Black-capped Chicadees

When you want to practice taking photos of birds, one of the easiest places to do this could be in your own back yard near the bird feeder. Once your seeds are in the feeders, you can set up to catch some photos. Often the birds will fly into the area and sit on nearby trees or bushes while they wait for a turn at the feeders. This gives you time to focus on them to take their photos.

I've been wanting to do some practice because we are hoping to go to Point Pelee, Ontario to see the migration of the birds. We've never been there before, so it should be interesting, even if I don't get wonderful photos.

We have several kinds of birds coming to our feeders right now, but the black-capped chicadee is the tamest, and will let you get fairly close. 

It is nearly time for them to have their nesting season. They often nest in an old woodpecker's hole in a tree about one to seven metres above the ground, or the pair will excavate a hole together. I had the opportunity to watch this process a few years ago. It was quite interesting watching the chicadee go into the hole and bring material out of it.

The nest is built by the female and the eggs are incubated by her. Then both birds feed the young ones. The young ones leave the nest within 16 days, and continue to be fed by the adults for several more weeks. Apparently some chicadees have lived for 12 years. I didn't realize they could live that long. One thing that is amazing about them is that they can hide all kinds of seeds in different places and remember where they put them.

And God said, “Let the waters swarm with swarms of living creatures, 

and let birds fly above the earth across the expanse of the heavens.”

Genesis 1:20