Happenings

"Birding field trips are conducted by chapter members to area birding hotspots on the second and fourth Wednesdays of each month from March thru October.  The locations for this summer and fall are July 9-Streibel Pond in Michigan City, July 23-Creek Ridge County Park, August 13-Peter Kesling Property, August 27-Fox Park in LaPorte, September 10-Kankakee Fish and Wildlife Refuge, September 24-Luhr County Park, October 8-Washington Park (MC) Lakeshore, October 22-Bluhm County Park.  Contact Joan Wisniewski at 785-2765 or wisniews2@aol.com for information on when and where to meet."

Binoculars, a basic bird guidebook, and clothing appropriate for the weather are useful gear when taking part in any outdoor birding activity.  Anyone interested in birds, regardless of birding experience level, is welcome to participate in any of our outings.

Please share with us any news or photos you might have of noteworthy local bird sightings.  With your permission, we will post these notices and photos on this website.   Contact any of the chapter officers with your birding news.  

Chickadees

Any inhabitant of a northern state who has taken the time to get acquainted with his or her surroundings is likely familiar with the chickadee.  This was the case even before W.C. Fields and Mae West immortalized the little creature in the film “My Little Chickadee” in 1940.  It is a delightful, saucy little (just a bit smaller than a sparrow) bird which stays with us throughout the year.  They make our winters more enjoyable with their antics at our feeders. 

Chickadees are aggressive little tykes with bright white and black coloring on the head, a cream-colored breast, and black, white, and

gray stripes on the wings.   Many patient feeder tenders report that they can coax the chickadee regulars to eat from their hand.  These passerines eat insects during the summer, so they enjoy suet, but they will munch on sunflower and smaller seeds also. 

Chickadees usually hang together in small flocks throughout the winter, but pair up in breeding season to find a cavity or nest box to raise a family.  Their call is a familiar background noise in our neighborhood back yards, parks, and woodlands.  Even casual birders have little difficulty in recognizing the namesake chicka-dee-dee-dee call or the fee-beeee song notes.  They have a pack rat type of habit of hiding seed and dead insects in a variety of places.

Chickadees seem to be able to remember the location of a large number of these caches.

Most of the chickadees indigenous to the midwest are black-capped chickadees.  These are very similar in appearance to the Carolina chickadee which is more common in the southeastern US.  The ranges of the two species do overlap and they do interbreed. 

Chickadees have been extensively studied for their ability to communicate via subtle variations in their song patterns.  So these birds are not just pretty faces, they’re also pretty smart!  Ms. West should truly have been flattered to be WC’s little chickadee.

See the Projects Page for updates on bluebird trails, the bird count and the butterfly count.

SIGHTINGS:

Papa bluebird and teenage offspring.  Taken by Elizabeth Roman in her backyard.