Exploring the remarkable adaptations and timeless appeal of these endearing backyard birds
Peterborough Examiner – December 27, 2024 – by Drew Monkman
It’s hard not to love chickadees. Their endearing appearance, friendly and curious nature, and resilience in the face of winter make them a favorite of nearly everyone who pays attention to the natural world.
I’m reminded of my affection for these birds every year when I take part in the Peterborough Christmas Bird Count. Even when few other birds are showing up, chickadees are always there – and invariably in huge numbers. Last year, count participants found no fewer than 2,248!
It was the same story this year. Nearly everywhere my friend Brian and I stopped, chickadees seemed to appear out of nowhere. All it took was some pishing (see below) or playing a recording of their alarm calls. Some flew in as close as a metre away. In just six hours, we counted 195 in our small section of the count area.
Although most people are familiar with chickadee behaviour at feeders – flying in, grabbing a seed and departing immediately – there’s a lot more going on. By watching and listening to them closely, much of their secret lives and interactions is revealed.
Pecking order
There’s a surprisingly complex social ranking within a chickadee flock. It’s based on a dominance hierarchy, or “pecking order”. Each bird is known to the others according to its rank. Higher-ranking birds (dominant individuals) get priority access to resources like food and mates, while lower-ranking birds (subordinates) must wait or defer. This helps to ensure the survival of at least some members of the flock in harsh environments or when food is scarce.
Dominant males, for example, enjoy greater mate fidelity. A lower-ranked male is often cuckolded by his partner who tends to look for sexual opportunities with a higher-ranked bird. The female who is paired to the alpha male also benefits from better access to food and her fledglings have a greater chance of survival.
Dominance can be expressed through vocalizations, body size and postures, and even mild aggression. In general, older and more experienced birds are dominant over younger ones; males are dominant over females; and resident birds dominate intruders.
A dominance hierarchy reduces conflict by allowing top-ranked birds to feed first. In this way, subordinates avoid unnecessary fights with dominant birds and therefore save energy that’s crucial for survival. They are forced to wait for opportunities to feed. Chickadees remember the ranking of individuals within their flock and adjust their behavior accordingly.
At your feeder, try to see which birds fly in first and which ones wait or yield. Dominant chickadees tend to appear more confident, stay at the feeder longer and sometimes make a sweet-sounding gargle call to tell others to “scram”. Subordinates tend to dart in quickly and leave. You can see similar dominance behaviours with other feeder birds like goldfinches.
Memory Masters
Black-capped chickadees have an extraordinary ability to remember where they’ve hidden food. Starting in the fall, they stash seeds and other food items in thousands of different locations. Try to see where a chickadee hides one of its seeds. Can you find it?
To remember their hiding spots, a fascinating brain transformation occurs. Chickadee brains actually grow new neurons in the hippocampus – the part of the brain involved in memory. This involves shedding old brain cells to make room for new ones. This seasonal brain flexibility makes them unique among small birds.
Now, wouldn’t it be wonderful if researchers discovered how chickadees produce new neurons each year? A cure for Alzheimer’s could potentially spring from understanding the workings of chickadee brains!
Surviving the cold
How does a bird weighing no more than a handful of paper clips ever manage to survive frigid winter nights and a relative lack of food? Three main lines of defense help explain this feat.
Like most birds, chickadees have the ability to fluff up their feathers to trap air, thereby creating an insulating layer that helps retain body heat. However, they have two additional tricks up their sleeve. To minimize energy use during long, cold nights, chickadees go into torpor – a temporary state of hypothermia. When darkness falls, they are able to lower their body temperature by as much as 10 C below daytime levels. In doing so they burn almost 25 percent less energy.
Finally, to protect themselves from the wind, chickadees often spend the night in small, tight cavities in trees. The bird wedges itself into the hole, puffs up its feathers to trap air, drops its internal thermostat and slowly burns fat all night.
Vocalizations
Considerable research has been done on chickadee songs and calls. Both are complex and language-like. The well-known “chickadee-dee-dee-dee” call, for example, is sometimes used as a predator alarm. More “dees” means a higher perceived level of threat like a nearby cat or owl. Other chickadees understand these vocal warnings and invariably fly in and begin calling themselves to harass and hopefully drive away the predator.
February and March are courtship months, and males can often be heard whistling their clear, descending, two or three note song. The second note is a whole-step below the first. A common mnemonic is “Fee-bee” or “Fee-bee-bee”. Personally, I like to think of it as “Hi, sweetie”, given that the first singing begins around Valentines Day. The song serves to advertise ownership or establishment of a nesting territory and to attract a mate.
Females, of course, are listening in. Male vocal performance influences female reproductive behavior. If a male in a neighboring territory out sings her mate, the female will sometimes fly off to the neighboring territory to seek an extramarital adventure.
Three activities to try
1. Everyone should have the experience of hand-feeding chickadees. Feeling the clutch of tiny feet and the brush of feathers is unforgettable. With patience, you can train the chickadees at your feeder to feed from the hand. Go outside each day and stand quietly about six feet from the feeder, allowing the birds to feed. Move in a bit closer as they become more comfortable with your presence. Eventually, the birds won’t mind if you stand right beside them. Next, take away the feeder all together, and fill a small bowl with sunflower seeds. Keeping perfectly still, hold the bowl where the feeder was. After the birds are comfortable eating from the bowl, hold the seeds in your open hand instead. Soon you’ll be experiencing “that chickadee feeling”.
In the meantime, another option is to visit the Miller Creek Conservation Area on the 7th Line of Selwyn Township. The chickadees there are very tame and will readily eat sunflower seeds out of your hand.
2. Chickadees are easy to attract by “pishing”. Standing close to a tree where the birds can land, pucker your lips and make a loud, forceful “shhhh” sound, all the while tacking a “p” on at the beginning: Pshhh, pshhh, pshhh… Make sure it sounds shrill, strident and is fairly loud. With any luck, the chickadees will approach to within a metre or so. Nuthatches, woodpeckers and other birds may be attracted, as well. It is thought that birds interpret the pshhh sound as an alarm call and fly in to mob the predator, making it difficult for it to hunt.
3. If you want chickadees to nest in your yard, build or purchase a birdhouse measuring about 8 inches tall with a 1 1/8-inch entrance hole. Place the box at least five feet above the ground, near cover and facing away from the prevailing wind. Boxes should be placed outside by mid-March.
Chickadees symbolize cheerfulness, curiosity, and adaptability. It’s hard not to be charmed by their energetic demeanor and ability to thrive in challenging conditions. Let them brighten your Christmas season and coming winter.
