I’ve been birdwatching for more than two decades now, but it wasn’t until a few years ago that the first Tufted Titmouse appeared at my feeders. Since then I have seen them sporadically—mostly in late fall and early spring, but this year it looks like a pair of them intends to stick around for the entire winter.
I spotted the first bird at my feeders in September, but it wasn’t until many weeks later that I discovered there were actually two of them. Now these little gray birds with their big, black eyes visit my feeders almost daily.
Tufted Titmice are fun to watch. They are active and acrobatic like chickadees and seem to enjoy hanging upside down. They are also very determined little birds. When they find a nut or seed they want from one of my hanging feeders they concentrate all their effort into freeing the desired morsel by hammering, poking and yanking it.
I might be seeing two individual birds that have joined a mixed winter flock with chickadees and nuthatches, or the birds could be a mating pair. Tufted Titmice mate for life. Either way I hope they stick around because they really liven up the birdwatching scene.