Larch Creek Birds

What the birds (and frogs) are saying at a creek in western Washington
Plate 21
Black-capped Chickadee
Louis Agassiz Fuertes, Bird-Lore, 1916 · No restrictions
Bird

Black-capped Chickadee

Poecile atricapillus
Tits, Chickadees, and Titmice (Paridae)
Year-round resident. Expected at the creek in every month.
Field marks
A tiny round bird with a black cap and bib, white cheeks and buff flanks; acrobatic, curious and entirely without fear of anything.
Male & female
Alike.
Voice
The 'chick-a-dee-dee-dee' call, where more 'dees' means more danger (a hawk gets four or five), and a clear two-note 'fee-bee' whistle.
Diet
Insects, spiders, seeds and berries. Hides thousands of seeds in autumn and remembers where, growing new brain cells each fall to manage the filing.
Habitat
Deciduous and mixed woodland, gardens; in deep conifer forest the Chestnut-backed Chickadee tends to take over.
Nesting
Excavates a hole in soft rotten wood or uses a box; 6–8 eggs.
Size
4½–6 in long, about four tenths of an ounce: one AA battery, which somehow survives a Minnesota winter.

Winter flocks of chickadees lead the way through the forest; kinglets, nuthatches and creepers follow them, on the sound principle that chickadees notice hawks first.

Season how expected it is here, week by week

50%100%JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecheard at the creektoday
Fig. 1. BirdNET's range model for this location: the chance this species is present in each week of the year. Orange ticks mark weeks it has actually been heard at the creek; the dashed line is today.

At the creek 45 calls on 3 days, first Oct 29, last Oct 31

51000:00 — 0 calls001:00 — 0 calls02:00 — 0 calls03:00 — 0 calls304:00 — 0 calls05:00 — 0 calls06:00 — 0 calls607:00 — 1 calls08:00 — 2 calls09:00 — 10 calls910:00 — 2 calls11:00 — 8 calls12:00 — 2 calls1213:00 — 1 calls14:00 — 9 calls15:00 — 6 calls1516:00 — 1 calls17:00 — 3 calls18:00 — 0 calls1819:00 — 0 calls20:00 — 0 calls21:00 — 0 calls2122:00 — 0 calls23:00 — 0 callssunrisesunset
Fig. 2. When it calls: all detections by hour of day (today's sunrise and sunset shown).
1428Oct 2 — 0 callsOct 3 — 0 callsOct 3Oct 4 — 0 callsOct 5 — 0 callsOct 6 — 0 callsOct 7 — 0 callsOct 8 — 0 callsOct 9 — 0 callsOct 10 — 0 callsOct 10Oct 11 — 0 callsOct 12 — 0 callsOct 13 — 0 callsOct 14 — 0 callsOct 15 — 0 callsOct 16 — 0 callsOct 17 — 0 callsOct 17Oct 18 — 0 callsOct 19 — 0 callsOct 20 — 0 callsOct 21 — 0 callsOct 22 — 0 callsOct 23 — 0 callsOct 24 — 0 callsOct 24Oct 25 — 0 callsOct 26 — 0 callsOct 27 — 0 callsOct 28 — 0 callsOct 29 — 28 callsOct 30 — 5 callsOct 31 — 12 callsOct 31
Fig. 3. Calls per day over the last 30 days.

Recordings

Clearest recording · Oct 29 11:54 am · 96% sure
spectrogram
Recent · Oct 31 3:34 pm · 91% sure
spectrogram
Recent · Oct 31 3:33 pm · 85% sure
spectrogram
Recent · Oct 31 12:25 pm · 86% sure
spectrogram

From the encyclopedia

The black-capped chickadee is a small, nonmigratory, North American passerine bird that lives in deciduous and mixed forests. It is a member of the Paridae family, also known as tits. It has a distinct black cap on its head, a black bib underneath, and white cheeks. It has a white belly, buff sides, and grey wings, back, and tail. The bird is well known for its vocalizations, including its fee-bee song and its chick-a-dee-dee-dee call, from which it derives its name.
From Wikipedia, "Black-capped chickadee", CC BY-SA 4.0.