Santa Chickadee

We noticed two chickadees exploring for nesting sites in our wooded area behind our barn, so we quickly put up a birdhouse and hoped they would use it. Several days later we saw that they had bought the real estate and were moving in. Mrs. Chickadee was busy bringing nesting material into the box. Wanting to roll out the red carpet, we put out nesting material for her. We took our dog, Daisy's, fur and offered it in a corn cob holder. A suet cage would have done as well. Eagle-eyed Mrs. Chickadee found the fur this morning and, beside herself, greedily grabbed large mouthfulls. She looked just like a birdie Santa Claus — Santa Chickadee!

Photo © Lillian Stokes, 2006