Bird in the hand

A chickadee lands on my hand as insubstantial as a puff of dandelion fluff, but then it takes off with spring-loaded legs that propel it so powerfully into the woods that it's hard to believe it was ever there at all. At F.A. Sieberling Nature Realm in Akron, Ohio, we slid on snow-covered paths through woods alive with early-morning birdsong, and soon a few handfuls of birdseed lured chickadees, titmice, nuthatches, and cardinals toward our hands. Each bird's arrival was a revelation, a weightless bundle of feathers appearing from nowhere to grab a seed and quickly fly off, but each new visit brought fresh delight. Light as a feather but full of power: birds in the hand.