One of the reasons so many people enjoy gardening as a hobby is to attract wildlife. All sorts of wildlife can enjoy you gardening from the butterflies and bees to the deer, but few kinds of wildlife are easier to attract than the birds. One of our most frequent fliers is the tufted titmouse (Baeolophus bicolor).
This mouse gray bird with faint brownish orange tints is a very common visitor to many gardens. The titmouse is in the same family as chickadees, Paridae. This little one comes to our feeders every day. The male and female titmice look alike and tend to stay in pairs rather than join flocks.
Tufted titmice like to eat insects and seeds and will remove insects from bark and foliage. They sound like useful feathered friends to me!
Beautiful photos! We also love birdwatching, too. The Tufted Titmouse is a regular here in winter. I’ve not yet seen those this fall. Soon….Cameron
It looks like that little fellow is saying, “Cheese!” 🙂 He’s very cooperative. A sweet little bird — what would winter be like without our feathered friends for entertainment?
What a cute little visitor to your garden Dave. I will have to keep an eye out for this one in my yard. I’m not an expert on birds so thanks for the info.
Those are great pictures and remind me that we need to get some seed out for our feathered friends 🙂
He’s thinking you should hurry up and snap the picture so he can go back to eating.
Cameron,
I’ve been pretty happy with our new camera which is largely responsible for the quality of the shots. The titmice have been here all summer and when the mockingbirds aren’t chasing them away they seem to eat round the clock. Hungry little guys!
Nancy,
They don’t seem to have a whole lot of fear of people. One time a titmouse landed next to me. It startled me more than I bothered it. Without the birds to watch winter would sure be boring, just ask our cat!
Racquel,
We enjoy watching them but are far from experts. I suppose “ornithological enthusiast” would be a good description. We have a couple birdbooks and always try to identify anything new we’ve seen.
Cindy,
Better go feed them, they will love you for it!
Tina,
I hope I wasn’t disturbing him too much!