Coordinated Hunting

Almost done breakfast

Sammy showed himself bright and early this morning at 7:30am, as is becoming his habit. He flew in to eat some mealworms out of dishes, then off he went to do some preening in a favored maple tree.

Blue feathers have begun to appear on the front of his crown, while the blue of his back feathers get more vividly rich every day.

Look for the blue crown feathers starting to grown right above his beak

His spotted fledgling breast is becoming more and more russet as he loses his "baby" feathers, making him look more like an adult every day.  I am in awe of his beauty each time I see him, he virtually changes overnight. Talk about "kids growing up too fast"...this "kid" of mine is literally growing up right before my eyes!

Russet breast feathers are taking over his fledgling spots

Sammy put on some marvelous territorial displays today, as he continues to try to keep the White-breasted Nuthatches out of his yard.  He chases them off the feeders into the edge of the woods, but they always seem to sneak back in within a couple minutes.  He didn't seem to mind the Black-capped Chickadees hanging around today, letting them fly in to help themselves to sunflower seeds.

Staring intently at prey possibly on the ground far below him

We have at least a couple of pretty little fledgling Chipping Sparrows using our yard, and one of them seems very interested in Sammy.  The little baby sparrow had followed him across the yard and has landed near him in a tree a couple of times now.  I wonder if he thinks Sammy might feed him, or if he's looking for a buddy to hang out.  Maybe he's simply curious.  The fledgling Chipping Sparrows are so cute with their lightly streaked breasts, especially when they do their begging wing quivers to their parent for a meal.

Pretty little fledgling Chipping Sparrow in our yard

Sammy's bath routine today was kind of funny...he had a quick little bath, barely getting wet before flying up to preen in the beech above the bath. Within a couple minutes, he was right back in the bath and had his usual saturating bath.  It was like he checking out the water first, before committing himself to letting loose in it.

Before dark, Sammy blessed me with a before-bed cuddle, nuzzling himself against my neck and under my ponytail for several minutes.  I so enjoy these quiet, close moments with him...I hope he gets as much peaceful comfort out of them as I do.

After flying off, I presumed to settle in for the night, I went to the laneway garden to turn over the rocks in the garden border to find bugs for Sammy for tomorrow.  I was surprised when Sammy joined me, stood on the rock beside the one I had turned over and proceeded to watch what I was doing.  He followed me all along the garden border, hopping down to the soil to snatch a bug after I flipped over a rock. He ended up eating 4 small black crickets and a couple of potato bugs.  I kept saying to myself "He's hunting with me!!  No, that can't be!!  Is he??"  It sure seemed like he knew exactly what I was doing and what the result of turning over rocks would be.  Sammy continually astonishes me with how intelligent he is.

Once we were done bug-hunting, Sammy flew into the small oak tree alongside this garden and tucked himself under some leaves, where I believe he stayed for the night.

Today, Sammy is 62-63 days old and continues to fill my life with wonder.