By Annette Hinkle
It’s become quite the tradition at Morton Wildlife Refuge, and on any given day (particularly weekends) you can find young and old alike standing quietly on the trails of the Noyac preserve with their hands out, palms lifted up as if expecting manna from the woods.
These folks are waiting not to receive, but rather, to give — sunflower seeds to the refuge’s resident population of black capped chickadees. It’s been going on for years now, and never fails to raise a smile, particularly on the faces of kids, when a small bird flutters in to land on a waiting hand and, after looking over the offered goods, flies off with a seed (or two, or three) in its beak.
This weekend, Steve Biasetti, Director of Environmental Education for Group for the East End, will lead a chickadee hike at Morton. He’ll supply the seed and the participants will be doing the hand outs. It’s an outing that Biasetti has offered annually for the last four or five years — usually in colder months when the birds natural food supply is more scarce — and one that families particularly enjoy.
But exactly how long have the birds at Morton been out of visitors hands?
“My earliest memories of Morton are from the mid-70s when I made an occasional visit there because I was coming from Westhampton,” says Biasetti. “I don’t recall have chickadees buzzing you like they do now. So I’d say it started between the 1970s and 1980s.
“In ‘88 I started at Group for the South Fork, and by then it had a reputation for that,” he adds.
Biasetti explains that chickadees, along with titmice, are hardy songbirds in the bird family of Parids. They are described as small, sociable and active — three words that definitely fit the friendly birds of Morton.
“Parids are very unwary of humans and comfortable around them,” explains Biasetti. “Throughout the world, the birds in that family group have been taught to feed out of hand. It’s a very unique experience. I remember seeing it in Austria in the 1980s with the great titmouse and once with the black crested titmouse in Big Bend in Texas about 15 years ago.”
“I think it’s something people in the know have caught onto. I don’t think most people are aware you can go and have them feed out of your hand,” he says.
Though Biasetti is at a loss to say exactly why Parids are so apt to feed out of human hands, he points to their friendly and curious nature as probably one of the reasons. They often flock up when visiting feeders and do seem to watch what’s going on when other birds in their group are feeding. Biasetti supposes there is some learned behavior among the chickadees, and the birds feeding from the hand now are a few generations removed from those who did it 10 years ago.
“Chickadees weigh just 3/10 of an ounce – the same as three pennies,” says Biasetti. “They’re so small they won’t be as long lived as a bigger bird, like a seagull.”
While a day at Morton can be full of a select few hand landing species, it’s hard not to notice that there are other species — wrens, sparrows, blue jays and cardinals — that don’t ever seem interested in feeding from the hand. The question is, will they ever?
Probably not. There is, in fact, a “pecking order” of birds that will feed from the hand. At the top of the frequency list is the chickadee followed by the titmice. Also feeding from hands on occasion is the nuthatch, and finally, at the bottom of the spectrum is the woodpecker which is the most rare of the hand landers.
Technically, feeding the birds at Morton isn’t something that’s officially endorsed. When he leads his outings at Morton, Biasetti goes through the process of getting a permit from the Fish and Wildlife Service, but he notes they don’t encourage feeding of the birds — and for good reason.
“It’s partly because people dump their seed at the end of the day and raccoons, opossums and then, Norway rats, come in to eat it,” explains Biasetti. “There are rare beach nesting birds such as plovers and terns that raccoons and rats will eat. So they do discourage it. I try to instruct people about that part of it and tell them to give the seed back to me when we leave.”
At this time of year in the natural world, Biasetti explains that songbirds rely on seeds — things like sumac bush or dried golden rod — rather than berries which are pretty much absent, except for dry and mealy bearberry, winterberry and bayberry, which few birds will eat (the chickadee being an exception). Come summer, the diet will expand to include a lot of insects, including caterpillars. The question is, does giving the birds a hand-out throw the natural order of things out of balance? Do the birds, in fact, become dependent on us for their food?
“On a philosophical level, feeders in general do mess with the natural process,” admits Biasetti. “But I think the Parids in particular are very hardy birds and have always spent the winter here and can deal with hard temperatures on their own. Feeders in the last 50 to 60 years have become much more of a phenomenon. The increase has allowed birds to over-winter in places they wouldn’t have otherwise. It has also affected range for a number of birds like Carolina wrens, cardinals and downy woodpeckers. Those species were rare before the ‘50s, and we suspect feeders had a roll in that.”
“But we are here. The fact that those birds are getting additional food by people coming to feed at them is good,” he adds. “They do have to fend for themselves, and in difficult winters like this one, there are probably not as many people out there feeding them.”
“Chickadees of Morton Wildlife Refuge” begins at 11 a.m. on Sunday, February 13, 2011 (corrected) at the preserve in Noyac. Seed will be provided. For more information call Steve Biasetti at 765-6450 ext. 205.
Top: Sophie Flax with a bird in the hand.
Getting Chickadees to Eat From Your Hand at Home:
Just like at Morton Wildlife Refuge, you can get chickadees to feed out of your hand – but only if you’re patient. Try beginning this process in colder months (like now) when there are fewer natural food sources available and chickadees are more likely to land on you for an easy meal.
Place a small amount of black sunflower seeds in the palm of your hand, raise your hand up and keep your palm flat. Stand as still as possible near your feeder and let the chickadees check you out for a while as they come and go to the feeder.
Repeat the process every day, once or twice a day for up to a week. The chickadees will quickly get used to you and braver birds may start landing on your hand. You can also try removing the feeder after a few days and see if they will choose your hand instead.
