Chickadee Field Guide

Refer to Spot the Difference Activity Page

Your FIELD GUIDE

Field guides are like a dictionary with lots of pictures and tips on how to identify a living thing, or an organism. Ornithologists, scientists who study birds, often use field guides to look for unique patterns — field marks — on birds they see outside. The details of these field marks can help to spot the difference between one bird and another. Scroll down to see your Chickadee Field Guide!

About Chickadees

Chickadees are a type of bird found in North America, but members of their family (Paridae) can be found across Europe and Asia, too! A family is a term from taxonomy, the study of classifying living things, to group animals that are similar in their evolution and in physical features. This entire family is very energetic and acrobatic. So much so, that you can see them hopping from branch to branch and even hanging upside down on a twig! Tracy Aviary often sees chickadees doing this in Little Cottonwood Canyon, where we go and study how they nest. The birds will hang upside down while reaching for seeds from pine and spruce cones.

Chickadees are active, small birds that are spotted all year round here in Salt Lake! A day likely won’t go by without hearing their well-known calls that sound like, "Hot dog! Cheese-bur-ger” and “Chick-a-dee-dee-deeeee!” They stay here, instead of migrating, because in the winter they switch up their diet to mostly eat seeds and berries. In the summer, they will mostly eat insects and spiders.

Spot the Difference

In northern Utah, we are lucky enough to have two types (or species) of chickadees that live here. Can you spot the difference?

1. Use your Spot the Difference worksheet to identify the characteristic field mark that can help you tell the two apart.

2. Then, identify which bird is which species on your worksheet!

3. Report your birds in the comments on the Tracy Aviary Facebook page. Tell us what you learned about the field mark that shows off which species each one is, and anything you find interesting about each species.

Mountain Chickadee

Black-capped Chickadee

Identify this bird by…

• Small, black bill; round body

• Black cap, white “angry eyebrows”

Tell it apart by…

• “Angry eyebrows”

• Raspier song and call

Listen for…

Call: Mountain Chickadees sound like a Black-capped Chickadee with a cold!

Song: Two note call similar to the “hot dog” song of Black-capped Chickadee. Some also call this a “fee-bee” call. They may sometimes only do the “fee.”

Identify this bird by…

• Small, black bill; round body

• Full black cap on head; black on chin; white in between

Tell it apart by…

• Lack of “angry” eyebrow of the Mountain Chickadee

• Sweeter, crisper song and more defined alarm call

Listen for…

Call: Chickadees say their name in a call, “Chick-a-dee-dee-deeeee.” It is believed this is an alarm call to warn of predators. Once you hear one chickadee make this call, you are bound to hear others!

Song:  A high-pitched, sweet series of one to two notes that either sound like “hot dog” or “ham-burg-er.”