Photographing a Chickadee is not an easy feat, since they rarely stay still for long. Roger Kangas shows us the kind of patience needed to get a shot like this. A hot cup of tea (or coffee if you prefer), a window with a Keweenaw view, and a birdfeeder full of sunflower seeds, sounds like the perfect way to unwind from the holiday rushing. If you get the chance to observe them for any length of time, you'll notice how Chickadees don't "walk" on the ground or in the trees, they actually do a little hop to get where they want to be. With the number of bird watchers and feeders here in the Copper Country, their next meal is only a "hop, skip and a jump" away, so to speak!

Holy Smokes! #1. These little guys swarm our feeders. Nice picture.

Oh for cute! Great picture - my favorite!

I just love those little guys...they dive bomb my feeders all day long...along with the nuthatches and finches. What's leftover at night, the deer finish up.

I seem to be going through an amount of black oiled sunflower seed! :-D

And an early Happy New Year to all. God BLESS our men and women keeping us free.

We vote to make the awesome,incredible, friendly and beautiful Chickadee, our statebird instead of that Robin!

I have this one saved several times so he comes up more often on my screensaver! :) Roger..everyone I have shown your guestbook to is in awe! I love the "wow, and he was really THERE!" Thanks for sharing a taste of home with us who are away!

We get both the Black-capped and the Mountain Chickadees at our feeders in the foothills of the Rockies in Colorado. The Mountain looks like the Blacked-capped with a low "part" on both sides of it's cap. Otherwise, they look and act the same. Unlike some people, they seem to get along well together.

Awesome picture! That takes a lot of patience...which I don't have.

I have had those little birds land on me while deer hunting. Walk on my shoulder up and down my arm and rifle. Once one stuck it's beak in my ear looking for bugs but only found sawdust and left.

Love them birds. I really enjoy sitting on the deck in early evening about two feet from my bird bath watching those chicks take there evening bath. They are not at all shy.

LOVELY PICTURE!

Yooper in Iraq: Happy New Years to all our troops in Iraq. Hope you will be safe and come home soon. Love and Prayers to all of you. Our weather is great today in Lake Linden and I hope it continues. Very little snow left, but I am sure more will be coming soon. God Bless You and all of our men and women taking care of us who are safe and sound at home.

Hate to even ask this but does anyone know if our "Yooper in Iraq" was perhaps one of the 2 killed on Christmas Day? I pray not. Even more so I pray for the families of those 2 and all the others we have lost in this war/conflict. May they all rest in peace and their families know they did not die in vain.

Patt, I certainly hope that "our Yooper in Iraq" is not one of the casualties, but here's a memo from the Department of Defense:

DoD Identifies Army Casualties, No. 981-03

(EXCERPT) IMMEDIATE RELEASE Dec 27, 2003 (703)697-5131(media) (703)428-0711(public/industry)

DoD Identifies Army Casualties

The Department of Defense announced today the deaths of two soldiers who were supporting Operation Iraqi Freedom. The soldiers were killed
on Dec. 25 in Baquba, Iraq, when their living area came under mortar attack. Killed were:

Staff Sgt. Thomas W. Christensen, 42, of Atlantic Mine, Mich.

Staff Sgt. Stephen C. Hattamer, 43, of Gwinn, Mich.

The soldiers were assigned to the 652nd Engineer Battalion, U.S. Army Reserve, based in Ellsworth, Wis.

This incident is under investigation.

http://www.dod.mil/releases/2003/nr20031227-0814.html
-end-

May God Almighty keep their families in His care.

Talk of West Nile causing a decline
in wild birds seems silly to me.
You provide a nice habitat for them
and they will come.

I have some beautiful spruce in the backyard
and you can see about anything during a course
of an hour.

Chickadees are the most fun to watch...

Great photo, Roger! The Chickadee is my most favorite bird. Others may be more colorful but I love the Chickadee's happy, friendly manner! You must have been very patient to get this picture.

I received your website via my brother in Toronto and presume your recipe for the pasties you make originate from Cornwall, UK, where I live, since our miners emigrated when our tin and copper mines became less productive and more expensive in the 19th Century, and ended up in Australia, South Africa, North America and South America. Hoping you will see fit to introduce the hyperlinks which I have sent you separately for Cornish pictures, culture and language.

wc fields was quite fond of chickadees and so are we all