Chickadees are adorable bundles of energy that rarely stand still, and I’ve got thousands of blurry photographs to prove it.
So when I see a motionless chickadee staring into the air, I know there’s a good reason for it. Usually that reason is a hawk.
Most birds that visit my yard scatter for cover when they see a predator, but I’ve noticed that chickadees, woodpeckers and nuthatches often freeze in place instead. Sometimes they’ll hang motionless from a feeder for minutes at a time.
When I see a “paralyzed” bird in the fall I usually watch it nervously from the window and hope for the best. But when I spot one in the dead of winter I’ve been known to drop everything and run outside to see if I can shoo away the hawk.
In frigid weather tiny birds must keep moving to stay alive, and I really have no interest in watching a “frozen” bird become a real frozen bird right before my very eyes.