Black-capped Chickadee
Black-capped Chickadee Video Clips
Black-capped Chickadees do not breed on our property. The Chestnut-back Chickadees take control of all the nest boxes. After the breeding season is over, the Black-capped Chickadees come by for food, water and baths. They are particularly fond of peanut butter cakes but also enjoy suet cakes and black-oil sunflower seeds.
Black-capped Chickadee Sound Clip
To listen to a sound file and view a waveform and spectrogram image click here.
Study Shows More Dees Mean More Danger
In March of 2006, Sciencentral put together a film clip entitled "Bird Fight Song" which was aired on various ABC and NBC stations. Scientists investigated the Black-capped Chickaedee's song and found that the more "dees" in the song, the greater the danger.
Beak Deformities
Researchers have documented 1,500 Black-capped Chickadees with bill deformities in south-central Alaska along with 19 other species of bill deformities. Although environmental contaminants are on the list of possibilities, they have not yet established any causal links. For more information and what you can do to help, read their article on Beak Deformities.
In May of 2006, we had a Varied Thrush in our backyard with a deformed beak.