I was xc skiing on CT Hill about 10 years ago, and I came across a deer carcass - a skeleton, really, with bits of flesh clinging to it. It was covered with chickadees, like flies. At least 30 of them were working away at it, tugging and pecking at scraps of fat and meat.
It was one of the coolest things I've ever seen, and I'm kind of glad that it was pre-cell-phone-camera, and I just carry the image in my mind. -Liz Brown ________________________________ From: [email protected] <[email protected]> on behalf of Rachel Lodder <[email protected]> Sent: Saturday, February 20, 2021 1:23 PM To: CAYUGABIRDS-L <[email protected]>; Suan Yong <[email protected]> Subject: Re: [cayugabirds-l] Chickadee flock? I once encountered A LOT of chickadees along Cayuga Lake. There was a row of trees beside the road, and as a couple of us were birding the lake, there was a steady stream of chickadees moving past us in the trees headed north, so it was easy to tell they weren't the same birds. I don't see my eBird checklist (maybe I didn't make one, I can't remember), so I don't have any more exact numbers, but we were all impressed with the number of chickadees that went by and I'm sure it was over 50. Not sure why or what they were up to! ________________________________ From: [email protected] <[email protected]> on behalf of Suan Yong <[email protected]> Sent: Saturday, February 20, 2021 1:00 PM To: Cayuga Birding List <[email protected]> Subject: [cayugabirds-l] Chickadee flock? While cross-country skiing through Hammond Hill, I saw a flock of about 50 small birds moving through some evergreens, in fairly tight quarters, in waves of 5-10 at a time. The only sounds I could hear and identify were chickadee chips and calls. I'm used to only encountering chickadees in small flocks of maybe 5-10, and this big flock seems unusual. They were too far to ID without binoculars. Conceivably they were redpolls or something else, but I heard nothing to suggest anything besides chickadees. Suan _____________________ Composed by thumb and autocorrect. -- Cayugabirds-L List Info: Welcome and Basics<http://www.northeastbirding.com/CayugabirdsWELCOME> Rules and Information<http://www.northeastbirding.com/CayugabirdsRULES> Subscribe, Configuration and Leave<http://www.northeastbirding.com/CayugabirdsSubscribeConfigurationLeave.htm> Archives: The Mail Archive<http://www.mail-archive.com/[email protected]/maillist.html> Surfbirds<http://www.surfbirds.com/birdingmail/Group/Cayugabirds> BirdingOnThe.Net<http://birdingonthe.net/mailinglists/CAYU.html> Please submit your observations to eBird<http://ebird.org/content/ebird/>! -- -- Cayugabirds-L List Info: Welcome and Basics<http://www.northeastbirding.com/CayugabirdsWELCOME> Rules and Information<http://www.northeastbirding.com/CayugabirdsRULES> Subscribe, Configuration and Leave<http://www.northeastbirding.com/CayugabirdsSubscribeConfigurationLeave.htm> Archives: The Mail Archive<http://www.mail-archive.com/[email protected]/maillist.html> Surfbirds<http://www.surfbirds.com/birdingmail/Group/Cayugabirds> BirdingOnThe.Net<http://birdingonthe.net/mailinglists/CAYU.html> Please submit your observations to eBird<http://ebird.org/content/ebird/>! -- -- Cayugabirds-L List Info: http://www.NortheastBirding.com/CayugabirdsWELCOME http://www.NortheastBirding.com/CayugabirdsRULES http://www.NortheastBirding.com/CayugabirdsSubscribeConfigurationLeave.htm ARCHIVES: 1) http://www.mail-archive.com/[email protected]/maillist.html 2) http://www.surfbirds.com/birdingmail/Group/Cayugabirds 3) http://birdingonthe.net/mailinglists/CAYU.html Please submit your observations to eBird: http://ebird.org/content/ebird/ --
