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Birding
Sarah Bowman
Sarah Bowman ·

This is about great bird song, not great photography. It was too dark for decent photos but I did manage to get a video. What I wanted to see is a Black-capped Chickadee singing. Its song is a clear two-note Fee-bee! I used to think it's another of the Cardinal's many songs but the voice is somewhat different.

This morning about 6:15 it was singing in the tree outside my window. No sleeping through that! So I got up and took my camara outside. I can't post videos here but I will post a frame by frame to show how it opens its beak for the high-pitched Fee, closes for B just like we do, then opens halfway for the lower-pitched ee.

Like most birds I have observed, it stretches its neck when singing, then pulls back for the breather in between. This is really obvious in Crows. NOTE: It was too dark early this morning for decent colouring to register on the camera. Some colour registered but there are patches of blackish green all over the bird. I am pleased that the beak shows fairly well. That is the "scientific" aspect of this post. Click on photos to see captions.

Location: Downtown Kitchener, April 15 2025

Black-capped Chickadee at rest in between singing. It sings its two-syllable song, rests a few seconds, then sings two syllables again.Black-capped Chickadee singing Fee (the high-pitched syllable of its song)Beak closed for "B" of second syllable. Beak open half-way for second note.
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