I have been watching people time and time again go to Beaver Creek and feed
Chickadees. I always wondered if I would be able to do the same without losing my cool if one landed on my hand.
Beaver Creek has been closed at different hours so my best friend Tia suggested we check out Pike Lake!
She took me down a trail right by the information booth where there were lots of trees and curvy trails.
We started walking and made it on a small boardwalk when we heard the birds chirping. We took out our bird seed and held it out and waited. In no time at all the chickadees came so close we had multiple flying around us. It was so cool to hear the flapping of their wings and the tickle of their feet land on your hand.
I noticed the chickadees only liked the black seeds I had in my pile which were sunflower seeds. I brought a trail mix along which had sunflower seeds in so we started just using those which made the chickadees become our friends.
At first I was scared of when the birds approached but, after a while you got used to the sound of their wings flapping and them lightly landing on your hand. The pike lake trail was amazing to be on! It was lightly snowing and other families were making friends with the birds. Some families had sleds they brought along for the hills in the trails for their kids to sled down.
Tia put some sunflower seeds on my toque and I put some on her shoulder. We sometimes had two birds land on us at once!
This was one of my favourite experiences being that close to wildlife without being in an enclosure or zoo type setting.
We almost had the chance of getting woodpeckers near us! We watched two of the birds dance around the trees like as if we were in a forest. They got close but not close enough to be as friendly as the chickadees.
I would highly recommend getting out and trying to find chickadees to play with. They are cute little birds who are harmless and pretty to look at!