This morning while filling the feeders with the chickadees flitting all around I thought I'd hold my hand full of seed out  and see if I had any takers. I was surprised by the very quick arrival of a common redpoll who perched in my hand for a few minutes eating sunflower seeds. He flew off and then returned for another extended stay. It took quite a bit longer for a chickadee to land on my hand and then both of those were only stops brief enough to snatch a seed and fly off. I was moved by how tiny the redpoll was.
For those interested in Monarchs here is an interesting link...

http://www.washingtonpost.com/news/morning-mix/wp/2015/01/15/how-well-intentioned-americans-trying-to-save-monarch-butterflies-may-actually-be-destroying-them/?tid=hpModule_9d3add6c-8a79-11e2-98d9-3012c1cd8d1e

mary in bethel vt
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