5 Awesome Chickadee Abilities
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- čas přidán 6. 07. 2024
- Did you know that Chickadees are able to shrink and expand a part of their brain? That's not all they can do, Chickadees have many neat abilities up their sleeve/wing.
Chickadees are one of the most fun birds to watch, and thanks to the fact that they live close to humans, and have a super curious way they make for easy birds to observe. Always in constant motion, these active birds can barely sit still for a moment. Their high energy demands have them searching for insects and seeds to eat from sun up to sun down, even more so in winter. As they hunt and forage there seem to be no limits to the angles they can climb and hang on. You may see one clinging on sideways as it pecks into a branch, clutched onto the trunk of a tree, hopping up a limb, or more impressively hanging upside down on a berry as it eats it. This ability to hang upside down is due to their strong, long legs. This feeding behavior is no doubt adorable to us as we watch, but for them, a very great and practical way to get at hard-to-reach food sources, such as berries or buds at the ends of twigs.
One fun thing about these tiny acrobats is the fact that they hide food away in the trees for later feeding, an interesting behavior, known as food caching. Every summer chickadees get busy preparing for the leaner times of winter by hoarding thousands of insects and seeds into the trees throughout their territory. That is a lot of hidden food to remember, and they can recall each of these for at least a month which is incredible, but just how do they do it? Well, there are a couple of things, firstly Chickadees recall their caches by using spatial organization. This type of memory involves learning and remembering one's previous experiences in its environment. Visuospatial cues such as the arrangement of trees and other items help Chickadees remember the precise location of their cache sites.
Another fascinating thing is that the part of their brain responsible for memory, the hippocampus, expands in volume by as much as 30 percent in late summer. This increase of new nerve cells allows them enough storage space for information on all that stored food. In Spring, when they don’t need this anymore, it shrinks back to its normal size.
Probably the most amazing thing that chickadees can do, as if the other things aren’t amazing enough, is the ability to lower their daytime body temperature of 42C down to around 20-30C at night. This nifty trick comes in handy for chickadees at higher elevations and latitudes who experience really short cold days over the winter season. With food scarce and daylight minimal, it is a challenge for small endothermic birds like chickadees to find and eat enough in order to not starve or freeze to death. They can only gain as much as 10 percent of their body weight in fat each day. On mild winter nights, this is plenty to sustain their energy demands as they shiver to stay warm. When temperatures fall far below 0 though, they cannot survive on their fat stores without some help. In order to get the most out of their energy reserves, a reduction in metabolism is required, which is achieved by reducing their body temperature as much as possible, anywhere between 10-20 degrees, therefore minimizing heat loss and saving on energy. This combination of shivering and a reduced metabolism is a torpor-like state called regulated Hypothermia.
Capable of laying as many as 12 eggs, chickadees sure have their work cut out for them. The ability of these birds to be such attentive hard-working parents is heart-touching. The combined effort of the mother brooding the young and the male constantly looking for food to bring back to the nest, ensure that the needs of their babies are met.
In some years, if there is a bumper crop of their favorite insects, chickadees will try for a second brood after the first one has fledged. What a mama! The fact that they can have a second one, provided the conditions are right, is pretty remarkable, to say the least. Hard-working Parents.
Chapters:
00:00 Intro
00:16 Chickadees are very acrobatic birds
01:11 Chickadee food caching behavior
02:11 Chickadees can expand and shrink their brain
02:40 Chickadees can lower their body temperature
04:07 Chickadees are very hard-working parents
Question people may ask about Chickadees
Are chickadees intelligent? What are the characteristics of a chickadee? What are some facts about Chickadees?
If you have a sick or injured bird in your possession I can not help this bird in any way it is strongly advised to contact a local vet or wildlife official before any decisions are made. It is very easy to do more harm than good when handling any wildlife.
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please contact Jamie at lesleythebirdnerd@gmail.com
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🔴54 Days Inside a Black-capped Chickadee Nest Box🔴
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One of my chickadee friends came by a few times over summer asking for seeds. I don't feed them in the summer but if they come by asking I'll give them a small handful of seeds just to let them know I'm still here. After a couple visits they brought their kids over to meet me! I really hope they all come hang out this winter. There can never be enough chickadees!
