JV mm —
The Black-capped Chickadee: What’s Not to Love?
By Sheryl Blossom
My favorite bird is the black-capped chick­
adee. There, I said it. No colorful plumage.
No garish “look at me” call. No heart-warm­
ing reason like a life-long commitment to its
'offspring. No miraculous migration pattern
’that keeps it flying for days on end without
stopping. It is certainly not rare. Nope. My
-real reason for loving this little bird is simple:
it is cute.
r Without doubt, the black-capped chick­
adee is one of the most charitable birds for
watchers. It can locate your bird feeder
.faster than a politician can find cover for a
.questionable vote. It will faithfully visit your
feeder numerous times each day and has
the polite sense to hang there for long peri­
ods. This gives novice birders ample oppor­
tunity to repeatedly thumb thru identification
book(s) and proudly announce a positive
i.d. - often their first. I speak from experi­
ence.
And, while it is true that the black-capped
chickadee is one of most frequent to winter
feeders, it does not eat. On the contrary. It
hides seed, and other food items it collects
from your feeder. Each and every food item
is placed in a different spot, requiring a
chickadee to remember thousands of food
stashes for winter survival.
Apparently, this cute bird has the good
sense to eat well-portioned meals and an
admirable drive to exercise between them.
I guess the exercise part is a given if you
have to fly to a thousand spots to nibble on
one seed or locate a single peanut. Still,
■you have to love its commitment to good
health. No wonder most chickadees live up
to six plus years, (Their summer diet con­
sists of healthy favorites like berries, yummy
spiders and fat caterpillars.)
And why can this bird remember where it
stashes all its food? Get this. Each and
every autumn black-capped chickadees
allow brain neurons containing old informa­
tion to die, replacing them with new neurons
so they can adapt to social and environ­
mental changes. Seriously. You have to love
(or at least strongly admire) the black­
capped chickadee. When parts of their old
brain stop working - they just replace it with
a new one. How cool is that?
Photo from Audubon Society
I must admit, this little bird has the parent­
ing thing down. These hard-working,
monogamous birds produce one brood
each year - ranging from 1-10 eggs. Both
dad and mom play an active role. Incuba­
tion is about 13 days, birds nest for about
14 days and they are ready to fly. In less
than 30 days, they have completed much of
their parental obligation to as many as ten
children. They do continue to assist in feed­
ing for several weeks but clearly are no
longer bound to the nest. It is hard not to
love their efficiency.
Black-capped chickadees are social and
curious birds. They reside in flocks, are
quick to investigate people and assist small
migrating birds unfamiliar with the area.
They make it a point to know everything
SUMPTER
Also last week, the members of the Sumpter City
Council had several training and networking oppor­
tunities. Tuesday morning, the mayor, all council
members, and city recorder attended a get-together in
Baier City conducted by Grant Young of the Depart-
ment of Land Conservation and Development
(DLCD). He is part of the Regional Solutions Center
located in La Grande at Eastern Oregon University.
Halfway, Baker City, and Baker County also had rep­
resentatives in attendance. Mr. Young commented that
his job is to provide the cities of the ten northeastern
Oregon counties help with technical matters and plan-
ximg’.changes. His take-awayfrom the meeting was
that assistance of the most interest to attendees was in
the area of buildable lands inventory, digitization of
records, and code updates.
Wednesday, Mayor Melissa Findley, council mem­
bers Bob Armbruster and Annie Oakley, and City
Recorder Julie McKinney attended a luncheon round
table discussion in John Day about Human Resources
issues. McKinney stayed for the afternoon class.
Thursday, a Mayors' Council was held in Hunting­
ton. Again all council members and the city recorder
were in attendance. There were also representatives
from Huntington, Haines, Holladay Engineering, In­
frastructure Finance Authority, Baker County Sheriffs
Department, DEQ, and Baker City: After the updates
given by each city, Scott Fairley of the Governor’s Of­
fice spoke about the budget proposals the governor
has given to the legislature. Money is proposed for an
industrial park in La Grande, forest restoration, infra­
structure, business retention, water development for
agricultural applications, and career development for
youth.
After Mr Fairley spoke, Timothy Bishop ofBaker
going on in their home territory, but appear
not to offend with their nosiness. Wood­
peckers, nuthatches, wrens, vireos and
warblers are regular neighbors to the chick­
adee. Should danger lurk, many bird
species respond to the 2-4 note bell of
alarm sounded by the chickadee. (By the
way, their short calls are considered one of
the most complex in the bird world.)
I guess you could say the black-capped
chickadee serves as a territory’s Neighbor­
hood Watch, Chamber of Commerce and
Welcome Wagon. It’s a big jpb for a cute
bird.
Lucky for me, the black-capped chickadee
is permanent part of Baker County’s land­
scape year-round. I find great comfort
knowing this endearing, small, white­
cheeked, black-capped visitor will most as­
suredly arrive on local feeders each and
every winter. It is charitable, complex, com­
mitted to good health, a neurological phe­
nomenon, a great neighbor, an efficient
parent, and it loyally brings hours of enjoy­
ment to bird watchers.
Yes. It is all those amazing things. But I
still favor this little bird for one simple rea­
son: it is cute.
