I agree with Sean that this is a Carolina Chickadee, with the possibility
of a hybrid. There is something going on with the bib, but the
asymmetrical pattern is odd for both species of chickadees. I'm not sure
it's an indication of a hybrid or just an aberrant Carolina.
About the noticeably different calls, that reminded me that I recorded a
deeper sounding Carolina Chickadee at Les Eastman's house earlier this
month. It absolutely stood out from the other Carolina Chickadees, but
visually we saw no signs of hybridization. Unfortunately my recording
doesn't have any "normal" Carolina Chickadees for comparison, just a
chipping Rufous Hummingbird and Josh Emm's camera shutter.
https://soundcloud.com/mh1920/carolina-chickadee-variation
Good birding!
Matt Hafner
Forest Hill, MD
On Fri, Mar 29, 2013 at 7:33 AM, Sean McCandless <
<seanmccandless1...> wrote:
> Hi Mark. In my opinion, i don't believe that the white on the cheek
> extends far enough down on to the back and from the photo. I can see a bit
> of a gray wash exteding into the white on the back side where the black
> meets the white and gray. That area on a Black capped (especially when the
> neck is extended) should be more white. The wing (which I have found from
> decades of photographing Black capped Chickadee is a hard thing to capture
> in a picture. Angle plays a big part. Your bird from what I see has a good
> amount of white on it, but from the picture, I have seen Carolinas with as
> much white. I am seeing a much grayer over all bird and not a lot of black
> feathers in the wing.
>
> I think you either have a Carolina, or a Carolina X Black capped. Just my
> 2 cents. Check out the pictures I have taken recently this year from Cecil
> and my bird feeder.
>
> http://www.flickr.com/photos/87591655@N08/8600361504/in/photostream
>
> http://www.flickr.com/photos/87591655@N08/8504469260/in/photostream
>
> Sean McCandless
> Elkton MD
>
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