That is so sweet. I don't have the feeders going over summer either, but like you I have seeds on hand for them should any come by. :) How awesome about them bringing their kids to meet you. So much sweetness.
Yes, if you have seeds around they will bring the fledglings along. Hopefully you don't have a cat problem.
I feed them All Year but it seems in summer time they don't depend on the seeds like they do in the cold weather conditions ..but the dove's they are waiting for me like clock work I feed them chicken scratch I got from the local feed store.
I feed them early in the morning and evening
@@LesleytheBirdNerd I saw these cute little birds yesterday maybe three 🥰
I love the Chickadees. They stayed away for quite a while because the Jays took over the bird feeders. I have moved things around so that the smaller birds can feed without being bumped and pushed by the Jays. It is so nice to hear their little beeps again. They are so brave and they come to greet me, especially if I am a few minutes late bringing out the food in the morning.
me too and saw some two days ago 😊
Many years back I was able to "train" the Chestnut-backed Chickadees at my house to take pine nuts from my hand, but the Black-capped Chickadees have always been tougher to tame. Pine nuts are the greatest for enticing them! (Same for the Douglas squirrels.) Sometimes they would find me working in the garden or up on a ladder pruning trees and land on my hand and peck my fingers until I went to the house to get them nuts. Once I had some young Mormon missionaries stop by my house and the chickadees were at the front door--I got them some pine nuts and they got to have the chickadees feed from their hands, which was really fun. 🤗 At one point I could call them to me from quite a distance when they were up in the firs around the house. One thing I love about chickadees is that they are so brave. Most songbirds if you hold them will be so frightened that they are motionless, but a chickadee will peck at your hands as if they can vanquish the giant monster holding them. I experienced this when doing bird-banding, but also when they occasionally come into the house and become confused at a window and have to be carried out. Such a teeny ball of fluff with a beak the size of a grain of rice, but they say "I will fight you!". 🥰 I can't afford to buy them pine nuts anymore, but they will settle for peanuts or walnuts if they must. I love finding out about the brain size increase for food caching memory 😮--evolution is endlessly amazing; thanks for sharing that!
lol so true. Thanks a lot for sharing your story, made me smile just thinking about them.
You are so kind. I love that, and your great love of birds. I can tell that you are kind to other humans, too. Thank you. The planet needs more kindness. 🥰❤️😁
I've always adored these colorful and bold birds. They seem to have very little fear of humans and come close. I have 2 acres and spend about $300.00 on feed for all birds and wildlife. So my little friends don't have to struggle for food to stay healthy and warm. It's the best money I've ever spent! Thanks for the information about these glorious little birds. .....
Many thanks
I love chickadees, they make me smile with their joyous attitude!!! And they stay with us all winter long, so courageous. Thanks for that beautiful video. 😍
It’s impossible not to help them out during the cold months. They’re such cute little troopers, they deserve a reward.
Between the birds and the chipmunks, this summer we've found literally no less than 100 sunflower plants growing all around our property from dropped seeds and seed caches. The black oil sunflower seeds grow so easily that I planted a handful in a flower bed. I'm pretty sure every single one sprouted. I'm so pleased with the experimental patch that we're planning more flowerbeds just to plant more sunflowers next year! It makes your day better when you look outside in the morning and see Chickadees and Blue Jays cheerfully having their breakfast! Lol 💕
I love this! How darn cute is that?! You have your own little gardeners 🥰 I have always wanted to see a sunflower or two pop up around here but haven't. And I agree, it is so nice watching all the birds cheerfully enjoying their breakfast. 😊
I had several volunteer this year. A stunning mahogany came up at the garden edge & reached 10 feet! I had to tie it to a fencepost. The finches are on it so thick, the flowers bob around. Can't wait to see where they come up next year!
Thank you again Lesley. Due to my low vision, I can't see these small birds so well. But your videos, on my phone, I can see much more details. So, I hope that you are able to continue doing these videos, as they are very interesting & entertaining for me. Good health to you and your mate.
