American Bushtits

These tiny birds (smaller than chickadees) are common in the woods around here, but have recently become city dwellers too. At first it was just during the winter, but the last year or two they've been year round residents. I put a suet block out for them in the colder months and they reward me by creating amusing little feather balls out of it (the number on there in this picture is probably less than half of how many I've seen occupy it all at once). They are so small they fit inside the suet cage squares and are often found inside when the block starts getting low. The females (top) have light eyes and the males (bottom) dark.