Okay, it’s official: I have become infected with Spring Fever. The annual ailment has stricken me early this year, but the weather is warm and humid, and while I perch at my computer and type, I hear a bird. I decide to ignore the bird, but I keep hearing it. I have to know what it is. So I grab my camera, and out I go!

Before I get a chance to investigate the area of my yard I think the sound came from, I see a tiny feathered creature hopping around on the severely pruned mulberry in front of me that has not yet leafed out. A mockingbird has been using it as a perch, but has so far eluded my attempts to photograph it.

This little guy or gal, however, doesn’t seem to care about me, so I fire off a few shots without stopping to properly identify it. I am far from a bird expert, but occasionally the correct name pops into my head. Nuthatch or chickadee, I think, noticing the black cap and dark neck but failing to discern much else.

This is no nuthatch, look at that tail! As you can see from the 360 degree photos I took, it is pretty obviously a somewhat scruffy Chestnut-backed chickadee. I have been hearing them around my house lately, but this one wasn’t making any noise . Mystery solved, I should go back to work…