I'm so sorry it's that way, but happy that you can at least enjoy seeing them in good detail through videos like these. Thank you for the encouragement and nice wishes to me and my mate. We appreciate that a lot. Good health to you too.
@@LesleytheBirdNerd I like their sundden movements so 🥰 cute
A few weeks ago, I witnessed a chickadee pair teaching one of their young ones how to fly. Took the little one a few tries, but impossible to fail with all the cajoling, encouraging and hovering by it's 'helicopter parents' !
What a beautiful thing to witness
How sweet!
Strangely, i had a chickadee fly right to me, land on my hand while i was refilling their water dish, look sidewise at me for a few blinks. She/he than drank a few sips of water, looked at me again blinking a few more times, and than flew to a nearby tree. I was so flattered and astonished. Needless to say, that made my day🥰
Fascinating! I loved the food caching info. Especially about the hippocampus expanding and then going back to original size in Spring. Nature never ceases to amaze! Great video!
I can bird watch for hours. Thanks for sharing 😍🐦
Thanks for visiting
I love chickadees, but never knew about the self-regulating body temperatures...it is truly remarkable that they can lower their body temp that much! Being able to remember where they stash so much food is pretty awesome too...I can't find my glasses if I put them down for a second...😄 Thanks for your wonderful videos and photos...I actually just started a drawing from one of your chickadee photos from a while ago.
A Chickadee lightened my spirit during a difficult time. I'll never forget. ♥️
Awww I love ❤️ that
The Chickadees and Goldfinches are my favorites 😍... a big personality in such a little package!
God created everything and saw that it was good ☝️💖
I LOVE birds 🐦 watching and listening to them sing, chirp and converse with each other. It's literally music 🎶 🎵 to my ears and makes my heart ❤️ happy!! Let everything that has breath praise the Lord 🙌 🙌
Thank you for your awesome videos, info and facts. Stay well and be safe 🙏 ❤️
Texas Nana 🤠
Psalm 91
Thank you, glad you enjoy
Chickadees are sooo cute and adorable~💞
Thank you for sharing this video~🤗
The Tit family is my favorite bird family. The Black-capped Chickadee and the Tufted Titmouse are 2 of my favorite local birds. The energy, intelligence, and vocalizations of the Black-capped Chickadee are amazing.
Love these lil guys. How they hang upside down to get at berries and such is quite amusing. Their ability to cache food and remember the location for up to a month is the most remarkable thing about them, in my opinion. Nice video, Lesley
It is such a treat to see one of them hanging upside down. Lovely little birds and I agree, the memory their tiny noggins have is impressive.
@@LesleytheBirdNerd I saw some yesterday 😊
@@LesleytheBirdNerd their so 🥰 upsidedown 🙃
There's simply nothing to dislike about them. I.m.o., their most spectacular feature, though people can't notice it, is the change in their metabolism.
I LOVE my chickadees!! There were SO many of them in spring but now it's mainly the house finch. ... which are chatty & I loved watching the males turn red. Thank you for your love of the chickadee .... I've learned so much about them thanks to your video's!!! 💖💞💕🐦🐦
I think their versatility of chickadees is the best trait they have. I was at Quanah Parker lake in Oklahoma tofu nd the chickadees were giving the business, obviously there was a nest nearby. Such adaptable birds!
One of those nice birds you can find here all year long! Thank you.
Please talk about chickadees' incredible communication abilities- with their fellow chickadees as well as with other bird species.
I have Chickadees here all the time, Black Capped, Chestnut Backed, and sometimes Mountain Chickadees. They love suet, and though I usually see two at a time, there is a family of six out there now. This would be their second clutch. I didn't know they cached food though! Thanks Lesley!
Absolutely astonishing! The adaptations they make 'automatically' show an extraordinary evolutionary process. I read somewhere that in some song birds, the part of their brain responsible for the songs they sing to attract a mate, increase in size in the Spring to enable them to create and repeat complex songs. Nature is so fascinating! Great video, Thankyou Lesley!
It's really quite an amazing process. Thank you for checking out the video. That is true about songbirds. So many fascinating things about birds.
