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Welcome to the Pine River Review. Our sight is dedicated to our little homestead located along the Pine River tucked inside the Chippewa Nature Center's 1400 Acres of wild in Michigan's lower penninsula. We love to share our pictures, video, comment, and our own homespun music. Step inside our world as we celebrate this beautiful nook!


Tuesday, January 4, 2011

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!

23 comments:

  1. Great Titmice shots...they are fun little guys, agreed. I had one almost land on me last week when I was home filling my mom's feeders. They're awfully chatty little guys!

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  2. What a lovely little critter! Awesome shots, you can even count the feathers! :-)

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  3. I'm just on the territorial fringe of these guys which probably is the reason I've never seen one. But who knows? Boom & Gary.

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  4. lovely little birds, and a great story to accompany them. :)

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  5. I sure could use of those personal assistant birds! Can you export one out here?

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  6. Beautiful photos of the Titmouse.

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  7. Your little Titmouse is a lovely bird. Great captures.

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  8. That sure is a cute bird. Very nice photos.

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  9. These little guys have given me many years of enjoyment--I think it would be fun to try to hand feed them...they always use the hair from when I groom the dogs, Flossie has soft hair just right for nest building..
    Wonderful shots---Awesome lighting!!

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  10. It's Tuesday evening and we had an unexpected snow storm today on the Pine. I have spent the day taking snowy bird pics out my windows and visiting WBW blogs. That's about as perfect as a day can get.
    Thank You for your kind comments they are truly what makes this thing work and I appreciate every one and everyone!

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  11. What a gorgeous little bird, and I have lots of them to entertain me. You have captured them perfectly.
    Have a great week.
    Becky

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  12. One of my favorite little birds. However, I am now seriously considering a hat when I see them in my yard!

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  13. Beautiful photos and great story... what more could we want in a blog ?

    Happy 2011 to you...

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  14. Grin, that must be one happy birdie. Using hairs,.. maybe that's why the Loggers did it, they used them as their hair dressers ;-)
    The sparrows in Hungary always use the discarded dog hairs. They always came and picked them from the outside carpet. After brushing the dogs, I left the big bundles (we have a yellow Lab) for the birds and they came and picked it all up :-)

    Lovely shots of these little fellows!

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  15. Nice close ups! Have you worked on your stalking skills? :)

    Happy new year btw!

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  16. Super shots of the Tufted Titmouse and I love that story, I hadn't heard that before. You know, I really love birds but I don't think I would let one, no matter how cute, pull out my hair. Ouch!

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  17. Great shots of a charming bird. I love the snippets of history; that lady was tough! What a great story. (I HOPE I get to spot a titmouse one day!)

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  18. In the days when we still had doorstep delivery milkmen, the tits used to learn how to open the foil tops of the bottles and drink the cream :-)
    My first time here: I hope slightly embellished birds are OK :-)

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  19. Lovely pics of the Tufted Titmouse!! The first one is just magical! Also enjoyed reading the story about the white-haired lady succumbing to having her hair harvested by a titmouse.

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  20. I love your story with the photos.We have alot of them here.I have seen them upside down plucking the flannel from my plastic tablecloth on the picnic table.They call at me when I`m in the kitchen-they can see me through the window- as they like their own fresh water poured for just them on my back deck.phylliso

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  21. What a lovely story of "wool gathering". We had a similar experience while hiking on a highland plateau. A New holland Honeyeater kept flying on top of the Prof's head and yanking at his hair. The poor little beggar had not much chance but game as a pebble kept coming in again and again.

    Great little birds your Titmice, pity there are none in Australia.

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  22. Great story and beautiful photos of that little cutie!

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  23. Such a great story and excellent images! Greetings from flood-bound Toowoomba, Australia.

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