Perky Little Chickadee of the Eastern U. S.
Carolina Chickadee, Louisiana's Only Chickadee
One of our favorite birds is the Carolina Chickadee. To be so tiny, this bird has the heart of a lion. They are inquisitive and intelligent and seem to be comfortable with man. They are the first ones to discover and use a new feeder or nest box and will not hesitate to let you know when something bothers them.
Description of Carolina Chickadee

Buy Carolina Chickadee by naturegirl7
Size: 10-12 cm (4-5 in)
Wingspan: 15-20 cm (6-8 in)
Weight: 8-12 g (0.28-0.42 ounces)
Small, short-billed bird.
Black cap.
Black bib.
White cheeks.
Back unstreaked gray.
Underparts whitish.
Wings and tail dark grayish.
Flanks gray or brownish.
Upper wing feathers with no or only little white edging.
Tail rather long.
Bill black.
Legs and feet gray.
Reference: All About Birds
Diet
So this bird is another of the many wild "helpers" who organically rid our gardens of harmful insects.
Nesting
In our area, Carolina Chickadees frequently use the nest boxes on our Bluebird Trail. These perky little birds are permanent residents. Their chikadeedeedeedee call is made frequently as they visit the sunflower seed feeder.
Listen to the Call of the Carolina Chickadee.
Chickadees excavate cavities in rotten trees, but will readily take advantage of a nest box. They are the first to nest in the spring and are usually finished by the time most of the other birds are ready to nest. Chickadees usually nest once a year, but will attempt a second nesting if the first one failed.
Their nests are made mostly of green moss with some hair and fur to form a cup. We put out the clippings from our Cocker Spaniel's haircuts in a wire suet basket and the Chickadees love them.
Shortly after the nest is completed, the female lays from 3-8 speckled eggs and incubates them for 11 to 14 days, beginning the day the next-to-last egg is laid. The nestlings fledge when they are 13 to 17 days old.
Chickadees and Titmice
Chickadee Rescue
I'll never forget the day that I was working in the yard and a heard the Chickadees fussing and calling from a forested area nearby. One of them flew over towards me and then flew back to where the others were giving distress calls. As I made my way through the brush, the Chickadee kept returning to me until it lead me to an oak tree with a Chickadee size hole in it. I could barely see the hole, because there was a rat snake halfway in and the Chickadees were diving at it.Since the hole was too high for me to reach, I ran to get a step stool and called for my tall husband to come help. He's the snake expert and he verified that it was a rat snake and was able to remove it from the Chickadee's nesting cavity. There were no lumps in the snake, so we think we intervened in time. Rat snakes are very beneficial animals because they rid the environment of vermin, so we released the snake in the woods, far away from our yard.
Gotta' Read about the Dee's
Carolina Chickadee on Wiki
The Carolina Chickadee, Poecile carolinensis, is a small songbird, a passerine bird in the tit family Paridae. Often, it is still placed in the genus Parus with most other tits, but mtDNA cytochrome b sequence data and morphology suggest that separating Poecile more adequately expresses these birds' relationships (Gill et al., 2005). The American Ornithologists' Union has been treating Poecile as distinct genus for some time already.
Category: Image - :Carolina Chickadee-27527.jpg|250px|thumb|left|A Carolina Chickadee perched on a tree branch.
Adults are 11.5?13 cm long with a weight of 9?12 g, and have a black cap and bib with white sides to the face. Their underparts are white with rusty brown on the flanks; their back is grey. They have a short dark bill, short wings and a moderately long tail. Very similar to the Black-capped Chickadee, the Carolina Chickadee is best told from it by the slightly browner wing with the greater coverts brown (not whitish fringed) and the white fringing on the secondary feathers slightly less conspicuous; the tail is also slightly shorter and more square-ended. The calls and song also differ subtly to an experienced ear: the Carolina Chickadee's chick-a-dee call is faster and higher pitched than that of the Black-Capped Chickadee, and the Carolina chickadee has a four note fee-bee-fee-bay song, whereas the Black-capped omits the high notes. Identification is very difficult even with an excellent view.
The most famous call is the familiar chick-a-dee-dee-dee which gave this bird its name and its song is fee-bee-fee-bay.
Their breeding habitat is mixed or deciduous woods in the United States from New Jersey west to southern Kansas and south to Florida and Texas; there is a gap in the range at high altitudes in the Appalachian Mountains where they are replaced by their otherwise more northern relative, the Black-capped Chickadee. They nest in a hole in a tree; the pair excavates the nest, using a natural cavity or sometimes an old woodpecker nest. They may interbreed with Black-capped Chickadees where the ranges overlap, which can make identification difficult.
