Hi, does anyone have any helpful information on IDing Chickadees?
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Audubon has a good link here: https://www.audubon.org/news/identifying-black-capped-and-carolina-chickadees
It looks like vocalizations and plumage are key in IDing chickadees found in areas where the two species overlap.
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My understanding was that identification is impossible in the overlap zone, due to frequency of hybridization.
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Black-capped Chickadees have whiter edges on the wing feathers and brighter, more-buffy flanks. Carolina Chickadees are subtly drabber with less white on the wings. Differences are most pronounced with fresh plumage.
Black-capped Chickadees have a white nape and Carolina Chickadees have a subtly more gray nape, but I don’t find this field mark particularly useful unless you have the birds in hand or really good photos.
Identification in the overlap zone is often possible, but some intermediate individuals are best left at the genus level as hybrids occur and the differences between the two species become less distinct as the plumage ages/becomes worn (i.e., differences are most distinct in fall and winter after their annual molt).
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True. It looks like they will do eachother’s calls, too.
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Sure! To tell Black-capped from Carolina Chickadees, check the size and call. Black-capped Chickadees are slightly larger and have a broader black cap and are found in northern areas. Carolina Chickadees are a bit smaller, with a more compact cap, and are common in the southeastern U.S. Their calls are different too: Black-capped has a slower “fee-bee, fee-bay,” while Carolina’s is quicker and higher-pitched.
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Thanks!
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Thanks for the info. The info you shared will really help me. The only way I am able to ID them is by sound. Lol.
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Unfortunately they have been known to make the “wrong” sounds, so sound is not really diagnostic. If you are in the overlap zone, there just isn’t one simple thing that will make the ID easy. You have to look at multiple factors, and you have to be willing to say “this one I just can’t be sure about”.
There’s a map here that shows the overlap area, but it’s in a post from 2010 and I don’t know if it’s been updated at all since then: https://www.sibleyguides.com/bird-info/black-capped-chickadee/black-capped-carolina-chickadee/ Carolinas are probably a bit further north now, and at lower elevations in the mountains.
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Yeah I’m in the overlap zone. That’s frustrating. Lol 
. Thanks for the info.
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