Nature Inquiries

by Carl Strang

I have mentioned black-capped chickadees from time to time in this blog, most notably when introducing the topic of mixed flocks. Today I want to share my dossier on this species. In my dossiers I try to summarize what I know of a species from my own observations, as opposed to information from the literature or other outside sources. I began writing the dossier in the mid-1980’s. Observations begin with my date codes.

Chickadee, Black-capped

Ca. 1979. I remember sitting on the hawk watch at Reineman Sanctuary in PA in fall and watching as a sharp-shinned hawk zipping along the ridge suddenly turned its course so as to enter the tree canopy and caught a chickadee.

Boiling Springs, PA, 1980. A pair nested in hollow Ailanthus branch. One bird was electrocuted by a nearby electric fence. The other completed incubation and at least began to rear the brood alone. “Cheeseburger” call (more formally known as the fee-bee call) used early as apparent territorial signal.

Lombard, IL, 1981. A pair nested in a wren house, raised a brood, then returned and raised a second brood in the same house. In both cases, the pair traveled the neighborhood with their groups of fledglings.

Maple Grove Forest Preserve (F.P.), 1986. A pair was cleaning out an old cavity in a 10 foot snag in the maple forest. The excavating bird periodically removed beaks full of sawdust. Other bird remained nearby, giving occasional “chickadee” contact call.

Meacham Grove F.P., 24MY86. For the first time, I saw a chickadee taking advantage of tortricids hidden in folded leaves. One individual moved from one folded leaf to the next, vigorously tearing them open. I expected to see it more frequently than I have, given the lack of other birds with the appropriate foraging behavior in their repertoire, and the abundance of this food resource.

Willowbrook F.P., 1984-86. Chickadees have broods in the wooded riparian strip each spring. One pair appears to control the entire 1/4 mi. X 100-foot strip. Groups of more than 2 chickadees stay together through the winter. “Chickittaperk” vocalization appears to be an interspecific agonistic (dispute) display.

Chickadees weren’t common in Culver, Indiana when I was growing up. I remember being pleasantly surprised that a pair was present, nesting, at Miracles’ house in summer. This implies they were more easily seen in winter, at the feeder. Old trees and branches were scarce in our neighborhood.

Alarm call: one used a sharp “chiburr,” another answered with the same call.

11FE87. Willowbrook. Widely scattered chickadees in the Back 40 old field are maintaining contact mainly via the feebee call.

28FE87. A group of a half-dozen chickadees in trees: much sneeze-calling and chick-chick-chick-chick, but few chickadee calls, with much chasing and displacement. Later, many individuals made chickadee calls from widely separated perches. Then a period of silence followed.

14MR87. Maple Grove F.P. Seven chickadees moved together with a mix of chickadee and sneeze calls, occasionally briefly chasing one another. The group spread out widely, then used very high-pitched brief “cheeks” for contact.

29AP87. Chickadee caught adult noctuid moth, pecked body (scales puffed into the air), removed wings one at a time and they drifted to the ground, landing at least 3 feet apart.

1JL87. Willowbrook F.P. Chickadee pecking at mulberries.

10SE87. 0.5-3 seconds per perch in foraging, flying or hopping a few inches to 6 feet or occasionally 10 feet between perches, acrobatic hanging or hover-gleaning, pecking at dried leaves, turning and lowering body almost to upside down position to peer different ways.

13SE87. At West DuPage Woods F.P., several chickadees in a mixed flock with a redstart and a bay-breasted warbler.

17JE89. A broad-winged hawk callied repeatedly, in north end of Maple Grove F.P. Jays, flickers and grackles were highly agitated, flickers the most continuously vocal with “keels” every 2 seconds (2 birds). Grackles gacking frequently, too. A great crested flycatcher near, also vocal, but not clearly in response to the hawk; same with chickadees. Robins definitely disturbed, with nervous dee-dee-dee’s every 20 seconds or so. Jays in bursts, with several birds mobbing.

10JE90. Warrenville Grove. Chickadee saw me at sit near edge of woods. Alarm call “chicka-chicka-…(rapid)-dee-dee-dee”

3JL90. Chickadee plucked 2 unripe (white) mulberries from the branches. Dropped the first, then went for the second. Worked on it several seconds, holding it against a twig with its toes. I couldn’t tell if it ate the whole berry or just extracted seeds. Suspect latter.

7SE90. 2 chickadees eating dried crabapples, eating, pulling out and eating little bites.

30SE90. Chickadee and downy woodpecker eating poison ivy berries at Ann’s business property near Lafayette.

8FE00. Chickadees heard singing for the first time of the year at Willowbrook, and continuing in the following days. Also vigorously chasing each other this day, with agonistic vocalizations.

10FE00. Chickadees singing (feebee song) at Willowbrook.

