My friend the chickadee

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Behold the chickadee! They are cute, curious and best of all friendly! After observing chickadees for several months, I started to notice some common behaviors, so I decided to dig a little deeper to learn more about my feathered friends.

According to my observations, chickadees are social birds that socialize in bird society beyond their species. For example, I was looking at our feeder in the backyard and a chickadee came by with not only a host of other chickadees, but also a pair of white-breasted nuthatches. Later, I also saw them socialize with a tufted chickadee. One day a chickadee was accompanied by a whole flock of chickadees and, in fact, more chickadees than I had ever seen together. It turns out that chickadees are actually part of the tit family. Tit, Chickadee, and Chickadee make up the Paridae, a family of small passerine birds.

Seeing chickadees nearly cornering other birds made me wonder if perhaps the little chickadees were sharing and spreading the news of the feeder’s generosity. In fact, had they brought their friends over for brunch, so to speak? I also felt that maybe they were trying to let the newcomers know that I was not a threat. Chickadees have allowed me to sit within a few feet of them while feeding and they almost seemed to pose for my camera.

I find it curious that they take one seed at a time. As I investigated this behavior further, I discovered that they are said to take a seed, make a hole in the shell, and then continue to peck and enlarge the hole as they eat the contents of the shell. I’ve often seen them pecking at what looked like the branch or their own claws, but it appears that they were simply picking at the seed they chose.

Chickadees have an iconic look that is easy to spot as they appear to wear small black masks on their faces. A flock of chickadees is actually called banditry which refers to their black masks. Although difficult to miss due to its markings, if you listen to a chickadee before you see it, you may notice its distinctive “chick-a-dee-dee-dee” sound. This sound is actually emitted as an alarm call with the number of “dees” referring to the size or proximity of the predator, while “fee-bee” is your normal call and can be used for a variety of reasons, like attracting a mate or defending your territory.

There is a wide variety of chickadees such as the Carolina chickadee, the black-headed chickadee, the mountain chickadee, the chestnut chickadee and others. Most likely the species that visits my feeder is the black-headed one, since I live in Ohio.

In my studies, I was happy to find out that they are non-migratory birds, but less excited about the fact that their average life expectancy is only two or three years. Although I will be delighted to continue seeing them through the winter, it seems like such a short life expectancy for such a lovely little bird.

The Chickadee is a welcome visitor to many bird watchers and bird watchers and I look forward to continuing to share his friendly demeanor for years to come.

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