The Cheerful, Gymnastic Chickadees

By Al Lowe
Contributor

One of the most common and well-liked birds of our northern climates is the Black-capped Chickadee. They seem to be eternal optimists. Well, they aren't.
That industrious cheerfulness masks an eternal search for food. In climates like ours, with periods of bitter cold, birds must spend most of their waking hours looking for food. They seek insects under bark, insect eggs of twigs, bits of grain or grass seeds - anything which will fuel those tiny mites of bodies.
That cheerful "chick-a-dee", from which the name comes, can really be a threat to others to stay away from this food supply, or a means of keeping a little flock together. But it doesn't mean that he is happy.
The Chickadee certainly appeals to us. He is one of the easiest birds to attract to a bird feeder, particularly if you put out suet or fat of any kind. With only a little bit of patience, you can get this little fellow to eat of your hand.
The Black-capped Chickadee is found in almost all of the wooded areas of Canada and the northern U.S. It is equally at home in the dense evergreen forests, in the open poplar and alder edges, or in the shrubs around home. They are nearly always in groups in the winter, six or eight or 20. They drift through the trees, dee-deeing incessantly, even in the worst of our winter weather.
Their favorite nests are made in old half-rotten stumps. They seem to prefer to hollow them out for themselves, but they sometimes use old woodpecker holes, or nest boxes. They don't stint on raising families, either, usually six or seven at a time, but sometimes up to ten. Males and females are identical, and as soon as the young have put on their permanent feathers, they look exactly the same, too.
In the early spring, when the sun starts to climb a bit into the sky, you will hear the chickadees singing a different song. Two long notes, the first a bit higher than the second, make a sort of 'Fee-bee'. This signals the beginning of the courtship and nesting season. The real courtship will happen sometime in March.
The most common chickadee, by far, is the Black-capped (Parus articapillus). There is another one which we see here in the north quite commonly, and that is the Brown-headed Chickadee (Parus hudsonicus). As the first name suggests, it has a brown cap instead of black, and its back and sides are brownish rather than grey. The habits of the two are very similar, and in winter, they often flock together. There are three other chickadees in Canada, but they are all west coast species.
If you haven't done it yet, hang a piece of suet outside your window. These acrobatic, irresponsible little birds will cheer you up on some of these bleak, cold winter days.