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I think that Inky is dreaming. Dreams can seem like they are so real even to birds. She is a character and I love her and it is so good to see her go out in the nest, then getting ready to raise her young beautiful birdies have a beautiful day
I wake myself up in the middle of the night talking in my sleep. I am actually speaking the words I am speaking in my dream. Weird huh? Sweet dreams Inky!
Dreams are strange for sure. I do all kinds of wacky things in my sleep. Very bad for sleep walking and acting out my dreams. My husband has seen it all poor thing hahaha
Yes, absolutely. My first thought was that Inky was dreaming about defending her nest. Probably she is hypervigilant about her first brood, and this concern creeps into her dreams at night.
Inky is a warrior princess even while she dreams. She probaby weighs about 12 grams or up to a half of an ounce and she more fearless than most people. So much heart and determination. So much evidence of the Good Lord's creation. Never ceasses to amaze me
Yep, Lesley, Id have to agree, it appears her dream state had her all puffed up, imagining some predator outside. Great, great vid, these little birds are such a wonder.
It's fascinating, isn't it? It's her first night in the box, so maybe this behaviour's a subconscious reaction to the apprehension that was presumably preventing her from deciding to stay the night on the days leading up to this day.
It does appear that Inky may be having a bad dream, a danger to her nest...that would definitely be a bad dream! And, she's an excellent mother-to-be...very protective, and ready to protect those eggs that have yet to be laid! Self defense would make sense also, if her scary dream threatened her safety. So, Lesley, you're the True Bird Whisperer, and I agree with your assessment! You're probably right! ☝️☺️
I bet Inky was dreaming about your next handful of sunflower seed Lesley. Well, also practice for snake display makes sense too. This might be one of your cutest videos yet! Thanks Lesley!
Inky is clearly doing the snake display. Makes me want to reach in, comfort her and tell her it's ok, it's just a bad dream. It's great you caught this footage of her dreaming! Just like us, noises or other things that go on in our daily lives can cause bad dreams. Thanks for sharing Leslie❤️🐦
I love that you wanted to comfort her, so sweet. She is a darling little bird, and I'm so glad that I have this of her. Thanks for watching - Have a great night!
@@LesleytheBirdNerd one of the many, MANY reasons I love your channel is all the new things I learn about some bird species I am familiar with ❤ You bring so much engaging content to birding. Thank you for sharing
Thanks for the charming video. Very interesting "Bird-Cam". I could tell you were Canadian within the first 5 seconds of the video. When you said "Hoose" instead of" House", And "Aboot" instead of "About". Very Scottish sounding. So cute. LOL 🐸🐸 Anyway, a nice video, my friend. Hope things are going well for you. Best Wishes! 🦋🌷🥀🦋
Poor precious Inky, she must have been having a bad dream. I never even thought about birds dreaming..so fascinating! I just adore Chickadees, I’ve loved them since I was young. Thank you for another wonderful video! ❤
@@LesleytheBirdNerd Hi from USA in the state of Kansas! Not an expert by any means, but my first thought was a sneeze, like people, two in a row. Alergy season is upon us and it sure happens to me! It's a possibility! And...thanks for all that you do! Joe M.
I think she's dreaming. I have watched my dog bark and growl in his sleep after he's barked at a passing dog in our neighborhood, so why not a dream. She is so sweet and fierce defending her nest.
That’s so cute ❤️ I think she was either having a nightmare or woke up during a nightmare and was half awake doing the display. Definitely looks like the snake display though for sure
I agree with you. The bird's movements are very similar to the slow-motion defensive lunges that birds make when a stranger tries to move into the nest. She opened her tail like a fan and attacks the invisible enemy in the "cobra style".
Inky is in a dream state and thinks there’s something out there she needs to ward off with her snake display. I really learn so much from your videos. Thanks Leslie.
Definitely dreaming :) Our Eurasian tit birds (great-tits and blue-tits) do that, too, the protective display is exactly the same, as well. And they are so curious about what they see in the camera lens of the next box. These birds are smart and funny, and I love watching live cams of their nests every spring-early summer 💙
Isn't she something special?! What a precious little bird, Inky is causing me to really getting a deeper insight into chickadees. They are really wonderful birds.
What a sweet capture! I would agree, it does seem like she is more likely dreaming! It's so interesting to see their behavior inside of the nesting box!
Thank you, it was such a thrill seeing this the next day. I couldn't believe it. I agree viewing their behavior inside a nest box is so incredible. Have a great night!
