Meal time manners!

The day dawned sunny and clear…and cold! Thinking it would warm up, I delayed my photo walk until nearly noon, hoping the birds would still be active. It wasn’t warm, but the sun was cheerful and the birds were hungry. I get so much pleasure from watching their behavior, and today was no exception. Take a look at their meal time manners…

This titmouse carefully considered what was available before making a choice:

Apparently he had been taught to mind his manners, so he demonstrated a dainty technique for picking up a peanut..

On the other hand…er, I should say foot, both the cardinal and the chickadee were in a huge hurry to grab and gobble as much as they could squeeze into their beaks. They didn’t even wait until both feet were on the floor (so to speak).


It’s lucky that they have wings to help with the balancing act and needn’t worry about toppling over the edge.

Some birds, like this titmouse, are much more relaxed in their approach. He picked up a seed and flew to a nearby branch. Gripping the seed between his tiny feet, he was all ready to peck it open and savor the tasty insides. Look closely and you can see it resting between his toes.

Each of these birds reminds me of someone I know. You probably have family members or friends who exhibit the same approach to their meals. However, the bird most in tune with today’s fast food culture was this tufted titmouse with his grab-n-go approach. His technique could be called “The Fly-By”. He didn’t land. He didn’t consider the menu. He didn’t even pause, and his feet never touched the “table”. He just grabbed and gobbled. He was gone so quickly, it’s a wonder I was able to capture his picture.

So do these feathered friends and their meal time manners remind you of anyone you know? Maybe you can talk it over with your family or friends at the dinner table, unless they grab their food and are gone before you get a chance.

This is all intended to be tongue-in-cheek humor of course. Please don’t take it seriously, but I think the birds are very entertaining and not too different from us humans in some respects. What do you think?

Thanks for visiting my corner of Ohio today. See you again soon.

~Carolyn aka Skip