Who Is Your Favourite?

 This week city council will decide whether or not the residents of my city will be voting on an official city bird.  If If it goes ahead, there are five choices: black-billed magpie, northern flicker, red-breasted nuthatch, blue jay, and black-capped chickadee.

Let’s have a look at the contenders:

Magpies, well, no one I know really likes them.  Not that I’m giving in to peer pressure.  They are mean, squawky, and scavengers.  They will eat anything, including garbage.  I once saw one picking at insulation.  And they try to chase other birds away.  On the other hand, they are beautiful, resourceful, smart, and I guess if they are willing to eat garbage, resilient.  We used to see one in our yard that only had one leg so we were always cheering it on.  Someone else said that it probably lost it fighting so they had no sympathy for it, but I was still rooting for it just because it was the underdog.

I really like northern flickers.  They are a kind of woodpecker.  As you can see, they are beautiful and cool looking.  In the spring, the males peck at metal chimneys and lampposts in an attempt to find a girlfriend.  That can be cool to watch or incredibly annoying depending on how you look at it – and whether or not it’s your chimney or a lamppost near your house.  It’s not quiet pecking, especially since it’s on metal. They are amazing acrobats at our feeder, but also peck at the ground – and sometimes our house or garage – looking for insects.  I sometimes say they aerate our lawn for us.

Red-breasted nuthatches are adorable and sweet.  They come to our feeder, hang upside down on it, take a bit of food, fly away, then come back.  They look a bit like chickadees, but I think they look more aerodynamic.

Blue jays’ bright blue feathers are beautiful.  They are so bright and beautiful that I think they seem exotic here.  And rare because they aren’t seen in all parts of the city.  When you do see them, they get your attention right away.  Their “song” on the other hand, is not so beautiful.  It gets your attention too.  If I’m really honest, I think that they are beautiful but their song is ugly.  It’s really too bad.  They have such pretty faces.

Chickadees are sweet, persistent, and fearless.  Their “chick-a-dee-dee” song is sweet.  Like nuthatches, they come to the feeder, get a bit of food, fly to a branch, then come back and do it all over again.  We also see them on trees looking for insects, sometimes hanging upside down to get what they want, but on the feeder they tend to stay upright, unlike the nuthatches.

Let me tell you a story about a chickadee we met once.  One day, my husband and I were on our way out to run some errands.  I had filled the bird feeder in the house and was going to take it back outside to hang up when we went to the car.  My husband went out first, then I came out while he waited for me on the step.  I set the feeder down right in front of us on the step  and turned around to lock the door.  When I turned back around, a chickadee swooped in – they are small, but fast! – and sat on the perch of the feeder, took a seed, and left.  My husband and I stood there frozen, looking at each other in shock.  And then the chickadee came back!  It perched, got another seed, looked around, and left.

We continued looking at each other in shock.  What had just happened?  We had seen pictures of them eating out of people’s hands, but had never seen anything like this in real life.  It was amazing.  I guess the chickadee just couldn’t wait.

So, personally, I am definitely on Team Chickadee.  We’ll see if the vote even happens, but if it does, I’m all in for the chickadee.  Despite being small, they are tough – staying around all year long along with all of their competition – but sweet, persistent, fearless, and – this is very important where I live – would look great in a tiny cowboy hat and bandana.  No magpie, flicker, nuthatch, or blue jay could pull that off the same way!

So… who is your favourite?  I’d love to hear about it in the comments below!