New Chicks on the Block

It was snowing again.  But I was happy, because I could see new neighbours: Black-capped chickadees!  I'd seen little interest in last year's woodpecker hole until now (though Paul's had some bird sightings). 

But, after observing them for a while and staring at the blowing snow, I also wondered what the heck they were thinking.  There were (at least) two.  One would fly out of the hole, and the other would immediately fly into the hole.  Then that one would fly out of the hole, and the other would fly back in. 

Were they doing drills?  (To the lilac tree, to the rowan, to the hole!  Repeat!)

Or, were they simply taking turns at having a sheltered place to rest? 

They certainly had a really cool way of diving from a higher branch to the mouth of the hole (so fast they were just a photo smudge), still for that micro second required to change directions and go into the hole.

Since it seemed such a planned display, I had to laugh when one jumped back out backwards, when realising the other bird was still inside. Still, it didn't happen that often. 

I mused to Catherine that maybe I shouldn't be so excited:  They could be in fact incredibly territorial and aggressive, and before you know it, we'd be complaining about chickadee attacks...

Though diplomatic ("I don't think I've heard of a chickadee attacking..."), I'm sure her thoughts were more along the lines of "Are you nuts?" 

I just think it could just be the kind of thing where something / someone really cute would get ticked off about never being taken seriously because they're so small... and cute. 

Either way, I should probably stop staring at them. 

More Finnemore

Cabin Pressure's final recording is done, so now there's only time left to wait.  John Finnemore has plenty of other appearances coming up and has continued to write.  I read his blog and listened to the BBC radio shows, but I didn't yet check out his youtube video series "John and Kevin's Sunday Papers".

Paul and I decided to watch one today.  And was immediately alarmed by the youtube advert.  But past that...


Afterwards, Paul's response: "I've got the horse, you've got the hamster... let's make lots of money."

That sounds like a plan!  But actually, we still need a horse and a hamster.