How a Chickadee Eats!

I've been trying for the last couple of months to photograph how a Black-capped Chickadee eats.  They cautiously approach the feeder, grab a seed, and dart back into the bush where they break open or mash up the seed into bite-sized pieces while clutching the seed with their feet.  Its fun watching their antics with binoculars, but I wanted to see what else I could learn from still photos.  Because they ensconce themselves into the thickest part of the bush for safety while eating, getting photos has been nearly impossible for me.  But finally this evening one little Chickadee granted me a small opening between branches for some photos in the setting sunlight.

Hungry, this Black-capped Chickadee has grabbed a seed that is a little more than a mouthful.  See how it has the seed pinched between its two feet?

By pecking and crushing the seed against the branch it is able to break off bite-sized pieces.  Look at that cute little pink tongue!  My eyes weren't fast enough to see that through binoculars.

Ever wary of predators, the Chickadee stops eating often to have a quick look around before taking another bite.

"Pardon me sir, you seem to have a bit of food on your lip," says I.
"I'm a bird you fool.  I haven't any plump fleshy lips like you land-bound bipeds."

"Do you like sea food?  Get it? SEE food!", he puerilely jokes as he munches on the remaining masticated portion of the seed.

And when it was all done eating, he licked his lips...I mean bill...then stuck out his tongue at me and said, "This $14 a box premium bird seed from Costco is pretty high quality stuff.  You don't mind if I help myself to another serving do you!"

After I took these photos, my two oldest kids and I tried to tempt this chickadee and his friends into eating from our hands.  One chickadee came within a foot of Anne's hand and seemed to be thinking really hard about it before giving up and taking the easy seed from the hanging platform feeder.  We'll have to keep trying to hand-feed them until they get used to us.