User:JJJ7171/Boreal Chickadee

Lead:

and remains within this range for the entirety of the year. This bird is known for its high pitched trill patterns used in communication with other birds and food storage habits in preparation for winter months.

Description:

Their flight consists of brief gliding patterns followed by fast and bouncy wing beats as they travel through the air.

Vocal communications:

"tsee-day-day", as well as high pitched trill sound, "dididididididi"

Boreal Chickadees use specialized notes within their vocal range to communicate with each other and convey information. Certain notes/calls can be used as a mating tactic or to indicate a bird's rank to neighbouring fertile females in the area. Females have also been known to be more attracted to a male chickadee if he portrays complex and larger song repertoires. Calls can also be used in territory defence or to warn others of an invader that come to close to a nesting female. Cross species comparisons can be made by comparing the vocal similarities between other species of chickadee's.

Breeding/Nesting Behaviour:

They generally breed from early May to the end of August and...

When a female chickadee finds a high quality male to mate with this provides direct and indirect benefits such as exceptional parental care and high quality genes. The pair remains together year round and may mate for life.

This nest can be made of hair, fur or dead plants.

Eggs are laid between May and July and hatch within 13-16 days. After the eggs have hatched it takes another 16-18 days for the birds to fully develop wings large enough to attempt flight.

Foraging Behaviour:

These birds forage on conifer branches or probe into the bark, eating mainly Gleans insects and conifer seeds, which may be stored in preparation for winter months.Boreal Chickadees are known to store large amounts of food in different trees, each location containing several food items. Food is usually stored in the mid-region of trees at a lower level then at which they foraged. They generally forage in black spruce, white spruce and tamarack trees which minimizes competition with black-capped chickadees who forage in more deciduous and mixed forests.

Predators:

With the advantage of being a winged bird the boreal chickadee has few predators. These consist of larger birds such as small owls, hawks and shrikes. Predators of eggs and baby boreal chickadees generally consist of tree climbing animals such as squirrels, chipmunks, mice and rats.

Threats:

The largest threat that is placed on Boreal Chickadees is clearcutting and logging that occurs in the boreal forest regions. These practices are causing dramatic reductions in mature forests and rapidly modifying the habitat of boreal chickadees.