Poor little Inky was probably having a nightmare about an intruder. I've seen many animals do similar in that half awake/half asleep state and you can tell if it's a nightmare. Poor little girl really wants not make sure nothing bothers her and her eggs. Hopefully the times she's resting peacefully as happens most of the time she's having pleasant dreams about collecting seeds and flying around and it's just rarely she has nightmares but I guess it's safe to say we all have bad dreams sometimes.
Cute captures of Inky in her nest box Lesley! i think you are right she is dreaming that sounds like the best answer :) Thanks for sharing the video with us!💖👍😎JP
Aw, poor Inky looks like she’s having a nightmare about a predator or intruder. Makes me want to console her and tell that it’s okay. 🥺 I wish her lots of pleasant dreams for the nesting season. 🐦😴 💭❤️ Thanks for sharing, Lesley! 🤗
Aww, how adorable... and sad to see her have a bad dream. It really does look like the snake display acted out in a dream. This is so amazing to see, Lesley, thank you!
My parrot often talks in his sleep, says peekaboo and stuff. I know he has had nightmares too, a few times he has freaked and tried to fly around at like 2am.
Lesley---what a cool video...shows just how smart they are...the Snake Display would scare me lol....kind of funny I think she is in sleep mode dreaming...lol the noise almost reminded me of my friends Chicken noises....have a great week...PS was rooting around in my closet and found one of your shirts I bought awhile ago....my wife wears hers a lot now I will wear mine...completely forgot I got one as well...cool shirts
Aww you guys are sooo sweet. I'm so glad you are both wearing them, and now you both have me thinking about breaking out my chickadee shirt. It would be perfect for todays scorching heat :) Thank you for checking out what little Inky was up to again :) Have a great night
Great capture! All aspects of bird sleep have fascinated me ever since I read about how they can put half of their brain to sleep while the other half is active so they can sleep while migrating.
I definitely see the comparions you mentioned, especially in the side by side. And for me the tail fanned out while doing the head motion was what really sold it for me that it's her sleepily being protective. Inky is such a spunky, lively, and determined young bird and has shown how much care and attention she puts into everything she does, so it wouldn't be strange at all to think that she'd be ready to throw hands even in her sleep if her brain perceived even the tiniest possibility of a threat. Considering that this was the first night she spent in the box after all the hard work she put into making it perfect, it makes complete sense! I'm definitely always on high alert in my sleep when I spend my first night in someplace new
My initial thought was that she was laying eggs....but I'm guessing now that I was wrong because you would have noticed eggs in the nest...now I'm thinking you are 💯 right in your analysis, and she is simply going into mama bear protection mode, chickadee style. ❤
Maybe she is irritated by the rain and it woke her up well partially 🤷♂ I think she needs her own show 🙂 now she just needs a theme song 🎵🎶 Good one Lesley 🙏
Thank you… these are things I would never get to see if you didn’t share. Nature is truly beautiful and amazing. I appreciate your insights and understanding of these things.
Hi Lesley :) - I agree with those that say Inky was dreaming. Could you see if she had her eyes open or closed? Many used to think birds+animals don't dream - some still do. I had a conure who used to be asleep with his eyes closed and head tucked under his wing at night - mumbling - maybe practicing words? Thanks for the interesting video! Stephanie
It is hard to see her eyes in the video so I wasn't able to be sure. But eventually she does tuck her head into her body. So cute about the Conure you had, I think it makes perfect sense for them to dream too. :) Thanks for sharing your thoughts. Have a great night
Thank you, Lesley, for this fascinating look into the life of Inky in her nest box! I never get to see my chickadees asleep. They visit my feeders a lot and perch in the trees around them. Just today I watched one apparently trying to open a nut while on a branch. I don’t know where or if they are nesting (I’ve just seen juvenile tufted titmice, bluebirds, and a young mourning dove.) I’m so very happy with the little glimpses I see and can’t even imagine being able to look in a nest box with a camera! The more I observe and learn about birds and animals, the more similarities I see between them and humans. So I would not at all be surprised if Inky had been dreaming of a threat (possibly misinterpreting the sound of rain) and did a little of the snake behavior. She’s such a precious little bird and I’m so glad that you are keeping eye out on her behalf. Will you have Inky merch?