1AP00. Morton Arboretum, Heritage Trail. A mixed flock with at least 1 brown creeper, 2-3 chickadees; juncos and robin in area. Chickadees longer on each perch than golden-crowned kinglets observed yesterday. A lot of looking around, not so constantly moving between perches, and making larger jumps between perches, 3′ common. Later, another association of chickadees, golden-crowned kinglets and a white-breasted nuthatch. These mixed flocks stand out because after going through a long segment of forest path where there are essentially no birds, suddenly there are many at once of several species. Again, chickadees sitting longer in one place and moving farther between perches. All moving together in same direction through forest, and moved away from me as I observed them. Later still, a couple of chickadees without associates. Perhaps this is the kind of observation that led to the local core species idea.

25JE00. This spring I have observed 3 chickadee groups with parents and fledglings, one at the Arboretum on 1JE, one yesterday at Willowbrook, and a third in another part of the Arboretum today. Instead of being spread out, in each case the groups were clustered in a small area no more than 20 feet in diameter, and they moved only very slowly. Feedings were frequent, so apparently the parents directed or led their young to food-rich locations.

11MR01. A chickadee at Timber Ridge Forest Preserve with a variation on the fee-bee song: the “bee” syllable is repeated, and each syllable has the usual hinged quality, i.e., “fee-bee-ee-bee-ee.”

More recent observations have focused on the role of black-capped chickadees in mixed flocks.

29AU01. Algonquin Park, Ontario, Mizzy Lake Trail. Flock 1: Golden-crowned kinglets, a young-of-the-year black-throated green warbler, black-and-white warbler, black-capped chickadees. Flock 2: At an edge between mixed forest and a lake. Black-capped chickadees, several black-throated green warblers (appear to be sticking together to form their own group within the flock), at least 1 blue-headed vireo, 1 female or young blackburnian warbler, 1 chestnut-sided warbler, and 1 Tennessee warbler. The black-capped chickadees are very abundant here, the most apparently numerous birds in the forest (because of their frequent calling and frequent presence). It is easy to see how migrant birds accustomed to forming mixed flocks with them here in the north could attach to resident birds they encounter on the trip south. Flock 3: Black-capped chickadees, Swainson’s thrush.

30AU01. Algonquin Park, Bat Lake Trail. Flock 1: Black-capped chickadees, a black-and-white warbler, the latter singing. Flock 2: Black-capped chickadees, red-breasted nuthatches, golden-crowned kinglets, 1 or 2 black-throated blue warblers, at least 1 Tennessee warbler, yellow-rumped warbler. The first three species are the vocal ones. These flocks are distinctive: you go for hundreds of yards seeing or hearing no small birds, then suddenly there is one of these diverse groups in a small area.

31AU01. Algonquin Park, Spruce Bog Trail. Flock 1: Yellow-rumped warblers, black-capped chickadees, red-breasted nuthatches, golden-crowned kinglets. Do more northern birds, living in more open forests, either not have chickadees to associate with, or perhaps the scattered trees (if they are) remove the advantages of mixed flocks? See if it’s true that the non-mixed-flock species tend to be more northern.

12SE01. Willowbrook. Flock 1 around west end of cross trail. 2 chickadees and 1@ of black-throated green, magnolia, Tennessee (sang a couple times), and 1 unidentified species. Flock 2 near the NW corner of nature trail, a magnolia warbler apparently alone.

13SE01. Willowbrook. A large but difficult to view mixed flock near office building: 3 chickadees, 2 redstarts, a blackpoll warbler, a red-breasted nuthatch, and many others.

14SE01. Willowbrook. Flock 1 around NW corner of nature trail: redstart, chickadee, downy woodpecker, Tennessee warbler, black-throated green warbler, magnolia warbler, red-eyed vireo. Flock 2 between eastern part of animal exhibit and bridge. Chickadee, 3 redstarts, downy woodpecker, blackpoll warbler (it is possible that the one seen earlier joined this flock; it was near this location).

17SE01. Willowbrook. Flock 1: 3 chickadees, 1 redstart, others perhaps; near west end cross trail. Flock 2, base of savanna, 2 palm warblers only. Flock 3, brush area east of Nature Trail, 2 chickadees only. Flock 4, another part of same brush area, 2 chickadees, a magnolia warbler, 1 other unidentified.

19SE01. Willowbrook. Flock 1, east exhibit area to bridge: 2 chickadees, 1 black-throated blue warbler, 1 redstart, possibly others. Flock 2, west end cross trail: staying around berry-feeding robins, waxwings and catbird, with no chickadees around: a black-and-white warbler, 2 downy woodpeckers, a redstart, a blackpoll warbler, possibly others.

25SE01. Elsen’s Hill, plateau above river. Flock 1: at least 8 vocal, active yellow-rumped warblers, and a ruby-crowned kinglet. Flock 2, very large and diverse, only some individuals identified: 2 chickadees, black-throated green warbler, blackpoll warbler, 2 Nashville warblers (1 low in an aster thicket another in low tree branches), downy woodpeckers, a parula behaving like the Nashville, 2 redstarts, a chestnut-sided warbler.

