We get Chickadees at our back deck feeders all the time. They are the most constant, the most faithful visitors, and they are incredibly bold. They will perch on one feeder while I am filling the other. And of course, I know the stories about people teaching them to eat out of their hands. It is easy to see how it might happen.

This is not, however, a feeder Chickadee…it is (or appears to be) a wild Chickadee…caught on a winter day in the wilds of the marshes beside the Mousam River, at least 1000 yards from the nearest feeder! Notice how much more handsome the wild variety is…how full of vim and vigor. Almost like the difference between a domestic dog and a wolf…there is that air of mystery…that sense of almost danger…that only the truly wild creatures possess. Yes, this is definitely a wild Chickadee. (Of course, when he, as he surely does, visits the feeders in the housing development that is just across the marsh, he  certainly loses all that 🙁

Canon SX50HS. Program with -1/3rd EV exposure compensation and iContrast. 1800mm equivalent field of view. ISO 640 @ 1/1000th @ f6.5. Processed in Snapseed on the Samsung Galaxy Note 10.1 2014.

I know there are folks out there who are totally immune to irony, so, just to ward off the well meant comments: just kidding!