You are very welcome, and thank you so much too :) I'm so glad you have been seeing all those lovely little birds. Having a camera in a net box certainly gives a deeper insight into those precious little birds. I agree, there are so much between us and them that are more similar than we've realized. I'm not sure if I will have Inky merch but it is certainly something I can give some thought on. Thank you for the interest and idea :) Have a great night
Amazing! What an intriguing video you captured. 😊 I think it's very possible she is dreaming. I mean there have been scientific studies on rats dreaming so why not birds. 😁
It probably was a dream. Don't many birds sleep with half their brain sleeping and the other half alert (Unihemispheric Slow-Wave Sleep), unless they're somewhere they feel completely safe? The bird box probably allowed her to sleep more deeply, which in turn allowed her to dream.
I'm not sure they sleep that way on ordinary basis, it's more of a thing that happens during migrating and some species do it during the courtship season because they have to be up for many many hours straight fighting other males. Such amazing stuff! Thanks for the comment.
This was adorable, she's even brave in her sleep, and I agree with your assessment. I've lived with, rescued and handraised a lot of different aviary and wild birds of varying types, large and tiny, and in my experience they do sometimes act out various things to varying degrees while dreaming, even vocalising at times (sometimes waking themselves up), it can also be in response to hearing or feeling something while asleep. They also do it from hatching and possibly before. Sneezes tend to be far more delicate, coughs usually aren't too much stronger, and for this to be a strong cough she'd be almost choking to have moved that way and definitely would have behaved more alertly and even for a mild cough or sneeze would have roused into preening and scratching before settling again, there was also no head shake, scratching of the beak or beak wiping which often follow a cough (particularly a strong one) or a sneeze, and there was also the wing action, lunging and tail fanning, which aren't typical of a sneeze or cough unless there's something else more serious going on, and again, unless she was quite ill, she would've displayed other rousing and preening behaviours and would've been much more alert. Thanks so much for sharing this and your thoughts, it's always interesting to see moments like this with different birds.
I am so happy that you explained all of this, thank you. It makes perfect sense. I have seen birds cough before and as you mentioned it's not very dramatic, definitely not what Inky is displaying in the video. Sneezes I've never seen, and it makes perfect sense that she would have preened herself or at least been more awake, she never showed any of that. The precious little thing certainly seemed to be having a bad dream. Thank you again for sharing your own observations and experiences :)
There is a commonly held theory by neuroscientists that dreams are the brain practicing every day situations to better prepare us. Perhaps it's not that the rain inspired the dream, but that Inky's mom brain is practicing defending the soon to be arriving chicks?
That's such a great point. You may be right about that. It makes so much sense about our dreams being a way for the brain to practice the everyday situations we encounter. I believe that whole heartedly because when I was in College and it was exam time, I'd study and study all day and half the night. When I'd go to sleep I'd actually dream about what I had been studying, and wouldn't you know it I'd ace the exams! Thank you for sharing!
I'm going with your analysis. You're the expert. When I was young and living in Oregon I had an indoor flight of birds (injured) and doctored them back to health. I remember a Starling doing something very similar but I thought perhaps it sneezed while asleep. Now I wonder if it might have been something similar to what your little friend was doing.
As an old biologist I'd say you did a pretty good analysis of the behavior! I can think of a few other possibilities. It could be a small convulsion/spasm, but it looks far too focussed for that. She might have heard her mate outside and in her sleepy state, mistook him for an intruder. It could be an instinct firing off in her half-asleep state, making her defensive without any external stimulus. But I think you hit the nail on the head: It looks like she's in a dream-state and doing the chickadee version of sleepwalking. I myself have had "active dreaming" like that, occasionally with unfortunate consequences. Fortunately, her mate wasn't with her to get pecked when she was acting out the snake display in her woozy state! If nothing else, I think it's a sign that she's being well-enriched mentally, which for such an active little bird would be very important! The camera alone gave her a lot to do, think about, and investigate.
I appreciate your thoughts on this so much. Thank you. Having conversations about bird behavior or any animal behavior can be such a fun thought provoking experience. Have a great night!
@@LesleytheBirdNerd Thank you. :-) My favorite part of birding wasn't growing my life list, it was observing the behaviors and figuring out why they were doing them. I also participated in the Illinois Breeding Bird Atlas as a volunteer surveyor back in the day, which was ALL behavior based. Trying to figure out what goes on in those feathery heads is a lot of fun!
Oh my gosh how awesome about your observational studies on these wonderful creatures. Like you when I began birding, it wasn't the life list that held my attention it was the remarkable things I was witnessing each bird species doing. There is always something new to discover or learn. Forever fascinated by them.
