Makin’ Quick Cache

I love to watch the birds in my backyard. None are more entertaining than the Chickadee. Yesterday I watched a chickadee grab a seed from my feeder and dive into the daylily bed below. He did this over and over again. I finally got curious enough that I climbed onto the bay window to get a good view of the bed below. The chickadee was hanging onto a dried-up daylily scape that had been cut down after blooming this summer. It was sticking up about 8 inches from the ground and was brown and hollow like a straw. He was pecking violently at the top of it. I wasn’t sure what he was up to. Then he flew back to the feeder, snatched another seed and returned to a different dried-up scape. I laughed as it finally dawned on me what was going on. He was caching seeds!

I waited until he disappeared for awhile, and then I went outside to investigate. I peered into one of the hollowed-out scapes. It certainly looked like something might be wedged in there. I carefully pulled it out of the ground and broke it open. Just below the top was indeed a sunflower seed. I peeked into dried-up scape after scape. That little bird had quite a productive afternoon because every last one had a seed stuffed in it.

Now we’ll see if he comes back to get any of them in the next month, or if a chipmunk or squirrel beats him to it. It sure is a clever hiding place!