26SE01. Willowbrook, between bridge and animal exhibit. 2 chickadees, and at least one @ of vireos (Philadelphia, red-eyed, yellow-throated), warblers (Tennessee, magnolia, parula, black-throated green), scarlet tanager, red-breasted nuthatch.

27SE01. Willowbrook. Flock between bridge and exhibit fence. 2 chickadees, 1 Tennessee and 1 magnolia warbler.

30SE01. Fox River and Island Park, Batavia. Many yellow-rumped warblers spread out all over, some hover-gleaning, some flycatching, others reaching for poison ivy berries. With them, a chickadee, a male Cape May warbler in the top of a silver maple, very active in the short time I saw it.

14SE02. Elsen’s Hill. I walked for several minutes, seeing apparently independent Tennessee warblers (2 together) and a Nashville warbler before encountering a large flock. This flock seemed to be changing composition over time, i.e., after my initial observations I walked a short distance away, then returned, and when I came back, some birds were the same but there were several new ones, as well. Later, after following the flock for 50 minutes or so and losing them in a direction I did not want to pursue in the brush, I returned to the starting point and a small mixed flock was there, with some of the birds I saw initially (apparently, none were marked of course) and a couple added ones. Initial group: a blackpoll warbler, 2 red-eyed vireos, 2 redstarts, an essentially silent chickadee, a black and white warbler, a Tennessee warbler, a Swainson’s thrush, a female or young black-throated blue warbler that was the only flock member calling consistently, all foraging in brush understory within 15 feet of the ground (the redstarts were the only ones consistently going above 10 feet; this was after 9 a.m.). Flock after my return: golden-winged warbler (like the redstarts, up higher, and very active, including flush and pursuit), a male and 2 female or young black-throated blue warblers, 2 Tennessee warblers, a black-throated green warbler, 3 redstarts, 2 blackpoll warblers, a black and white warbler, a blackburnian warbler. After it had warmed up some, later, a magnolia warbler foraging 20-25 feet up and the other birds also have gone higher. Doing a lot of reaching, and spending much time looking from each perch. At 10:45 I returned to the starting point: 4 noisier chickadees, 2 red-eyed vireos, a blackpoll warbler, a male redstart, a magnolia warbler, all except the chickadees foraging higher, throughout the tree canopies. Also a downy woodpecker, black-throated green warbler, Swainson’s thrush.

25AU08. Fullersburg Woods. First mixed flock of the fall migration has 2 chickadees, a downy woodpecker, a Tennessee warbler and a Canada warbler.

28AU08. Fullersburg Woods. Mixed flock just S of Willow Island bridge: 2 chickadees, 2 Tennessee warblers, 2 magnolia warblers, a gnatcatcher.

29AU08. Fullersburg Woods. Mixed flocks: One with four chickadees, two Tennessee warblers, a magnolia warbler and a black-and-white warbler. Also, 2 Tennessee warblers together apart from mixed flock. At mid-day a mixed flock near the junction of trails with 3 chickadees, 3 Tennessee warblers, a white-breasted nuthatch, a magnolia warbler, a parula. Chickadees were doing a lot of hanging upside down, Tennessees less acrobatic running along tops of branches and reaching, magnolia and parula more rapid movements, hopping between branches, nuthatch on bark, all in top half of canopy.

13SE08. Kettle Lakes Provincial Park, Ontario. Large, mixed flock in an area around 75 yards in diameter: at least 2 black-capped chickadees, 5 golden-crowned and 4 ruby-crowned kinglets, 4 yellow-rumped warblers, 2 red-eyed vireos, downy woodpecker, black-and-white warbler, black-throated green warbler, redstart, red-breasted nuthatch. I’m hearing white-throated sparrows, but they seem all near the ground rather than up in the trees with the others. Weak songs from ruby-crowneds, the black-throated green and the black-and-white. This is mainly an area of aspens with some jack pines. Mixed flock: at least 2 chickadees, at least 2 golden-crowned kinglets, 2 ruby-crowned, and a yellow-rump. Aspen grove again with some jack pines and a couple white pines.

15SE08. Nagagamisis Provincial Park. On trails, encountered a little flock of at least 7 ruby-crowned kinglets. Nothing up with them first time through, but white-throated sparrows lower down in that area (on the way back a chickadee, a brown creeper, 3 golden-crowned kinglets and a Swainson’s thrush added). Birds have been few, and I cannot discount the possibility of an association of the white-throated sparrows with this group. On the Time Trail, balsam fir the dominant tree with plenty of white spruces, some black spruces, white cedars, paper birches. Another mixed flock with at least one chickadee, 2 ruby-crowns, 3 golden-crowns.

21SE. Mayslake. A mixed flock at edge of Area 9 and grounds containing a black-throated blue warbler (new preserve species), black-throated green, 2 redstarts, 2 blackpolls, chestnut-sided, Nashville, black-and-white, magnolia, and a chickadee.