Hi I love ❤️ all Bird 🦅 Videos they’re interesting and informative 🐦 thank you for sharing 😎
Birds are pretty darn awesome. Glad you enjoyed this video. ☺️🐦
Chickadees are my favorite little birds!!
They just leave me with the impression they are the smartest and strongest.
For such a small bird you really have to take your hat off to them. They are tough little guys and clearly very clever.
Chickadees are wonderful. I do bird species surveys and there's lots of Carolina Chickadees. I try not to taken them for granted. I always look forward to hearing their calls each time. FWIW, nesting is over in NE Oklahoma and the Chickadees are grouping up with Tufted Titmouse, Downy Woodpecker, White Breasted Nuthatch especially to form interspecies foraging groups. Brown Creepers will join them later when they arrive for the winter.
I can't stand the thought of them shivering to keep warm during cold winter nights. I make sure the suet and peanut feeders are full--year round. Love hearing them while I work in the yard. I think their acrobatic flying ability is what impresses me most. Some of their flying stunts have left me dumbstruck. I could not believe what I was seeing. So cute and brave
They're as dependable and as constant as anything I can think of! Bon weekend from French Canada 🇨🇦 🎶 Everyday is Saturday night but I can't wait for Sunday morning 🌄
So true!
@@LesleytheBirdNerd chickadees are so tiny weenie 👌
@@LesleytheBirdNerd their like Cottonballs☁️🥰
I love how chickadees can always make me smile ❤
I can't think of one chickadee trait that stands out as my favorite....everything they do is my favorite thing about them. But the one thing that made me fall in love with them in the first place is their sound. The almost erethreal "fee-bee" sounds I heard all the time made me pay attention to what bird was making that sound. Many, many years later they are among the dearest wild birds to me.
The chickadees near our feeder sometimes use their warning calls to scare away the sparrows long enough to grab some seeds for themselves. There's no danger around but they call out their warning as a trick. They don't do it very much but when they do it's a clever way to keep away the dominant and aggressive sparrows!
That's really neat! I don't recall seeing the ones here doing that toward House sparrows, but I have seen them seemingly trick each other. Fun birds
I saw a chickadee for the first time this week here in cape town south africa 😀😀😀
I see that titmice can crossbreed with chickadees! It cracks me up to consider these two charismatic birds could be such closely kin. How pleasing, these sweet chickadees.
it's even more amazing that Chickadees remember the location of stored food when you consider that squirrels, with their big mammalian brain, apparently do not actually remember where they bury food for winter; they just put a lot of food in the ground and then grope randomly for it later when they need it.
My favorite thing about them is they're always here in N. Georgia. I can count on them after others have left. I'm on my front porch right before sunset, I call it "evening fill up"! The hummingbirds are tanking up at the nectar bar while the finches & chickadees hit the seed feeder. There's plenty of native plants for everybody too & I've not used a spec of chemicals this year! I let a lot of things self seed & have been rewarded greatly. I adore my little winged friends & love providing a place for them here. They reward me with their company & sweet songs!
Chickadees never fail to be adorable. 💞💞 Going on a tangent: I've watched and loved your videos of you feeding and getting to know chickadees and other birds through generations. Would you be interested in making a video about the family trees of your (named) bird friends? Example: Alpha/Marxine > Tiny/Tim > Mini-Tim/Angel ... and isn't Bud Tiny's brother/Mini-Tim's uncle? Yikes, I sound way too invested, but hey, you've shown us so much about these birds' lives; I'm curious. 😉
Wow! It always amazes me when other people follow the birds Ive gotten to know so well. I really should get back into do some older style videos again. Thanks for the lovely comment
My favorite. I can't choose a favorite thing about them!
Everything is a favorite haha :)
One of the sweetest birds from the Forest 💓😍
Absolutely my favorite bird. Years ago I would feed them by hand and a certain pair would wait for me in the driveway to arrive home and fill the feeders… they’d often fly right into my face to get my attention and demand that I do my duty. And I’ve noticed as well that they are very opportunistic and inquisitive. They seem to explore everything that is available to them. So much to love about these little stinkers.
That is exactly how Chickadees are. They do not mind getting up close and personal, very investigative too, haha! And you are so right, they are curious about almost everything in their environment.
