Boreal Chickadees
- SusanAK
- Bob_ABZ2b
- SusanAK
- Joe_swNH
- green_thumb
- Bob_ABZ2b
- JoNYz5
- SusanAK
- JoNYz5
- SusanAK
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» SusanAK - New visitors at the feeder
For a year now I have been feeding only sunflower chips, for a number of reasons. Due to the salmonella problems last year the finches had, and the contributions the remaining hulls of the black-oil sunflower seeds lend to the spread of disease, because it can be difficult to clean up in the snow, and because it tends to kill the grass.The local stores all ran out of the sunflower chips at once, so I fell back on the old black-oil sunflower seeds. In doing so I have attracted boreal chickadees to the feeder for the first time that I have noticed. I have seen them from time to time in the surrounding woods, but not often. They are a hardier bird that lives in the interior (brrrrrr!!!!) all the way to the arctic circle.
I am not sure why these little guys prefer the black-oil sunflower seeds to the hulled chips, but they appear to. I had three of them today, and one even came to the deck outside the French doors, so I got a good look at it. If you don't have a book to look them up, they are softer colored than the black-capped chickadees, with their little caps being dark brown, and their chins are dark gray. The rest of them is gray and buff colored, all very muted and blended, without the striking color distinctions of their black-capped cousins.
Whatever flavor they come in, the chickadees are charming and delightful.
This on a day when the three-toed woodpecker returned. Hyper for a woodpecker. Just as Bob said, it left a trail of bark pieces behind after it had foraged on a tree in the yard. A big old eagle was soaring high in the sky when I was out for a walk, and a raven made noisy croaking as it flew overhead. It was a beautiful winter day.
-- posted by SusanAK
» Bob_ABZ2b - Boreal chickadees
Hello SusanBoreal chickadees are on my rare or only occasionally seen list. I saw only one this winter so far. It just happened to be on a day I was counting for the GBYBC. My forest has large deciduous trees with only occasional large spruce. According to my books the boreal chickadees prefer coniferous forest. I feed BO sunflower unhulled seeds all the time. I would like to know what I could do to attract more of them.
-- posted by Bob_ABZ2b
» SusanAK - Boreal Chickadees
You're right about their habitat; they like that spruce forest. Our forest here is very mixed - lots of birch and spruce. I guess that's why we have the boreals. I saw one this summer in the woods near the house. I also saw many of them at a feeder at a friend's home just a few miles inland. There were more boreals there than black-cappeds. The mixed spruce, birch and cottonwood forest here goes on for many, many miles, with stands of birch wherever the trees have been cut down, and stands of black spruce wherever there is muskeg.The place I have seen the greatest number of boreals was on the Denali highway at a campground. They were everywhere there. Their call is different, oddly like their coloring in that it is not so clear and pure sounding as the black-capped chickadees', but still recognizably the chickadee call. Have you heard it yet?
I've never seen these guys at my feeders before. I always thought the suet, at least, would attract them, but until this past week nothing did, even though I would occasionally see one on the fringe of the BC flock. Now I have quite a few.
Are you putting suet up, Bob? It didn't work for me, but it might for you.
-- posted by SusanAK
» green_thumb - Boreal chickadees vs. Black capped.
Sorry it took me so long to respond Susan, a few computer problems.I have never heard a boreal sing. I definitely would like to though. I am getting more conifers in my area. Maybe they will come to my feeder more in the future. My BCs are making up for them though. They are very active and vocal. Sounds like a convention. I found out what you people mean when you say they follow you around. Yesterday I was back in the bush and several came along to sing to me.
I do feed what could be called a suet mix although I should use a different name because I don't use suet. My wife makes it up for me. She has lots of left over ground grains etc to put in it. The birds love it.
We have a new bird club here in Ft McMurray. One lady says she has regular visits from a boreal. We may gather at her home and get a glimpse just like they came to my place to see my white-brested nuthatch.
Welcome to all the new people.
Bob
-- posted by green_thumb
» JoNYz5 - Boreal Chickadee
Of course, here in the northeast, we have only the black-capped chickadee, which is a frequent, unafraid, and delightful visitor to our feeders. The boreal sounds wonderful! Thanks Susan and Bob for painting such a picture of these birds, both the visual and audio. Is this a bird that would be pictured in Peterson's western birds?Jo
-- posted by JoNYz5
» SusanAK - Don't know, Jo
The boreals are rarely seen south of the Canada-U.S. border. If the book covers Canada and Alaska, they should be there.Not too far away, just in Anchorage, about 25-30 miles as the raven flies, are chestnut-backed chickadees. So we have three species of chickadees whose ranges overlap. Wonder if anyplace else has so many.
The black-capped are the most obvious chickadees at my house, and they will be nesting on the property soon so all but one pair will go away. But being able to readily see three different chickadee species is rather interesting. They all have a chickadee call that is similar, but also distinctive. And they all have that "examiner" behavior, where they just look so closely at everything. That one makes me laugh so much!
Bob, I'm glad yours followed you at last. Nosey little things, I think. Charms me to my bones, they way they do that. The more time you spend outside, the more interest they have in what you are doing. Scott had them land on the walls of his woodshop and look inside the shop, they were so curious about his activities. One piece of plywood that he used for walls had a hole about 4 inches in diameter that had been cut out for some reason, and they would perch in that and watch him when he was inside the building. And of course, he had been outside building it each evening and weekend for several weeks.
-- posted by SusanAK
» JoNYz5 - Peterson guides
Silly me, why don't I just look it up? So I did, and found them pictured in both the Western and Eastern guides. I was surprised to see that they are found in the northern parts of Vermont, New Hampshire, amd Maine, and even in extreme northern NY. Beautiful birds, a sort of softened brownish version of the black-capped. That would be a great one for my life list!-- posted by JoNYz5
» SusanAK - You will know them when you hear them
Well, Jo, I guess you've got a field trip ahead of you. Like Bob says, head for coniferous forests, which is their habitat, and then listen for something that is clearly a chickadee call, but sounds funny, and you'll know where to look.-- posted by SusanAK
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