Tweets from the Nest:
Contrary to popular belief, owls
cannot turn their heads all the
way around (you know, like
Linda Blaire in the Exorcist.)
Due to an extra vertebrae and a
single ligament on the back of
the neck, owls can turn their
heads 270 degrees. Given that
owls eyes are locked in their
sockets, it is one heck of a
handy feature when seeing
what’s up behind you.
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continued from page 6
County Marketing & Tourism (BCMT) gave an up­
date. The 100,000 copies of the Oregon Festival and
Events Association guide have been printed and the
first distribution was in The Oregonian in the Portland
area the last Sunday in Dec. Baker City’s Memory
Cruise is on the front cover and the sixteen events re­
ceiving extra training and sponsorship from BCMT
are in an ad on the back cover. Sumpter's Flea Market
and the SVRR Christmas Trains are included in that
group. Eastern Oregon events were the largest section
inside, and Baker County had over half of those list­
ings. Baker County also figures prominently in an ar­
ticle being printed by a motorcycle magazine in The
Netherlands.
Julee Hicks ofBaker County Economic Develop­
ment spoke of the upcoming Mining and Aggregate
Summit in Baker City. The event will focus on edu­
cation about mining. Greg Smith is attending three
trade shows in the next few weeks to inform attendees
of business opportunities in Baker County. There is
no update on the Farewell Bend development as the
new owner has been out of the country quite a bit
lately.
County Commissioner Bill Harvey brought the
meeting to a close with a few comments on job ex­
pansion and education about mining and managed
forestry. He encouraged interaction between the cities
of the county and the county commissioners, urging
all to band together. The next Mayors' Council is
scheduled for March in Baker City.
People
Word has been received from part-time resident
David Scott that his dad, William (Bill) Scott passed
away Jan. 9,2015, at the age of 98. As a youth, Bill
came with his folks to this area for hunting and fish-
ing. As an adult, Bill’s love of the area grew ever
stronger, leading himito purchase in the mid to late
70s a large property developed by Les Moore, on Ibex
St. Bill and his family (wife Bonnie and the five kids)
enjoyed life in Sumpter for about ten years before de­
ciding to return to living full-time in the Ontario area,
selling most of the property to Jack and Ona Smith.
Our heartfelt condolences to the Scott family and their
friends on their loss. Bill was a super person and a
wonderful neighbor.
Morgans Win Excellence in Agriculture
Of special note, Bowen Valley ranchers Ralph and
Myrna Morgan, at last Saturday evening’s annual
Baker County Chamber Awards Banquet, received the
2014 Excellence in Agriculture award-notjust for
raising cattle, but for all the participation in agricul­
tural and other organizations they have done through
the years. Congratulations!
Churches
Sunday morning services are held at St. Brigid’s
in the Pines on the first and third Sundays of the
month at 11 a.m. followed by a coffee ‘hour.’ The
February 1 service will be lead by Rev. Dick Thew.
Weekly services at McEwen Bible Fellowship in­
clude Sunday School at 9:45 a.m. and Morning Wor­
ship at 11 a.m. and Wednesday evening prayer at 6:45
p.m.
News items received by this reporter by Sunday
evening will be included in the Sumpter column the
following week. Send in news and/or photos with cap­
tions of guests, births, group meetings, any special oc­
casion. Due to space and time, details of the Poker
Run and Outhouse Races will be included in next
week’s column.
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Continued from page 8
“I’ve been reading the manual,”
she stated, “but I still want them to
show jne how to use it.”
In the meantime, the office is
getting a slight make-over as draw­
ers and shelves are cleaned up and
reorganized, and they are finishing
up the longstanding task of digitiz­
ing ail of the County’s record
books. Carpenter is expecting that
project to be completed by the end
of June . Candidate forms are being
prepared and brought up to date,
the yearly security plan is being re­
vised and monitoring tasks to as­
Carpenter is halfway through her
third week as County Clerk and
she says she is learning something
new every day. She is a hands on
learner, so the things that she used
to watch be done are now making
sense as she does them herself; One
thing she is not especially looking
forward to is running the tally ma-
chine. J
' "I have never, in my nine years
here, even been close to this ma­
chine while they were running it!”
she exclaimed. She appreciates the
election board she will be working
with during those times know how
to use it and understand it, “but the
responsibility lies here,” she as­
serted, pointing to herself. That
being said, she is currently taking
proactive steps to avert any
mishaps during the very important
- elections, which her office will be
planning, coordinating and con­
ducting. With the May special dis­
trict elections just around the
comer, she has scheduled a special
meeting time, complete with hands
on training, with the company from
which the County purchased the
tally
machine.
9
i Record-Courier
■
THURSDAY, JANUARY 22,2015
sure they will make deadlines are a
few of the other office proj ects cur­
rently underway.
The office has always run well in
Carpenter’s mind, and she appreci­
ates how Green had created such
high benchmarks throughout her
terms in office. She plans to con­
tinue striving towards those bench­
marks, and especially wants to
meet and exceed them in the area
of customer service.
“Our office offers so many out­
lets: passports, marriage licenses,
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elections, records, etc. So customer
service is going to have to be high
on our itinerary, and I think I have
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you can expect an air of openness,
where no questions are wrong and
none will go unanswered. Carpen­
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number one priority, and welcomes
everyone to come in to meet her
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