That is amazing about there hippocampus Lesley, thanks for all the research you do! I love these little darlings, always amazes me how they make it through these harsh winters, they are so hardy!💖
I had several visits from a Carolina Chickadee this morning. I thought it had been frightened off, you video is helpful understanding they move constantly. I don’t need to worry that they feel threatened by a cat or larger bird. Thank you.
Thanks Lesley! They are one of my favorites!
Mine too!
Really cute, skinny legs, little hoarders.
Our favorite ability of the chickadee is that it fluffs up its feathers in the winter! -Ms. Ellen's class at CRES
You had me exclaiming Wow over and over again!
That's awesome. I'm so glad you enjoyed the information I shared on these wonderful little birds. :)
I love to see Chickadees bathing.🥰
Yes! They are so cute when bathing. All birds are really. :)
I love chickadees, even their name is adorable. Their teeny tiny little eggs. Their sweet little faces. 💕
I love how much they care for their young
My favorite part of this video was how Chickadees can remember where they stored their food
I know hey, that is pretty awesome how they can do that.
Thanks Lesley, once again for featuring these feathered monkeys 🖤🤍
I love their 'chickachickadeedee' song.
Black capped chickadees team up with nuthatches and tufted titmice when sweeping through the woods on a foraging run. They are something to watch!
Courtesy of Half Vast Flying
In my opinion, their most awesome superpower is their ability to make this jaded old curmudgeon smile !
Oh boy what amazing little characters! Their lives are really hard seemingly, always on the go in order to find enough food for themselves or their young. Then having to deal with the cold in winter by shivering to survive. I think their ability to find cached food again is remarkable - imagine trying to do it yourself, you'd certainly need a real map (rather than just one in your head). Our anthropocentric view of the world completely underestimates the remarkable skill and determination that wild creatures like chickadees display in their short lives.
Grew up in a snowy part of the Midwest where the Black-caps were plentiful. They really are the complete package: clever, adorable, and so, so brave. I love them.
A perfect way to explain chickadees!
Their amazing 3d acrobatics are better than any olympic event.
I love Chickadees! When I lived in northern NH, I would make sure my feeders were all filled every morning in the winter. I had them(Chickadees) and Goldfinches always at my feeders. I really miss seeing these cute and beautiful birds since I moved to southern NH.
There are not as many or so it seems down here as compared to the north.
Love your channel. Not only do I learn things that I did not know before, but also I get to see those gorgeous Blue Jays!
Thank you.
I love that they hang upside down and they store food!
It is fun watching them do that. Little show offs haha!
Bird-brain is now a good thing. Birds are so impressive. 🐦
Fascinating about their brains changing during summer.
My favorite chickadee abilities are to make me laugh and not take life so seriously. Thanks, Leslie, your videos are always bright spots in my day. :)
These little busy guys aren’t shy either and will eat in your hand. In the woods near my place, people feed them regularly and so even on our first time, they perched on our hands to sort out the seed they wanted to steal away, one after the other.
Yes they can be brave little ones for sure
Interesting 🧐 about the changes in the hippocampus.
You got me into birding ... thanks so much!
Wonderful! Love it :)
Fascinating, Leslie, thank you.
Wish human parents were all as conscientious!!
They have to be the cutest birds eveeeerrrrr!!!😍😍😍
Chickadees are awesome and so are you Lesley. Great video!
:) making me blush. Thank you
My favourite is their food caching. The Black-capped Chickadees I see on my daily hike are fun to watch when I leave some seeds out on a limb or stump. I like watching them make repeated trips and hide away the seeds in nearby hedges and trees. Thanks for sharing.
Love that!
I have a few of these lovely little guys that i feed everyday for two years now love them so much there my favorite
Last year we had a chickadee that lived with a group of Titmice, until he found another chickadee. That was an amazing day when the 2nd chickadee joined the Titmouse flock.
When i was just another kid growing up through winters in Wisconsin, I Loved how the Black-Capped Chickadees would hang from the gutter icicles by the window and Tap On The Glass If My Feeders Ran Out Of Feed! Very Clever Lil' Survivors They ARE!
