The Finch and the Chickadee

We had some excitement, ornithologically speaking, last month when we spotted this strange bird at our feeder. We had no idea what it was, but eventually found it in one of the bird books: it's a gray-crowned rosy finch. It nests in places like the Aleutian Islands of Alaska in summer, and winters around Arizona and Baja, so it was well out of its normal range when it graced us with a visit to our feeder.

I reported the finch to the Minnesota Ornithological Union and posted a photo on their website, and we were surprised to hear from people from as far away as Utah and Chicago who wanted to come and see this bird. Apparently, ornithologists have no qualms about inviting themselves to come and watch your bird feeders! Which is fine with us -- and we welcomed them -- but unfortunately the finch didn't make a return visit. He or she was probably somewhere well to the south by the time I posted the photo. I hope so, anyway. But what a treat, to see a bird like that. It was the first sighting of this type of finch in Aitkin County, we learned, and one of only a handful ever reported in Minnesota. Birdwatching is really exciting sometimes!

We had another strange bird encounter just last week. We had gotten home in the evening, after dark, and I had settled in at the kitchen table to check my email. I heard something hit the window and told Gary, who said -- guy-like -- that it was probably just ice falling off the roof. I was dubious about that, but couldn't think of any other explanation. Then it hit again, and we saw that it was a chickadee, flying at the window! It seemed to want to get in (I thought it looked angry, myself), and finally tired and sat on the window ledge, looking in at us. I don't know if we disturbed its sleep by turning on the lights, or what, but we'd never seen that kind of behavior before. In the morning I went out to see if it had died, as it was out in subzero temperatures after dark, but I didn't see any sign of it. It hasn't been back since.