During the cold, long nights of winter, some people just can’t wait for spring. This is true of some birds too. As cold and snow attempt to monopolize the winter weather around New York Harbor, a little bird is starting to sing a song of spring. Actually it’s a mating call. It’s a simple clear call, quite distinctive. A two or three note song that sounds like feeee-beeeee or phobeeee or even hey sweetie. Have you heard this curious song, usually early in the morning? It’s a quick subtle song made by a small bird. A solo performance made before the loud springtime symphonies of countless birds. Black-capped and Carolina chickadees are two of the most common and widespread chickadees that exist around New York Harbor. Both birds look very similar to each other. Both are fluffy and grayish birds with round heads and tiny bodies. Both have black tops and chins with white cheeks. Their plumage is neither colorful nor splashy. To the untrained eye (and sometimes even to the trained eye), it’s difficult to tell them apart. The black caps tend to be brighter and more colorful with a slighter longer tail. The Carolina is duller grayish and its song is lower in pitch and slower.
Otherwise, it’s best to know where you are. Black caps are mostly common in the northern parts of the harbor while the Carolina frequents the southern shore, though territories can overlap occasionally. Both chickadees are abundant along the edges of New York Harbor, from deciduous forests, to pine trees, to suburbs and urban wooded areas to back yard feeders. The birds are largely non-migratory and year-round residents. They are part of an amusing mosaic of lively winter birds that include titmice, kinglets, nuthatches, cardinals, and Downy woodpeckers. The pocket-sized chickadees survive the cold northern winters, in part, by adapting to available food. They eat insects, seeds, and berries, more seeds and berries in the winter than in summer. Despite having birdbrains, chickadees are smart, adaptable birds that will hoard or stash food away in secret places only they know in order to have something to eat during brief severe weather periods when many other birds are hungry too. As days get longer and daylight increases, the need to breed starts to get strong, especially in male chickadees, but occasionally in females too. A hormonal trigger goes off in their mind and the little birds start to sing. Birds have specialized cells called photoreceptors in the base of their brains that record light and darkness, as well as ultraviolet or near-ultraviolet light during each day. As days lengthen, birds get spring fever. Although mating pairs formed back in the fall and remain together as part of a winter flock, the longer days are stimulating the birds to sing to renew coupling bonds. Males begin singing in mid-January, and increases in frequency as the daylight progresses. The singing of these common winter-residents is one of the first vocal signs that spring is around the corner. Next time you are outside on a cold winter morning, listen for the sweet serenade song of a fluffy cute chickadee nearby. It’s sure to warm your heart. Winter birds can do that.
8 Comments
Jen
2/22/2017 11:12:09 am
Hi, just found this because i wanted to know the name of the first bird I hear every spring, assuming it to be a species who returns very early from migration. I hear it every year, it's always the first and I notice it the very first day it starts singing (seems to me anyway) because winter here is so long and typically silent so to hear a bird in the morning all of a sudden really makes you wake up and take note of the date and how much snow is outside. So i first started hearing it a few days ago, Feb 18, 2017 and there's still plenty of snow but the weathers been mild for about a week or so, so it's been melting. Per your artcle, I am hearing a chickadee, which apparently winters right here in NYS, never leaving just semi-hibernating until the days get longer. Is hearing the chickadee wake up in any way indicative of when spring weather will arrive to stay?
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Joe Reynolds
2/22/2017 05:43:12 pm
Hi Jen, thanks for the message. Chickadees are cute birds for sure. There is no evidence at present, however, that they are indicative of an early spring. They are just fun to watch. Enjoy!
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6/20/2020 11:15:45 am
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6/20/2020 12:17:24 pm
So i first started hearing it a few days ago, Feb 18, 2017 and there's still plenty of snow but the weathers been mild for about a week or so, so it's been melting. Per your artcle, I am hearing a chickadee, which apparently winters right here in NYS, never leaving just semi-hibernating until the days get longer. Is hearing the chickadee wake up in any way indicative of when spring weather will arrive to stay?
Reply
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STOP THE WILLIAMS FRACKED GAS PIPELINE THROUGH NY HARBOR! MY TOP 5 FAVORITE BOOKS ABOUT NY HARBOR 1. Field Guide to the Neighborhood Birds of New York City by Leslie Day 2.Heartbeats in the Muck by John Waldman 3. The Fisheries of Raritan Bay by Clyde L. MacKenzie Jr. 4. Waterfront: A Walk Around Manhattan by Phillip Lopate 5. The Bottom of the Harbor by Joseph Mitchell Archives
January 2018
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