Nature Notes

· The chickadee is Maine's official state bird.
It's also the state bird of Massachusetts.
· The chickadee is named after its most
common song: "chick-a-dee-dee-dee-dee-dee."
· The black-capped chickadee is most common
in Maine. Also seen are boreal chickadees who
have a brown cap.
· Chickadees nest in holes in trees. They make
their own, and use abandoned woodpecker
nests.
· They eat mainly caterpillars, insects and
spiders in the summer, and seeds and berries
in the winter. They especially like sunflower
seeds.
· They store food in bark crevices, and can
remember thousands of hiding places for as
long as a month.

· They normally spend the winter in Maine, but
food shortages can prompt them to go south. A
common cause of death in winter is starvation,
· To conserve energy, chickadees can drop their
body temperature as much as 10-12 degrees
Celsius from their daytime temperature to their
nighttime temperature.
· The average chickadee is about 5 inches long
and weighs 1/3 of an ounce. About 305
chickadees weigh as much as one loon.
· Their longest-distance flights are about 15 yards.
Their average speed, about 12 mph. They have
been seen hovering while searching for food.
· The average lifespan is 2½ years. The oldest
chickadee on record lived to be 12½.

- Compiled by Jack Wilde and Dana Wilde