Hi, So in our ongoing discussion of behavior, I would like to share something I've observed many times around my yard: It is well established that Chickadees convey perceived threat level with dees. More dees equals more perceived threat. E.g. a low threat gets one dee but a greater threat may get dee dee dee dee or more. In my yard the Chickadees who know me do not see me as a threat and will actually greet me with their tweedeldee call. But Chickadees who do not know me treat me as a threat and will give me between two and four dees. When a Chickadee who knows me hears this, an argument of sorts sometimes ensues. Today was a good example as I was out clearing snow in the warmer temperatures. A chickadee gave me 3 dees but another immediately responded with a tweedeldee. Three dees again from the other bird so the bird who apparently knows me to not be a threat flies to within a foot of me and sits on a branch repeatedly doing a tweedledee. This goes back and forth for about a minute. After that time the bird doing the repeated dees quit and the one who came over by me went to the feeder for some seed. A minute or so later I heard the exchange going on again but in a spruce tree across the yard. I cannot be certain it was the same birds but it was the same sort of arguing back and forth: Dee dee dee with a tweedeldee response. Haans Elev 1086 ft 41.59 °N, 81.36 °W ______________________________________________________________________ Ohio-birds mailing list, a service of the Ohio Ornithological Society. Please consider joining our Society, at www.ohiobirds.org/site/membership.php. Our thanks to Miami University for hosting this mailing list. You can join or leave the list, or change your options, at: listserv.miamioh.edu/scripts/wa.exe?LIST=OHIO-BIRDS Send questions or comments about the list to: [log in to unmask]