of the yard, all by myself! Mrs. Chickadee retreated to a limb to let her husband finish the battle, which consisted of sitting on the chain link fence and watching the chipmunk hightail out of there. Mr. Chickadee remained in the chain link “diamonds” close to the ground, and kept opening and closing his wings! Here is this little one inch wide fellow, trying to make himself as big as a full inch and a half by “flexing” his wings. How’s that for cute? He sits there for almost ten minutes doing his Charlie Atlas imitation, then flies over to the maple tree in his gallant “roller-coaster” flight. His wife flies over to meet him, and, at this point, I am rubbing my eyes, because she did the little “baby-bird” imitation they do when they are courting. Then he flew over to her, and put a seed in her beak, only he didn’t have a seed to give her. What I’m saying is, they were “kissing!” If this little gal wasn’t saying to him, “My Hero!” and he wasn’t giving her a swashbuckling hug...all in bird fashion, mind you...then you tell me what the heck was going on!
Patricia Fish
IN SEARCH OF SEA PARROTS Searching for Puffins off the Maine coast. Nel Anctil
THE BIRDS OF KENYA Come along on a bird safari to East Africa. Evelyn White
BACK YARD NESTING SUCCESS Our efforts to get birds nesting in our back yard are finally rewarded. Dan Marquis
GREBE IN A BASKET An amusing story about a Red-Necked Grebe. Louise Sylvester
ENCOUNTER WITH A HUMMER What happens when human and hummingbird meet?Jean Taber
FLORIDA FLING Take a stroll through Merritt Island National Wildlife Refuge. Tom Hayward