Picture of a black-capped chickadee
Above and below four: Black-capped Chickadees in Garrett and Allegany Counties, Maryland (9/29/2007).
Below: A tame Black-capped Chickadee accepts hand-outs on Amhert Island, Ontario, Canada (2/2005).
Above and below: Two Black-capped Chickadees visiting Eden Mill Park, Harford Co., Maryland (11/7/2010). When I posted about this sighting, Les Eastman told me that they’d banded one at this location. Did it look like the one above?
Below: One of three Black-capped Chickadees visiting Blue Mash Nature Trail, Montgomery Co., Maryland (11/1/2010).
Below: Black-capped Chickadees visiting Hashawha Environmental Center, Carroll Co., Maryland (11/6/2010).
Below: Black-capped Chickadees in northeastern Frederick Co., Maryland (11/6/2010).
Below: A Black-capped Chickadee in Perryman, southwestern Harford Co., Maryland (12/11/2010).
Below are four photos of a vagrant Black-capped Chickadee taken in western Cecil Co., Maryland (12/4/2005).
Below: Recently fledged young at Finzel Swamp in Garrett Co., Maryland (7/29/05).
Below: A Black-capped Chickadee leads the protest against visiting birders in Washington Co., Maryland (10/3/2009). This individual was photographed on Sideling Hill, barely into the Black-capped side of the hybridization zone with Carolina Chickadee. Although it looks like a pure Black-capped, this bird lives way to close to Woodmont Road to not have a couple Carolina genes.
Below: A freaky intergrade chickadee in western Washington Co., Maryland (6/4/2011). Note the messy bib, long tail, and white secondary edges that suggest Black-capped Chickadee, but the lack of white in the coverts and dirty white cheeks that are more supportive of Carolina. Its voice was intermediate in quality, tending more toward Black-capped.
Comments: The Black-capped Chickadee is almost identical to the Carolina Chickadee, but the two have little range overlap. While the Carolina Chickadee is a year-round resident from central Maryland south to central Florida and west to Texas, the Black-capped Chickadee takes the more northern and western range. It is resident as far west as northern California and Alaska. The Black-capped Chickadee is larger, has white edging on the wings, and a black “bib” that extends further down its chest. They are most easily distinguised by their songs.
The Black-capped Chickadee nests in woodland areas, but spends much of its time at feeders in suburban areas. As shown above, this species can become quite tolerant of humans, and will sometimes eat from one’s hand. The killer chickadees of Amherst Island, Ontario, where the top photo was taken, are known for their extreme willingness to do so. Chickadees form mixed foraging flocks outside of breeding season, and are often found with titmice, nuthatches, kinglets, and the smaller woodpeckers. If the nest is disturbed, the female hisses like a snake to deter potential predators.
MDOsprey post from Jim Stasz (11/9/2005): “I might add something that is not in most field guides. If you look at where the black of the head meets the nape, on Carolina the black is rounded and has a limited boundary with the gray back and on Black-capped, the nape is squared with a larger shared boundary with the gray of the back. Additionally, the corners of the bib on Black-capped are ‘ragged’ The Black-caps that are arriving are from the northern subspecies and are different from the residents of western Maryland and most of Pennsylvania. They average larger, have proportionately long tails [watch when they fly onerhead] and the very white cheeks really contrast with the underparts. “
Everybody loves Black-capped Chickadees (6 photos)
This weekend includes Valentines Day, Family Day and the Great Backyard Bird Count. The count is a joint program of the Cornell Lab of Ornithology and Audubon with Canadian partner Birds Canada.
In thinking of this three-event weekend, I thought the bird that may be most fitting to highlight is the Black-capped Chickadee. It is a year round resident making it practically part of the family. It is found in most backyards and it has a very high cute factor with an endearing personality making it hard not to love.
Chickadees are sometimes dismissed as so common as to be uninteresting. I have seen people on birding sites apologise for posting chickadee photos because they are not rare birds.
Part of their charm is their very familiarity. They tend to be constants and are very curious and friendly. I find they are not skittish at all about my presence, whereas bigger, more colourful birds such as blue jays and cardinals fly away at even small movements.
Chickadees hang out, and will eat sunflower seeds out of my hand at times. They certainly will approach a freshly filled feeder while I’m still setting it up. And what do they do with these seeds you ask. Well, unlike many other “backyard” birds that like sit to eat at a feeder, the chickadee whirrs in, snags a seed and flies off to eat it in solitary peace.
They hold the seed on a limb or some other hard surface to break it open with its beak and pull out the kernel inside. They may also hide seeds to eat later. Each food item gets its own place, and chickadees can remember thousands of such places to snack on through the winter.
According to birdsoftheworld.org, most of what’s called caching is done in the fall and common hiding spots include “include bark, dead leaves, lichens, clusters of conifer needles, knotholes, and even dirt or snow”.
In the winter half a Black-Capped Chickadee’s diet is insects and spiders, the other half is made of seeds and berries. During breeding season, they up the meat intake to 80-90 per cent. Birch, willow and alder trees can be added to a backyard to attract chickadees. Suet and sunflowers seeds are favourites.
Allaboutbirds.com says that in the fall chickadees “allow brain neurons containing old information to die, replacing them with new neurons so they can adapt to changes in their social flocks and environment.” Hmm…there may be lesson in there for the rest of us to let some things go.
Another wonder of this cute little bird is how it makes it through winter. It turns out they eat a lot during the day, go into hypothermia at night to reduce their metabolism and shiver off the excess body weight. A National Wildlife (nwf.org) article reports, “The human equivalent of this overnight phenomenon would be a 165-pound man spending a frigid night outside and emerging 15 or so pounds lighter in the morning.”
It ought to be said that although Black-capped Chickadees are well known for their chicka-a-dee-dee call resembling their name, adults can have up to 16 different vocalizations with specific messaging. Also the more dee-dees, the higher the perceived danger being called out.
No matter what they may be saying, chickadees are predominately cheery, easy to find and easy to love. If you have fifteen minutes to count any birds in your backyard, perhaps as a family project, its not too late to participate in to the Great Backyard Bird Count this weekend Feb. 12-15. For info- www.birdcount.org/participate/
I share experiences of bird visitors to this property with readers every couple of weeks. Until next time, keep your eye to the sky, and look for birds that may come by.
Rosaleen Egan is a freelance journalist, a storyteller, and a playwright. She blogs on her website rosiewrites.com
