Chickadees and titmice
Chickadees and titmice
Order: Passeriformes Family: Paridae
The Paridae are mainly small stocky woodland species with short stout bills. Some have crests. They are adaptable birds, with a mixed diet including seeds and insects. There are 4 Michigan species.
Black-capped Chickadee, Poecile atricapilla
Boreal Chickadee, Poecile hudsonica
Carolina Chickadee, Poecile carolinensis
Tufted Titmouse, Baeolophus bicolor
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Jerry – I have been reading about Paridae this morning and have come across something that may be of interest to you. Last year you posted a few shots of a Chickadee pecking at a wooden post and you wondered what it could be doing. Our Willow Tit Paridae montanus excavates holes in rotting stumps to make its nest and then carries off the pieces of wood to dispose of elsewhere. I realise that the Chickadee didn’t make its nest in the post you saw but there could be a connection in behaviour. Do Chickadees burrow holes in rotting wood to make nest holes?
January 24, 2015 at 5:53 am
Yes, our chickadees will excavate a hole in rotting wood to create a nesting place. However, when I saw the chickadee doing it in the spring, the post was too small to hold a nest cavity. I think that the chickadee was gathering wood chips to line another nesting hole it had made or found.
January 24, 2015 at 4:11 pm
Thank-you Jerry. I found it interesting that Willow Tits are the only member of Paridae in this country that behave like this and they are the ones that live in swampy areas where rotting wood is all around. I suddenly remembered your post and the Chickadees!
January 24, 2015 at 4:50 pm