Chapter 12

I find it odd that I am talking about chickadees, the one who wears the black cap, polite little fellow, except he/she never takes the cap off, kidding... I find it odd that I'm talking about the black-capped chickadee NOW in Chapter 12, since he/she is part of my childhood memories. Back yonder, eons ago -- whoa mate, you're not that old -- I remember sitting on the porch of my parents' home. It's winter and my mother put out the bird feeder. We sat on that porch, and watched the chickadees feed. Therefore, they are survivors, like me.

I read about chickadees where they get together with other small birds, because the chickadee will call out, HEY THERE'S FOOD, and other small foragers will come running. Those wee mates do need to stick together, because what I remember most about chickadees is their "running helter-skelter" when the larger birds, the grackles and starlings come, mostly the grackles.

The chickadees come, quietly, first, to get the food. Once the larger birds leave, later, the chickadees will come back.

One of the old concepts of what makes a human "human" is that they use tools - that idea has been blown to smithereens by the monkeys being observed using tools to get at food (a stick). The birds need to be put in that category as well, methinks, as tool-users. The chickadee will bring a see, a piece of food up to a branch, put it down, and then peck at it. That's using his beak, using the branch, and using some thought. How can that be called instinct? He/she remembers, somehow. I've seen crows use tools (pebbles).

Is it that they are more human than we thought? Alternatively, does that old concept of "what is human" need to be revised? I like the thought, myself that we humans are more like them - the animals and the birds.

I like the idea of being more like the birds. Moreover, humans, DEFINITELY, as a group, want to be birds - well, why did we persist, for so long to try to fly?

The chickadee is a nice, social, entity. I like the idea of the little guys, birds of various persuasions, "sticking together".