Birds!

The black-capped chickadee

Fascinating news broke this week about my second-favorite bird, the chickadee. And yes, I do actually have favorite birds. Around the age of 8 or 9, I wanted to be an ornithologist (professional bird-watcher) when I grew up. That would've been shortly after I wanted to be a professional tennis player or a Charlie's Angel but before I wanted to be an astronomer. :) In fact, I spent the better part of several years sitting in the crooks of trees with a pair of binoculars, The Audubon Field Gude to North American Birds, and a notebook. Yes, I was an exceedingly odd child.

Anyway, the hot bird news o' the week is that researchers have just figured out that the chickadee call is complex and intended to convey the size and threat level of an approaching predator. You can read all about it here.

Incidentally, the article also makes brief mention of my very favorite bird, the red-winged blackbird.

Rounding out the top three for me is the chipping sparrow.