Birds like chickadees use our feeders as more of a snack than a main course, and can certainly fend for themselves if need be.
To reach this conclusion, the researchers observed 67 wild chickadees from the fall of 2016 to early spring of 2017 near the campus of Oregon State University. Rivers chose these small songbirds because they typically frequent bird feeders throughout the colder months.
Every chickadee has nine flight feathers, and when clipped at the base, flight becomes more difficult. To continue fluttering around, clipped birdies need more energy—and therefore more food. These feathers grow back, so next season the chickadees were able to fly as normal. Instead of loitering around the feeders for longer, the hindered whistlers actually decreased their use of the man-made sunflower dispensers for the first two weeks of wintry weather. However, visitation rates eventually returned and by week three all of the chickadees, clipped and unclipped, were using the dispenser’s the same amount.
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