Green-backed Chickadee?

Black-capped Chickadee, Beaverton, Oregon, 7 December 2011 by Greg Gillson.

 

Sibley, in his account of Black-capped Chickadee, has a box explaining the ID pointers that will separate Black-capped from Carolina Chickadee. This is an identification challenge we do not really have to worry about here in the Pacific Northwest.

Sibley states that the Black-capped Chickadee "has a greenish back and buffy flanks."

Hmm... the back of Black-capped Chickadee has always appeared rather medium gray to me. But now that you mention it... does the back have a greenish cast in the photo above? Perhaps.

Gabrielson and Jewettt in their 1940 book Birds of Oregon, use Florence Merriam Bailey's textual descriptions from her 1921 Handbook of Birds of the Western United States. That description states: "back dark gray, tinged with olive brown."

Please see a previous post on Black-capped Chickadees: (In the backyard... Black-capped Chickadee)

Friday Foto: Foggy chickadee

Black-capped Chickadee, Cooper Mountain Nature Park, Beaverton, Oregon, 26 January 2011 by Greg Gillson.

 

A couple of weeks ago I featured a Chestnut-backed Chickadee in the sun.

This week, we have a Black-capped Chickadee in the fog.

When I read Rich Dich's photography blog I get jealous. He's in Arizona, getting up with the sun.

Here in western Oregon's drab winters, we may not see the sun for days at a time, and rarely at dawn. More often than not it is dark and foggy in the morning. It may start breaking up a bit by noon... only to reveal a high overcast. Then it will likely fog back in by 3 p.m.

See a previous post about Black-capped Chickadees.

Nature Journal: Nest box double-take

Black-capped Chickadee, Jackson Bottom Wetlands, Hillsboro, Oregon on 13 July 2010 by Greg Gillson.

 

There is nothing unusual in the above photo. On the free Wednesday morning bird walk I lead, we encountered this Black-capped Chickadee feeding nestlings at a nest box at Hillsboro, Oregon's Jackson Bottom Wetlands Preserve. The nestlings were grown enough to meet the parents at the nest entrance to receive food.

What is unusual, is that White-breasted Nuthatches were feeding nestlings at this same nest box 68 days earlier (see photo below)!

White-breasted Nuthatch, Jackson Bottom Wetlands, Hillsboro, Oregon on 6 May 2010 by Greg Gillson. Click on photo for larger views.

 

Here is what John K. Terres has to say about Black-capped Chickadee nesting in his book The Audubon Society Encyclopedia of North American Birds. He says that incubation is by both parents, 11-13 days and that the young leave the nest when 14-18 days old. The incubation and fledgling period is nearly the same for White-breasted Nuthatch (12 and 14 days, respectively).

It appears that the nest box might have been unoccupied approximately 42 days between the nesting of the nuthatch and chickadee.

Soggy Chickadee

Black-capped Chickadee, Fernhill Wetlands, Forest Grove, Oregon on 8 October 2009 by Greg Gillson.

 

A cool (38F) but pleasant fall morning at the local wetlands. Not very many birds, but more than present most of the summer. I got some photos of Great Egrets, a Wilson's Snipe side-by-side with a Long-billed Dowitcher, a Bewick's Wren, and this Black-capped Chickadee. Other birds that I wasn't able to photograph included several fly-over American Pipits, a single locally rare lingering White Pelican of a group of 13 present since July, and several Common Mergansers and Wood Ducks. There are many Golden-crowned Sparrows singing and calling and still a few Common Yellowthroats remaining.

This Black-capped Chickadee was wet from gleaning insects in the heavy dew of the ash trees. It was in a group of chickadees, likely a family. I've discussed Black-capped Chickadees previously.

Scheduled for October 19 is a discussion of Mountain Chickadee.

Next up, though, on Monday, October 12 is a discussion of Marsh Wren.

In the backyard... Black-capped Chickadee

Black-capped Chickadee, Jackson Bottom Wetlands, Hillsboro, Oregon on 1 February 2009 by Greg Gillson.

 

The Black-capped Chickadee is a familiar backyard bird to those living in the northern United States and southern Canada. It is found from coast to coast at these mid-latitudes.

Chickadees are the North American name for the birds that are simply called tits (old German for something small) in the rest of Europe, Asia, and Africa where the other members of this family of birds live. The chickadee name is onomatopoeic. That is, the name describes the chick-a-dee-dee call sound the bird makes. The more upset and alarmed the chickadee is, the more dee-dee's are in this call. Other birds named for their calls or songs include killdeer, flicker, sora, phoebe, cuckoo, whip-poor-will and others.

Most chickadees are the same general pattern of black cap, white face, black bib, pale underparts, and darker back. There are, however, Blue Tits in Eurasia that are colored blue (of course), green, and yellow, in addition to black and white. All these birds are small, plump-bodied, with a long tail, and small, round head, universally described as "cute." Combined with their curious nature, pleasant chattering calls, lack of fear around people, and ready acceptance of bird feeders, bird baths, and bird houses, their habits make them a favorite backyard bird.

Black-capped Chickadees are found in lowland deciduous and mixed woods and willow stream sides throughout the Pacific Northwest. They generally avoid dense conifer forests, sage and juniper flats, and mountains. About 80% of the food of chickadees is animal matter, insects, caterpillars, and the like. The rest is seeds. The seed component goes up considerably during the winter.

In the Pacific Northwest Black-capped Chickadees are most similar to Mountain and Chestnut-backed Chickadees. The gray back of Black-capped Chickadee is quite different from the rusty brown back of Chestnut-backed Chickadee. The Mountain Chickadee has a white eyebrow stripe and pale gray sides. The sides of Black-capped Chickadee are buffy (as in the photo above), but not rich chestnut as in the northern populations of Chestnut-backed Chickadee.

From Alaska to Maine the song of Black-capped Chickadee is an invariable, whistled, fee-bee-ee, also transcribed as hey, sweetie, the second notes slightly lower than the first. However, the songs of birds on islands off Massachusetts are different (sweetie-hey or sweetie-sweetie). The songs of Black-capped Chickadees in Oregon and Washington are also different from birds elsewhere. There are variations, but songs usually are longer in the Pacific Northwest, fee-bee-bee-bee, or even bee-bee-bee-bee-bee all on one pitch, as I just heard outside my window.

Chickadees may be the first bird to discover your backyard feeder or bird bath. They are fond of black oil sunflower seeds. They take these from the feeder, one seed at a time, and fly away to a tree branch. There, they hold the seed with their feet and pound it open with their stout bills. They may also steal the seeds away and hide them in a cache for later retrieval.