Oh my.. I can just imagine that now
One of the cutest!! They come around here often in TN. 🖤
That is so cool about how they can expand their hippocampus to adjust for the additional information needed for the season and then reduce after the info is no longer needed. What an awesome creation!
Isn't though?! What a cool little 🐦
Good golly,Miss Molly; I luv Chickadees. 10/10 cuteness, toughness and all around skill .set
Hahaha, thank you for the fun and nice comment. :) I agree with your rating of the chickadees
One of my favorite birds. And for such a small bird their calls are very loud!
Chickadees are the terriers of the bird world. They nested in our soffit and I noticed one chick evicted from nest. I placed it back in nest 3 times only to have adults boot it out. I collected the chick, brought it to brother in law who raises love birds. The little dee survived and returned to to it’s outdoor urban environment.
That is nice about the little one being saved. Interesting about what you described, I've never seen that behavior from the chickadees. There must have been some reason behind the parents doing that.
@@LesleytheBirdNerd it was a very dry spring. Brother in law believes lack of food was the reason to cull the nest.
I ❤ chickadees
I have always thought they are so very cool and cute little birds! They visit our feeder often and are such a joy to observe! Thanks for the video!
Winter would not be the same without the Chickadees.
Agree 100 percent
I have Chickadees visit my bird feeders. They are such cute little birds! Thank you Leslie for your informative videos!
Glad you like them!
These little birds have been one of my favorites since I saw them :] thank you for sharing your knowledge about birds :D
It's easy to see why you gravitated toward them, who would have though that such a small bird would have such a gravitational pull, haha! (What a geek I am.)
I'm glad you enjoyed learning about these darling birds. :)
@@LesleytheBirdNerd lol
The thing I notice most about chickadees is they are usually braver than all other birds. This gives them a supreme advantage for food where birds like Blue Jays are missing potential meals from fear.
Thanks Lesley 😊-- love these little guys too -- I was throwing out a handful of seeds a couple of times a day in the winter (for all kinds of the birds that winter where I live in the PNW) but stopped once the season changed -- the chickadees recently started coming back though and have been sitting outside my porch door making all kinds of noise until I throw them out a handful (they will literally sit on top of a wooden post outside the screen door looking inside and let me know in no uncertain terms that they are waiting). There's a lot of construction going on where I am that has likely impacted their food sources so I guess they've come back around to fill in the gaps. I'm always impressed by what seems like their innate courtesy toward one another -- while other birds are bossy or bullies the chickadees seem to deliberately take turns, waiting until the last one has finished, grabbing a seed and flying off to give the next one their chance -- very happy to be a little part of their world :)
Your channel is incredible, I learned so much watching your videos. Thank you!
I absolutely love chickadee birdies!! I try to dee dee dee to them!😊❤❤❤
I do the same thing, they just look at me like, "what the...that's not quite right" haha! I love them
Have a great evening all.
You too!
Love your videos Leslie, your voice is so soothing and calming and the content is interesting and informative. Thank you 🙌
Hey Gary, thanks a lot
Glad you enjoy them
They are sooooo cute!
Maybe not the most colorful of yardbirds but I still love them best.
It's not all about glam, that's for sure. They are wonderful :)
I have 2 tube bird feeders in my yard and they're always packed with Those Chikadees! I have to fill them everyday. I hope they're putting some away for winter!
WHO KNEW?!?! THANK YOU FOR this fantastic video on one of my very ‘favorite’ birds!!
The mighty chickadee!
They always make me smile! 😊
I just like that they are around. Next to the blue jay the black capped chickadee is probably a big contender for second favourite in terms of summer birds.
I would have to agree :)
These guys are one of my favorite! The fact they can lower their body temp and remember where they hid food is amazing! I was wondering if they migrate?
Chickadees aren't migratory, not in the way other birds are, heading south. They just kind of move around a very short distance within their range. For example chickadees at higher elevations may migrate to lower elevations over winter, other than that they stay in their area year round pretty much.
I didn't know they could shrink and expand their brain. I didn't know they could lower their temperature. They are one of my favorites.