Black Capped Chickadee's abound at my feeder near a soft maple tree outside my kitchen window. There is a bridal wreath bush a few feet from the feeder that the birds love to escape to with a treasured sunflower seed. I watch them and the other birds as I eat breakfast every morning.
One morning I watched in delight as I saw our maple tree was running sap (it's that time of year in the North Woods of Wisconsin - cold nights, beautiful sun shinny days draw sap up the maple trees and the maple sap harvesting season is in full swing.) Well the woodpeckers had damaged various branches with their hammering. Warning signals, territorial, not destructive, but very intent on making their message clear--the tree will heal quickly in the spring and early summer.
The results created maple sap icicles that the chickadees hovered at like humming birds as they drank from them. It was amazing and wonderful to see. At one time we had seven icicles dripping sap from that tree. What a delightful picture to watch.
That same tree once had a sunflower blooming in the crotch of a branch about half way up the tree. We managed to get a picture of that, but that's a summer story. Keep your eyes wide open, you never know what amazing things nature will show you when you do. Please share with me when you do see something that causes you to stop and smile in your hurried day.
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