Few Michigan birds are as universally liked as the Black-capped Chickadee. Tiny, round, and seemingly fearless, chickadees wear a neat black cap and bib against white cheeks, and they announce themselves constantly with their namesake "chick-a-dee-dee-dee" call. They are year-round residents that shrug off even the coldest Upper Peninsula winters.
Chickadees are often the first birds to find a new feeder and the ringleaders of winter foraging flocks, which nuthatches, titmice, and Downy Woodpeckers join to take advantage of their alarm calls. With patience, a quiet observer holding sunflower seeds can sometimes convince one to feed straight from an open hand.
Insects, spiders, and their eggs make up most of the diet in summer; seeds and berries carry chickadees through winter. At feeders they favor sunflower seeds and suet, carrying single seeds off to hammer open on a branch — or to hide for later.
They cache thousands of seeds in fall and can relocate them weeks later, and on cold nights they drop their body temperature into a controlled hypothermia to save energy. Dense winter feathers do the rest.
Yes, with patience. Stand still near a busy feeder with sunflower seeds in an open palm on a cold morning. Chickadees are bold and often learn within a few sessions that a hand is just another feeder.
It's an alarm and contact call — and the number of "dee" notes rises with the level of danger. Other species eavesdrop on it, which is why chickadee flocks attract so many followers.
No — this is a permanent resident here, recorded in all twelve months. Numbers are highest from April through July. What changes through the year is behavior rather than presence: conspicuous song and display in spring, quieter foraging the rest of the year.
Other birds you might be looking at instead.
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