Welcoming more and more chickadees

You can imagine that I'm in my glory.

 More and more chickadees have returned and new ones have found our woodlot. It's lovely to sit under the sumacs and listen to them introduce themselves as they arrive to the feeders. I just love this bird.

My pretty glass feeder was scrubbed and dried ready for another week of feeding. It is important to keep all feeders clean so that there is no bacteria build-up. And, they shine so nice in the sun-light after a good scrubbing in soap and water. Rinse well. :))

This morning I was surprised to see that the 'knocking noise' behind me in the sumacs was being made by a chickadee. You can see that his head was banging away at a broken branch.
I expected to see a downy woodpecker and stood in awe of this little tiny bird causing such a racket. 
I later read on-line that chickadees can excavate their own nesting cavities, removing wood chips and dumping them away from the site to avoid predators. So, although it's past their nesting time, I guess it was not unusual to see one pecking away at a branch. Geesh..you learn something new everyday.

                                                               Head just a bangin'.

Fascinating little beauties.

Time to fill the feeder.

The weather has cooled somewhat and more rain is on the way.
I'm cooking with veggies from the garden

while Annie watches The Olympics.

hugs, Deb