I went to fill my feeders this afternoon and noticed the chickadees being especially brave. They are brave to begin with, but they seemed particularly audacious on this day.

I wonder if one will land on the feeder if I stand this close, I thought to myself as I stood two or three feet away with my iPhone at the ready.

Question answered:

Well, I thought next, I wonder if I took the feeder down for a minute or two and held out some seeds if a chickadee would land on my hand. It took a bit longer but, once again, question answered.

Two or three chickadees took the risk while the rest chirped from nearby perches. The nuthatches and titmice wanted nothing to do with the hand-feeding method. I didn’t expect them to. Maybe next time, though. I’ll try again soon.