Making Friends

Two Black-Capped Chickadees.

Today was a CRAZY day in Mentor, OH. First, I went to bed with no snow on the ground and woke up to about 8" of fresh powder! Unable to work, Doug and I ended up suiting up in snow gear and going "out and about" into the new winter wonderland. We came across a few birds (Black-Capped Chickadees and Tufted Titmice) in an area of dense thicket. The birds chirped and appeared to be very friendly and welcoming to their domain. Doug and I quickly became acquainted with these feathered foes. We stuck our hands out to them, and couldn't believe when they landed on our hands! We rushed back to the car to get a little bit of trail mix to feed them in this famished winter weather. When we returned to the spot there seemed to be about 15 to 20 birds ready to eat! We put a little food in our hands and had a photoshoot with the snowbirds.

Tufted Titmouse feeding from my hand.

Black-Capped Chickadee feeding from Doug's hand.

These birds were landing on us, picked a piece of fruit that appealed to it, and flew up to a branch to chow down. This went on with all the birds for at least a half of an hour...each second was amazing. Eventually I turned my hat inside out and put some mix on the brim of it and the birds would land on my head and peck at the offering. I think that the feeling of friendship was mutual between the humans and the birds today. Torn between the idea of leaving them and continuing our trek, we decided to move on and perhaps return for a quick feeding on the way back. The snow was deep, the trails were covered, and the scenery was beautiful. There is a lot to say about the appearance of pristine snow covering all that you can see, but it can all be summed up in one word - beautiful.

Doug trudges through the deep snow.

We hiked for a while and Doug showed me one of his favorite spots - the area was beautiful. Along our hike, we would relieve sagging branches from strained trees of the snow which had piled up on them during the recent snowfall. Shaking the branch, the snow would fall off and the tree would whip back into original form. They looked so much more comfortable (debates that trees have sensation). Doug climbed out on a downed tree over a pretty steep grade, I hung from tree branches; It felt as if we were kids again who were out of school because of a snow day. There were no complaints from either of us. After the hiking and trudging through snow, we returned to our new friends and offered a bit more grub to them before we left the area. They graciously accepted...

Tufted Titmouse feeding from my hand.

Tufted Titmouse feeding off of Doug's hand.

Today was an exceptional day for being out observing nature. The fresh snow, the bird feeding, the scenery - all were truly amazing. There is only one picture left to recap how I felt while being "out and about" on this snow-covered day in March..

Snow smile