Bird of the Week: The Black-Capped Chickadee
Hi all,
First things first… Be sure to enter our new contest! It’s free, painless, fun, and it has a great prize!
Onward… It‘s Monday… Let’s make the “Bird of the Week” the Black-capped Chickadee or Poecile atricapilla of the Paridae family.
These gregarious little insect- and seed-eaters (like the one accompanying and "towering above" a Downy Woodpecker in the photo) are as common as the seagull here on Cape Cod. In fact, chickadees occupy almost the entire northern half of the North American continent (excepting the tundra regions of Canada).
Things that you might not have known about these guys:
Well, that about does it... Keep submitting comments to enter our contest at the site above, and please feel free to comment on this and any other post as well.
See you by the feeders,
CapeCodAlan
References used for this post are listed below:
First things first… Be sure to enter our new contest! It’s free, painless, fun, and it has a great prize!
Onward… It‘s Monday… Let’s make the “Bird of the Week” the Black-capped Chickadee or Poecile atricapilla of the Paridae family.
These gregarious little insect- and seed-eaters (like the one accompanying and "towering above" a Downy Woodpecker in the photo) are as common as the seagull here on Cape Cod. In fact, chickadees occupy almost the entire northern half of the North American continent (excepting the tundra regions of Canada).
Things that you might not have known about these guys:
- They are ready to try to fly within two weeks of hatching.
- Black-caps (who sing a two-note song) and Carolina Chickadees (who sing a four-note song) sometimes interbreed producing a hybrid that sings a three-note song. I kid you not.
- Black-capped Chickadees will stash away food for later, and a single bird can remember thousands of caches.
- You can listen to (and learn more about) the Black-capped Chickadee at the U.S. Geological Survey site.
Well, that about does it... Keep submitting comments to enter our contest at the site above, and please feel free to comment on this and any other post as well.
See you by the feeders,
CapeCodAlan
References used for this post are listed below:
- Cornell Lab of Ornithology
- Wikipedia
- Audubon Society
- U.S. Geological Survey
- The National Audubon Society’s “The Sibley Guide to Birds”
- ”Birds Of North America” published by Golden
- ”Birds of New England” from Smithsonian Handbooks