We all have favorites whether you are talking about food, friends, colors, or so many other things. So it’s not especially surprising to see that animals have favorites, too. They have favorite places and very often favorite foods. Birds are no different and often have favorite foods. I’m sure that individuals differ and that they may well have different favorites under different circumstances. One thing I have noticed, though, is that the adorable little Carolina chickadees (Poecile carolinensis) are extremely fond of the shelled sunflower seeds that come in the feed mix that I use. This little one was perched above the feeder looking down at what was available as it waited its turn. A larger and more aggressive northern cardinal was at the station, and although the chickadee was obviously wanting something, it knew better than to go down with the cardinal there. It was still very interested in checking out the offerings though. Shortly after I took this shot, the cardinal flew off and the chickadee flew down and immediately grabbed a sunflower seed that it had obviously been watching. Seeing these birds and their behaviors both alone and with other species is always extremely interesting. Sometimes it’s easy to understand what they are doing and why, and sometimes it requires some studying to figure things out. And sometimes I haven’t a clue and I wish I could talk to them to understand.