Black-Capped Chickadee
by J McCombie
Title
Black-Capped Chickadee
Artist
J McCombie
Medium
Photograph - Untouched
Description
The Black-capped Chickadee (Poecile atricapillus) is a small, North American songbird, a passerine bird in the tit family Paridae. It is the state bird of both Maine and Massachusetts in the United States, and the provincial bird of New Brunswick in Canada. It is notable for its capacity to lower its body temperature during cold winter nights, its good spatial memory to relocate the caches where it stores food, and its boldness near humans (they can feed from the hand).
A bird almost universally considered cute thanks to its oversized round head, tiny body, and curiosity about everything, including humans. The chickadees black cap and bib; white cheeks; soft gray back, wings, and tail; and whitish underside with soft buffy sides are distinctive. The cap extends down just beyond the black eyes, making the small eyes tricky to see. Its habit of investigating people and everything else in its home territory, and quickness to discover bird feeders, make it one of the first birds most people learn.
This tiny bird has a short neck and large head, giving it a distinctive, rather spherical body shape. It also has a long, narrow tail and a short bill a bit thicker than a warblers but thinner than a finchs.
Black-capped Chickadees seldom remain at feeders except to grab a seed to eat elsewhere. Chickadees will take food such as seeds from feeders and trays over to a tree branch to hammer them open. They are acrobatic and associate in flocksthe sudden activity when a flock arrives is distinctive. They often fly across roads and open areas one at a time with a bouncy flight.
Chickadees may be found in any habitat that has trees or woody shrubs, from forests and woodlots to residential neighborhoods and parks, and sometimes weedy fields and cattail marshes. They frequently nest in birch or alder trees.
Uploaded
February 11th, 2014
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