FreeLists / tn-bird / [TN-Bird] WillieBoy Day 4

["Tommy Curtis" <tcbirdwatch@xxxxxxxxxx>]

He came to the feeder the first time today at 6:21 and made five visits in the 
first 20 minutes.  He is still very cautious in these early visits; it was an 
hour before he actually sat under the heat lamp and ate.  It is amazing the 
intellect these little birds exhibit.  Yesterday he extended his normal eating 
time by almost an hour as he obviously knew it was going to be really cold last 
night and he would need the extra energy.  We were amazed at how much he ate in 
those last visits; one time we counted almost 50 long gulps!  I'm surprised he 
could carry all that weight back to his nightly sleeping place.  
At this point we're reasonably sure he is a male Rufous but one expert still 
has some reservations until he is actually caught and inspected by hand.  Our 
first call was a male Rufous but as we saw him more often and looked at some 
the pictures of him, we kept thinking he might be a bird from further west.  
Hopefully someone will be able to come and catch him this week and we'll be 
certain.  But regardless of his species, he is a beauty flashing into the 
pre-dawn light of the heat lamp and each morning we have a laugh of joy when he 
appears.  We're trying not to get as emotionally attached to this bird as we 
did with Willie but I think we're failing.

Tommy & Virginia Curtis
Smithville, TN
DeKalb County
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