One cold wintry morning after having made my family breakfast, I noticed that there was a bit of leftover toast and crumbs. So, I decided I would tear the rest of the toast into tiny pieces to be tossed out onto the snowy ground for the little creature that might be wanting some extra nutrition.
Tugging my bathrobe tight around my waist, I opened the sliding glass door and stepped out into the chill of the January day. As I threw the toast into the air a small banditry of Chickadees fluttered about and landed to feast upon the tiny morsels that now laid before them on the ground. They quickly pecked at all the crumbs, capturing them before they sank into the snow.
After their feast the Chickadees’ flew up into a twisted, leafless, old plum tree that swayed in the winter’s wind above the area where all the crumbs had been picked clean. I watched them as they bounced from branch to branch, all the while singing a sweet song of thanks to me.
While I watched them, I noticed one little Chickadee that seemed to be slightly bigger around the middle than the rest, who had the markings of a Chestnut-backed Chickadee, he also seemed to be incharge. He would chatter at the others and make his presence known, sometimes bumping them with his pudgy belly, sending them along as he continued to chatter out his commanding song. My daughter and I named him “Pudgey!”
That winter I continued to toss the morning toast out to my little Chickadee friends and every morning they’d feast happily then sing me sweet songs of thanks.
Soon the weather turned warmer, the trees, plants and flowers began to bloom, little bugs of spring began to dance about in the air and my morning feedings slowly tapered off.
One beautiful, sunny, spring morning I was standing at the kitchen sink washing up the breakfast dishes, when I heard a ruckus at the sliding glass door. So I peeked up to see what was the matter and there fluttering his wings as if to be knocking on the door, was Pudgey. He was chattering up a storm, as if he were reprimanding me for not remembering to feed him and his fellow friends. A feeling of sad remiss flooded over me as I turned to see if there were any toast crumbs leftover, luckily there was!
Pudgey and his friends ate well that morning and a few more mornings after that. The days continued to warm and drift into summer, Pudgey and his friends moved on to enjoy the beauty of the summer season as did myself and my family.
One afternoon as I was enjoying a walk, I passed by a lovely Wild Alaskan Rose bush that was in full bloom, and sitting on one of the branches was a Chestnut-backed Chickadee with a pudgy little belly and a chattering song. “Pudgey!” Yes! It was Pudgey himself, I was sure. Realizing that my pockets were empty of crumbs, Pudgey moved along, but not before singing me a beautiful summer song....
