Praise then darkness, and creation unfinished

A chickadee ate out of my hand today!

This is something I'd been told for years is possible--and even that they'll sometimes land if you don't have birdseed--but I'd never been outside with seeds at the right time. Today I was.

I stood in a spot in Inwood Hill Park where perching birds gather, and put a handful of birdseed on my left hand. I made sure that it included some of the sunflower seeds they like. The chickadee flew from one branch to another for a bit, then came down and landed easily on my finger. It gripped for a moment, hopped closer, took a sunflower seed, and flew off to eat it on a branch.

It came back twice for more seeds before going away.

After that, we went up into the hills, and looked at lots of forsythia--some of them are already leafing out, and most are in full bloom--and periwinkles. Robins and mourning doves and a fine pair of cardinals, all under an incredible bright blue sky.

We took the digital camera along, so cattitude could take pictures of my newly purple hair in natural light; he may also have gotten a good picture of me with the chickadee.