Chickadees chirp codes

[Mink Islander]

Interesting article about how Chickadee's calls are complex codes warning of predators. Most interesting is the idea that the larger the predator, the LESS dangerous in the eyes of a Chicadee given their agile ability to evade larger raptors and consequently the "lower" the alarm they will sound.


http://www.cnn.com/2005/TECH/science...ickadees.reut/

[ApS]

We're learning more and more about how "smart" birds are: That they can detect storms over the horizon, migrate using Earth's magnetic fields, recall the location of food cached over winter , and the use of tools.

Having fledged three "families" of chickadees in the past year, I've noticed how communicative they are with one another -- and even the babies inside the bird house. I can't be certain, but I think both parents make the "chickadee" sound, and use a much-reduced volume near their nest. (And they can vocalize even with a food morsel in their beaks).

The author didn't cite their "freeze" reaction to predators. I've seen it only once this year, and couldn't detect the predator in the woods. When there's a Northern Harrier hawk perched somewhere, "everybody" mobs it. There's no mistaking that "furor in the forest".

From the article:

Studies have shown that birds dream, rehearse their songs and have regional dialects.

I wonder how many of the author's observations apply to our Eastern Chickadees . The study was in Washington State and the photograph is of the Western Chickadee, which has much brighter colors. (Going by memory here, as my book is only of Eastern -- East of the Rockies -- birds). Their song is different though how, I can't recall.

There's no mention of the Eastern chickadee's whistled "fee-bee" call. "My" chickadees stopped using "fee-bee" once they started building their nest.

I expect their nest will have white threads woven into it. (The white threads that I leave outside for nest-building). The threads are from my stored fiberglass cloth repair kits that red squirrels have unraveled over the winter.

Every once in a while, I'll find a nest that is fiberglass-reinforced!