I don't know for sure when I saw my first Black-capped Chickadee, but for sure knew them as a kid in the early 1980s when I started more actively keeping bird lists. I didn't see my first Carolina Chickadee until 1986, when I traveled out to visit a girlfriend in Georgia.
I've now lived about as much in the Carolina Chickadee range as I have in the realm of Black-capped Chickadees. Looking at the feeder out my window at work today in the rain, I have both species, and maybe some hybrids. Which species should I now consider "my" chickadee? After all these years, its hard to say. Maybe by now I'm bi-parid?
And then there's those Mountain Chickadees that I miss from my college days in Utah and my summers of bird surveys in Montana. Now that's another sharp chickadee!
In the Boreal Forest – Part Two: the winter
8 hours ago
4 comments:
I think you have every reason to call them "your Chickadee"! :) I would have loved to see one of the Mountain Chickadee's!
Mountain chickadees are probably my favorite yard bird - I can't explain why, but I think they're so cool.
Tough choice! But for me it's easy. I've always lived in GA, so the Carolinas will always be "my chickadees".
But with this group of birds, you can't go wrong with any of them!
Life was simpler befor living in the Chickadee Crossover Zone! Ah well, one of the joys of living in south central PA.
Vern
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