Concord, Mass.
1907
April 3
(No 2)
male Bluebirds were filling the still air with their
tender warbling as I crossed the field to our berry pasture.
At the same time a Phoebee performed its song flight.
I saw another do it earlier in the day (about noon)
at Ball's Hill. Red-wings were scattered all over the
river meadows at evening singing from their perches
on the willows, maples and button bushes. I heard
only one Robin in full song - in the oaks near the
Barrett spring. Song Sparrows were common and
generally distributed. I heard two Tree Sparrows
singing delightfully near West Bedford station this
morning. Altogether it was a great bird day and
I heard a feast of the tender bird music only to
be heard at this early season.
  In a mixed growth of oaks maples & pines behind Ball's Hill
I had two pairs of Chickadees under constant observation for
about half an hour this forenoon. They remained on the ground
during the whole of this time not once taking to the trees even
when I approached them so closely that they were forced to
flit on ahead of me. When not disturbed in this way they
moved about rather slowly, over limited areas, by a succession of
bouncing hops. They seemed to be especially interested in the
fallen, water-soaked oak & maple leaves; seizing these in
their bills they shook and dragged them about sometimes tearing
them into small fragments. Twice I saw a bird extract from
a leaf and eat a small, elliptical, polished brown object
that looked like a chrysalis of some kind. The paired birds
kept close together as did the pairs at times while at others
they rambled far apart. I do not remember to have ever
before seen Chickadees feed so long and persistently on the ground.
Chickadees feeding on the ground