Some birds eat strictly insects and spiders while others eat only plant matter, but there are some, like the Carolina chickadee (Poecile carolinensis) that really like pretty much everything. These birds are considered omnivores. The little chickadees are common visitors to my feeding stations, and usually eat seeds and peanuts there (although I have seen them take mealworms, too). Recently this little bird flew over to some dead leaves hanging from one of the trees near me. I watched as it dug around in the leaves in search of something.

Eventually it pulled out several strands of webbing. Most seemed to hold nothing, but then…

The bird grabbbed some sort of small insect. I suspect it was a small caterpillar of some sort, but it could have been a small spider, too.

Before I could identify what it had for sure, the bird swallowed it down and went back to pulling webbing out of the leaves. It repeated the behavior pattern several times before flying over to the station for a drink of water. I found it quite fascinating watching this, and actually almost forgot to start taking photos!