The Carolina Chickadee is a year round bird in Fort Bend. They come to feeders, but don't remain long. Taking only one seed, Chickadees normally go to a shrub or small tree to dine.
A Carolina Chickadee feeds a fledgling on the right in their typical manner on a limb or in a shrub.
More often they dine alone. Taking only one seed,
Chickadees normally go to a shrub or small tree to dine. They share this trait as
well as feeding on a branch with Tufted Titmice, the most common bird they co-flock.
Both are also omnivorous and glean insects as well as eat seeds and suet.
Inquisitive, intelligent and acrobatic these
little 4 to under 5 inch grey birds have distinctive black caps and throats.
They inhabit deciduous forests, parks and gardens with trees and shrubs. They like personal space. They are quite territorial in the feeding and flocking habits.
During breeding season, they are mostly in breeding pairs, but may flock in groups of 8 during the rest of the year. Like Tufted Titmice, they nest in cavities and both depend on woodpeckers to construct them. They will also use nesting boxes, tubes and sometimes drain pipes. Found in the Southeastern US, their Black-capped Chickadee cousins are found in the Northeastern US and are more brownish than grey.
Besides Tufted Titmice, you often see them in multi-species flocks with Carolina Wrens, kinglets, woodpeckers (Downey and Red-Bellied in my garden) and waiting in trees for House Finches to clear off feeders. During migratory season, they are common with warblers. While Tufted Titmice may hide seeds, Carolina Chickadees have been known to steal those seeds.
Photos copyrighted by Quail Valley resident and international birder Margaret Sloan. View her international and national bird pictures by pressing this link.See a bird you don't recognize in Fort Bend? Margaret has photographed 150+ bird species just in her suburban backyard alone. Narrow your initial search by viewing her full photo album of local birds, Birds of Quail Valley by pressing this link. They are organized by types of birds, so if it's a water bird for example, you may find one that helps you narrow your search. Then if you "google in" the name of the bird, you'll get info and all kinds of information and images. Sometimes if a species is remarkably different from adult you may find nothing, contact us and we'll do our best to help.
Researched and posted by Janice Scanlan. Click photos to enlarge them.
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