Noah

March 11 from 11:30 A.M. to 11:48 A.M. Bird: Chickadee The birds (which were hard to count but numbered in about 8) flew around quickly and rapidly in seemingly random circles. I decided to try and follow one of them: First the bird flew from main wood and away from the rest of the birds to go and perch on the bird feeder. It then flew to a large tree nearby and seemingly started pecking at the birch bark( it was actually eating a seed). It then flew jerkily up the tree stopping at random points along the tree before diving back down to the bird feeder. While on the bird feeder it looked back and bobbed it's head often. Then with the arrival of a second and third chickadee flew to a smaller apple tree next to the feeder. Then they started flying up the tree together in an inconsistent jerky manner, one of the birds in particular seemed to lead the group. The leader then went to the lowest branch in the tree and then called three times. Then the birds spread out and then flew to the feeder, they then flew back to the tree, pecked at the bark some more and then started to bob their heads and call. Then they all flew of to woods suddenly as if startled, and stayed there for about a minute or so. After that one of them came back slowly and cautiously and then went back to his/her regular tree. He/she was quickly followed by three others and then they flew around randomly for a while calling as they did so. Then they flew slowly back to the woods, this time for good.

March 13 5:28 to 6:02 Bird landed on suet feeder and whipped its head up and down while feeding before flying up to the a tree. From there it flew up the tree stopping at various seemingly random points before flying down and dive bombing the bird feeder. From there he/she flew onto the bushes near the suet feeder where he/she and another bird perched on the railing of my deck whipping it's head back and forth suddenly. Then it flew back to the suet feeder and then into the bushes for a little while. From there she repeated the process of going from one of the bird feeders to a tree or bush and then perching several times before flying off into the woods. Also wasn't bothered when a large bird feeder went to the same feeder that he/she was at.

March 16 3:37 to 4:05 Location: near the road Birds were flying about sporadically taking breaks in the tree where they would sit and whip their heads around independently of their bodies. Often fly to the ground and pecked at random spots before flying into the tree and eating whatever they had found. Whenever a car drove by they were unfazed and also seemed to ignore other species of birds. Their were certain birds that tended to follow each other as though in pairs. When one of them would fly off the tree to the ground the other would quickly follow. The birds varied greatly in size and didn't all have the same color feathers.

March 18 4:07 to 4:47 location: deck Sat outside for awhile before the Chickadees came. The were calling "fee-bee" a lot and were gathering seeds from the bird feeder almost the entire time before they would fly back to the tree and peck the seed open. The birds seem to no longer travel in large groups but rather in pairs. One pair in particular flew into the woods and bounced around on the dead and fallen tree limbs seeming to look for something (probably food). I saw him reach down and grab things a couple times however I couldn't see what it was. The birds were oddly hanging upside down on the under side of branches quite a lot I couldn't find a reason for them to do this. I saw one chickadee fly into a large woodpecker whole and start pecking around inside of it again I'm not sure what it was doing although it could have been looking for food.

March 26 3:30 to 4:02 Location: back deck I only saw 2 pairs of chickadees flying around today although there was the ever-present call of "fee-bee" echoing through my backyard. They seemed to be annoyed by the chickens and are angrily calling at them. They jumped around on the wet muddy ground, foraging for I think. They were rather unexciting and exhibited only behavior that I had seen before such as dive bombing the bird feeder after hopping up the tree. They flew away into the woods "chicka-dee-dee-deeing".

April 2 8:30 to 9:00 location: back yard Today I was able to locate a chickadee nest because when I went outside and passed one of the trees near the woods a wood chip flew out of the tree and landed in front of me. Since I knew that this was a nesting behavior of chickadees I went back to my deck from where I could see a hole in the side of the tree from which a chickadee head kept popping out and dropping wood chips. Eventually he/she and another chickadee flew out of the nest and started hopping around on the ground near the bird feeder picking up seeds and then flying back up to the tree. No other new behaviors were observed although there didnt seem to be as much "fee-beeing" going on as usual but when I did hear it it was very loud and agitated.