Our little chickadees



Here's a Carolina Chickadee in my yard. It looks alot like its cousin, the

Black-capped Chickadee. 

 

Getting to know chickadees isn't so hard. They're bold and curious birds that don't mind getting near people. Heck, you can get them to eat out of your hand if you have the patience.

              But do you really know your chickadees? When we folks in the South see them, we pretty much know they are Carolina Chickadees. You in the Northeast have Black-capped Chickadees. But there are areas where the two species overlap, namely a strip of territory that starts east in Maryland and stretches west into the Ohio Valley to the Mississippi River and into middle Missouri. Since the chickadee species look so similar, if you live in these areas, you may have a tough time deciding whether the chickadee at your feeder is a Black-capped or Carolina.

           They look very similar. The Black-capped is just a little larger. Their songs are similar, too. Chickadees are named for their calls, which go something like "chickadee-dee-dee." And to make matters more confusing for folks in that strip of territory, chickadees there have hybridized and picked up each others’ looks, songs and calls.

               Feeders in the West have Black-capped and Mountain chickadees, and in the northern Great Lakes and northern Minnesota, Black-capped and Boreal chickadees mix it up. The Chestnut-backed Chickadee ranges along the northern Pacific Coast. It’s the easiest of the chickadees to pick out; check the name.

               So chickadees can be tricky. If you're confused about which you have, go to the Cornell site, allaboutbirds.org, and compare.

              Or stop scratching your head and just be happy to have these bright little birds darting to and from your feeder.

Trappin' time!

         The squirrels have gotten out of control around here. Today I had two feeders down and one chewed up (why do I use plastic?).

Where are my Have-A-Hearts? Ahm a goin' trappin'.

Here’s what else I saw in the yard today:

AM, partly cloudy, 80 degrees, 20 minutes

Northern Cardinal

Mourning Dove

Crow  (Common or Fish; not sure)

Brown Thrasher

Tufted Titmouse

House Finch

Carolina Wren

Blue Jay