Lunch Time

A few days ago I stopped by the local bird store to pick up some seed and Bark Butter for our birds at home. As the sales lady was leading me up to the counter with my purchases another staff member called out that the pine warbler was back for lunch. This bird comes several times a day to the door overlooking their very nice bird-feeding area, and waits until someone puts out some mealworms. It will start chipping at the door if the staff doesn't respond quickly enough. They offered me the honor of feeding it this time.
With a handful of squirmy mealworms, I slowly opened the door and extended just my arm. Almost instantly the warbler hopped over from its place on the back of a patio chair to my hand and grabbed a couple of worms and scarfed them down before returning to the chair. A few seconds later it came back for a second pass. This time I had my phone ready for the event. And it was quite the event. The bird stuck around for nearly 20 seconds eating several mealworms before flying off. It did miss the one that started climbing up my arm.
A yellow-rumped warbler came in to the chair and the sale lady said they sometimes would eat out of people's hands as well but they were a bit more shy. I think flicking the worm climbing under my cuff put the yellow-rumped off so it left. The pine warbler returned one more time for a quick bite before heading high in the trees; a pine of course.
I left the rest of the mealworms on the stone patio for the yellow-rumped friends.
It is always really amazing how small, light, and gentle wild birds are. It landed with just the slightest pressure from its feet on my finger tips. They are so light that it almost tickles like when someone is just barely running their hand over your skin.
It was an incredible experience.