Fall is beginning, even in Florida, and although the day time weather is still pretty hot, we have been having some lovely evenings. The cooling evenings and shorter days have all the wildlife aware that winter is around the corner. For the birds, that means fall migration (for the migratory species) and getting fatter for the residents. Recently the little Carolina chickadees (Poecile carolinensis) have been very active gathering and caching food. They are constantly around, and in larger numbers than during the summer. They are very active up in the trees grabbing and eating caterpillars and other insects. They are also constant visitors to the feeding stations, and many of them are flying in over and over, grabbing a seed, and finding a hiding place for it in the woods. By caching food, they hope to have stored food to rely on once winter sets in. Chickadees are far from the only birds that I’m seeing caching right now. Both the downy and red bellied woodpeckers, the blue jays, and the tufted titmouse are just a few of the birds that are actively storing food right now. It’s an interesting behavior to watch and each bird does it somewhat differently.