parus (titmouse) atricapillus (from atri, black and capillus, crown)
Saturday, June 30, 1979 — 1:30 p.m.
Des Plaines, Illinois
Exactly 12 hours after proposing to my girlfriend, we were looking out the window of my bedroom into the backyard and saw two Black-capped Chickadees foraging in the row of bushes by the shed. This came as something of a surprise to me. I never knew you could see chickadees by my house. A few years later, a pair actually nested in a bird house hanging off the roof of this same shed.