Black-capped Chickadee | A Most Liked Bird by Many

As some may know I’ve had many close relationships with these precious little beloved birds, the Black-capped Chickadee. For the entirety of my time watching wild birds, their curious way of allowing people to observe them up close has provided me with much enjoyment and a great experience watching the fascinating habits they display. Many individual Black-capped chickadees have made a huge impression on me, enriching my whole birding experience and helping lead me into a world I did not know was possible.

Black-caped Chickadee nestbox video
https://youtu.be/CgO_zDGgTjA

Timestamps:
00:00 Intro
00:40 What do Black-capped Chickadees look like
01:14 Similar looking birds
02:00 What they like to eat
04:06 How to attract them to your feeder
04:57 Habitat and where to find Black-capped Chickadees
05:17 Their hierarchy
06:04 Chickadee -dee-dee call
06:50 Seet call
07:03 Feebee or Cheeburger call
07:16 Gargle call/song
07:34 Broken dee call
07:56 Nesting (building, eggs, babies, snake display, fledging)
10:28 Quiet feebee call
11:09 Population / conservation
11:32 Lifespan
12:08 My personal thoughts/experience
14:25 Black-capped Chickadee Nestbox

Black-capped chickadees are easy to recognize, look for their black bib and cap, white belly, gray back and a hint of tan on their flanks. Measuring around 5 to 6 in and weighing just a half an ounce or lower. There is no obvious difference between males and females, they both look the same but females tend to be slightly smaller.

The diet of these birds is pretty varied with them changing what they eat depending on the season. One major source, especially over summer, is insects which make up 90 percent of their diet and include lice, grub, beetles, and moths as well as the eggs, larvae, and pupae of these invertebrates. In the winter they switch their diet to mostly vegetable-like seeds of native trees, insects during this time only account for around 50 percent of what they consume. The occasional fruit like crabapple and berries are additional sources of nourishment but probably the most important thing that helps sustain them during a time when there isn't much around to eat.

One other source of food for chickadees comes from people who put up backyard feeders filled with black-oil sunflower seeds, peanuts and suet. Many people wholeheartedly welcome these birds to their feeders, since they are such pleasant guests, coming and going as they collect a seed, sometimes even stopping long enough to eat.

Seeing these delightful birds in a natural setting shouldn’t be hard since they live in a variety of habitats, such as deciduous and mixed forests, open woods, parks and disturbed areas.
One way to locate a Chickadee is to listen for their calls, the most common and easy to recognize is their namesake chickadee dee dee call which as researchers have discovered over the years serves many functions. Almost constantly these birds keep in contact with one another by using a low and short seet sound. As spring nears, males start singing the feebee song, to attract a mate or impress the mate he already has and to establish territory. They also use another call that is considered a song, the gargle call. This is often given during aggressive displays and has many of the same functions as songs do.
Females make a Broken dee call as they near egg-laying, during this time, the male will feed his mate as a part of courtship feeding.

Nest box provided by:
Bird Walking Down
https://birds.walkingdown.com
YouTube https://www.youtube.com/c/BirdsWalkingDown

Songs in the Video
Intro: Kevin Mcleod 'Carefree' incompetech.com
Ending: Kevin Mcleod 'Continue life' incompetech.com

The individuals' names can be found on their respective photo/video and /or found below (license at the end)

Canva.com
https://www.canva.com/policies/free-media

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