Date: Sun, 2 Apr 2000 09:30:04 -0500 Reply-To: Maryland Birds & Birding Sender: Maryland Birds & Birding From: rick Subject: Re: Black-capped Chickadee? -Reply Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii" Joe Halpin wrote: >While biking along the Sligo Creek Parkway last Sunday I heard a two >noted (high/low) whistle that I identified as a BC Chickadee via >comparison with a taped song. Is this possible/probable? Possible but not probable. Song, as opposed to call, is the least reliable character seprating Black-capped and Carolina Chickadees. Not only is there a certain amount of natural variation in Carolina songs, but there is also some song copying in the range of overlap and when the two come into contact in Black-capped invasion years. This was not an invasion year, however, despite the fact that a least a few birds moved south of their normal range, especially in the Midwest. A Black-capped as far south as DC is a very rare event except in the years when huge numbers of birds move south. Ten years of atlas field work in Maryland has left me unwilling to use song as a way of distinguishing the two. I have heard two- and three-note songs from Black-cappeds in western Maryland and two-, three-, and four-note songs from Carolinas across the eastern part of the state. Rick The command, Be Fruitful and Multiply, was promulgated, according to our authorities, when the population of the world consisted of two persons. -- William Ralph Inge Rick Blom rblom@blazie.com 4318 Cowan Place Belcamp, Maryland 21017 (410)575-6086 Editor: BWD Skimmer (www.birdwatchersdigest.com) ======================================================================= To leave the MDOsprey list, send e-mail to listserv@home.ease.lsoft.com with the following message in line 1: signoff mdosprey ======================================================================= =========================================================================