They are permanent residents, not usually moving south even in severe winter weather.
These birds hop along tree branches searching for food, sometimes hanging upside down or hovering; they may make short flights to catch insects in the air. Insects form a large part of their diet, especially in summer; seeds and berries become important in winter. They sometimes hammer seeds on a tree or shrub to open them; they also will store seeds for later use.
During the fall migration and winter, chickadees often flock together. Many other species of birds, including titmice, nuthatches, and warblers can often be found foraging in these flocks. Mixed flocks stay together because the chickadees call out whenever they find a good source of food. This calling out forms cohesion for the group, allowing the other birds to find food more efficiently.
Carolina chickadees are able to lower their body temperatures to induce an intentional state of hypothermia called torpor. They do this to conserve energy during extremely cold winters. In extremely cold weather conditions they look for cavities where they can hide in and spend up to fifteen hours at a time in torpor; during this time they are awake but unresponsive; they should not be picked up and handled at this time, as the stress of being held may cause their death.
Carolina chickadees are so similar to black-capped chickadees that they themselves have trouble telling their species apart. Because of this they sometimes mate producing hybrids. The most obvious difference between the three chickadees is that the Carolina chickadee sings four-note song, black-capped ones sing two-note songs, and the hybrids sing three-note songs.[http://www.birdhouses101.com/carolina-chickadee.asp]
Chickadee Story for the Fledglings
Chickadee Feeders on Amazon
Baby Chickadees Video Cam
Chickadee parents, four babies and one unhatched egg
The babies are starting to look like birds!
Runtime: 0:58
4026 views
1 Comments:
Chickadee Couple
Chickadee Blogs
- My Birds Blog | My Birds Blog: Carolina Chickadee
- My Birds Blog is about the birds that come and go here in my backyard. All of the photos that I take are of them, up close and personal. I began making my backyard into a wildlife sanctuary in 1962 and am still working on it.
- CK215 Carolina Chickadee on Flickr - Photo Sharing!
- CK215 Carolina Chickadee.
- Carolina Chickadee
- Unfortunately, we have no chickadees this year. I think it has been way to hot here for them and that if they are still living that they moved on farther north from Brookville, Ohio. It had been hotter than a cat on a hot tin roof. ...
- Carolina Chickadee
- Ginger 71 posted a photo: Carolina Chickadee. I've been trying for weeks to get a photo of one of the Chickadees drinking from the ant trap on the hummingbird feeder. This one came while I was sitting on the steps and had a very quick ...
Cavity Nesting Birds Slide Show
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Red-bellied Woodpecker Family
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This is a tribute to the beautiful and joyful Bluebird of the fields and forests of the U.S. Young and old alike should enjoy this lens which features Bluebirds in YouTube Video, Songs and literature. Yes, this is a love fest for Bluebirds, whether t...
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The little brown Carolina Wren pair with their perky tails and loud voice builds a nest somewhere around our house each year. This year we photographed their nest in the hanging basket on the porch. This lens contains information about Carolina Wren...
Let's Hear it for Carolina Chickadees!
ElizabethJeanAllen wrote...
The Carolina Chickadees sing a beautiful song.
Great lens
Lizzy
OhMe wrote...
We love to watch the Carolina Chickadees but I am afraid I wouldn't have intervened when it came to a snake - not even a rat snake. Loved the slideshow. 5* fav
ElizabethJeanAllen wrote...
There are several Carolina Chickadees that frequent my birdfeeder. At first I thought they were Black-capped Chickadees but once I pulled out the binoculars I could see the difference. They are both beautiful birds.
Great lens.
Lizzy
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Links to More Info About Carolina Chickadees
All About Birds: Carolina Chickadee
Comprehensive information on North American birds more...0 points
Carolina Chickadee
A presentation of bird photographs, songs, identif more...0 points
Carolina Chickadee
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eNature.com Nature Guides
Carolina Chickadee Flash Card0 points
Carolina Chickadee - Whatbird.com
Carolina Chickadee: Small chickadee with gray uppe more...0 points
Carolina Chickadees is on Isle of Squid

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My husband and I have always loved nature and the outdoors. We currently maintain a 9 acre private wildlife preserve.

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