Beware the Titmouse! WBW VII

Baeolophus bicolor

One of the great little friends a person can make in the Michigan woods during winter is the Tufted Titmouse, a gregarious bird that doesn't mind the company of humans and enjoys their feeders. I have read that loggers back in the 1800's hand trained these birds to the point where they practically became personal assistants. The gray birds waited expectantly for the Shanty Boys to appear in the morning from the log cabins and accompanied them on their jaunts into the White Pine forests perching on the hats and shoulders of the workers. Certainly much of what went on in logging camps was exaggerated as the stories were told and retold but in this case I am a believer because it is a common sight on Utube to see these guys being hand fed. If you have the time and the inclination you could prove the point to yourself by sitting still and enticing them with a palm full of seed. Beware though, Tufted Titmice like to use animal hair to line there nests and may decide to use yours as this anecdote from Familiar Birds illustrates. We quote Mrs. Vitae Kite from 1925.
"Without the least warning he lit squarely on top of my head, giving me such a start that it was with great difficulty I controlled myself and sat still. At first I thought he was trying to frighten me away but soon changed my mind, when he began working and pulling at my hair with all his might. Now my hair has been very white for many years, but I still have plenty of it, and was more than willing to divide it with this little bird, so I steadied myself and 'held fast' while that energetic 'Tom' had the time of his life gathering 'wool' to line his nest, for that was what I now felt sure he was doing. He didn't seem to have much luck with the coils on top, so he worked around over my ear, where there were short loose hairs, and I could hear and feel him snip-snip as he severed them--not one by one, but in bunches, it seemed to me."
People were tougher in those days!

    Now it's time for World Bird Wednesday VII

This is the home of World Bird Wednesday. A place for bird photographers from around the world to gather and share their photographs and experiences as they pursue Natures most diverse and beautiful treasurers, the birds. The Blogosphere connects like minded people from around our planet like no other technology can do. World Bird Wednesday will be open for posting at 12 noon Tuesday EST North America through noon on Thursday.

You are invited to link your blog with other bird photographers in a weekly celebration of these most diverse and intriguing of Earth's residents, the BIRDS!



                                                          
Three easy steps!


#1. Simply copy the above picture onto your W.B.W. blog entry. It contains a link for your readers to share in WBW. Or you can copy this link on to your blog page to share W.B.W. http://pineriverreview.blogspot.com/

#2. Come to The Pine River Review on Tuesday Noon EST through Thursday Noon and submit your blog entry with Linky.

#3. Check back in during the course of the next day and explore these excellent photoblogs!

The thumbnails below are links to our contributors blogs where you can view their beautiful posts. The idea of a meme is that you will visit each others blogs and perhaps leave a comment to encourage your compadres.

                  Please in your linky description give a clue to your location like U.K. or Bolivia.


                  And hey, it's okay to link one of your older posts that you worked so hard on.

                                                   Come on, it's your turn!