Junior Titmice at the Feeder

Well, I promised you titmice! This has been a busy week -- our church had it's annual Sausage Dinner, and this is our first time since we officially transferred our membership from the (much bigger) church in Houston. So this year, instead of simply of attending, we worked -- peeling potatoes, and cooking and serving the day of the dinner. It was hard work, but good fellowship and a lot of fun.

That said, I wasn't sure if I'd get any pictures of titmice. The one shot I had gotten was not very flattering. Fortunately, they decided to cooperate -- even with me sitting on the porch only a few feet away from the feeder. So here's the gallery!



When I first went out, of course, the birds were a bit put off. Many of them flew to the yew tree to my left. You should have heard the fussing! You know, some birds are just like people! They just don't what their pictures taken! Seriously, I like this shot because it makes the titmouse look really formal in his grey suit with his crest up. Titmice are usually just so "cute" it's nice to see their serious side once in a while.

I was worried that the birds wouldn't cooperate, but it wasn't long before they started cautiously exploring the feeder and checking to see if I was going to try to catch them. Soon they calmed down and started flying over to the feeder.

I think most of the birds in these pictures are the newly fledged titmice, but they still will beg for food.



And if they don't get any, then they will fend for themselves.






What's funny is that my digital camera has a bit of latency. At one point, I aimed and focused on a titmouse, but when I pressed the button, I got a cardinal instead. A combination of slow camera and fast birds! The smaller birds were startled and a bit frightened of "Big Daddy" Redbird, but I think those titmice know no fear! In fact they sometimes play a game of hide and seek!



Of course, it's not just the junior titmice who are fearless -- the chickadees are right there with the titmice. They are even brave around the cardinals. And if they get "pushed out" of the feeder, they don't go off in a huff -- they go off in a PUFF! :-)



But even though the titmice are pretty brave, they can also be a bit shy -- I don't know if this is our previously injured little one, but there is one little one who seems a bit more subdued than the others, and we suspect that's the one who plans to never run into a window again!