January is the time when the word Midwest becomes Latin for “find your mittens”. Lucky for us, some Mesopotamian genius in the 4th millennium solved this problem by strategically placing a sturdy stick between two cylindrical objects and soon after, “Snowbirds” was being etched on cave walls. Of course, now we have fancy glamping portable homes sitting on those rolling contraptions making this human migration far more pleasant. Pleasant being a relative word as our annual trek hasn’t exactly gone as planned. We go south to shed the layers of clothing, this year we are adding them thanks to a band of frigid air riding shotgun to Arizona – and now we might be greeted with the fluffy white crap looming near week’s end. Damn you Mr. Snow Miser (link here)! While we get this setback sorted out, Brad is going to jump in and bring us his first post of the new year. Let’s hope he found his mittens.
Welcome to 2024 Brad, take it away…
As birders all know, the little birds are the hardest to catch successfully. They blend into the trees. Little birds tend to be spastic. But they have some great calls and fantastic colors. Little birds are also very rewarding if you are able to capture photographs of them sitting still for a millisecond, or 1/1000th of a second for those thinking in photographic terms.
Todays’ three subjects have similar calls, but they are different enough to get your attention and all come from different parts of the country
Black-capped Chickadees (Poecile atricapillus) have a three- or four-toned call with different notes. The three-note call (Chick-a-dee) has the first note being the highest, the second a fifth lower and the third up a half-tone from the first (sounds like the last three notes from Close Encounters). Their four-note call (Chick-a-dee-dee) is a series of two notes repeated, but about a half octave apart. Most of the Black-caps near us use the three-note version, and this one from our back yard in central Illinois is no exception. This is the first bird call our daughter Allyson learned to recognize and tried to imitate when she was about four years old.
Hit the jump to learn more about the Black-capped’s kinfolk.
Continue reading Chickadees Three…by Brad Marks
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