Tufted Titmouse ~ First Time Visitor!!
Richelle Hunter
This past Thursday, we noticed a flash of gray at one of our bird feeders. We knew it wasn't a Chickadee, Junco or Nuthatch....something was very different about the colours, although the glimpse we had wasn't great. We decided that we needed to pay closer attention, so spent a little time observing our feeders. It wasn't long before the bird returned...a Tufted Titmouse!! It's the first time we've ever seen one....the first time to see them at our feeders! We then realized that there was more than one but getting a decent shotwas proving to be quite difficult! They would fly to the feeders, grab a peanut or safflower seed, then fly away from the feeder. While they often landed in a nearby tree, they weren't still for long!
On Friday, we noticed several birds hanging out in a tree on the other side of our home...Chickadees, Nuthatches....and a Tufted Titmouse or two! We decided to put some of our Country Blend seed mix in a hopper feeder....success! The Titmouse was spending more time on this feeder where it could move around, work on a seed if necessary or simply grab a peanut & eat it while perched in a tree.
They are very entertaining birds and since posting a photo on instagram, we've heard from Jody Allair (Bird Studies Canada) that many have been moving through Southern Ontario with larger than normal numbers reported at Long Point. Other folks in the London area have also welcomed them to their feeders this fall....so cool!!
Lovely Tufted Titmouse!