A strange "black-capped" chickadee has been visiting my backyard this
winter. "Strange" as in it *looks *different and it *sounds *different*. *

Its look differs in that its nape and upper mantle feathers are extensively
white, unlike the grayish-green napes/mantles of regular bc chickadees.
Otherwise, it's just about the same as all the others.

Its sound is what makes me wonder...it's "dee dee dee" call has a
dramatically different tone. In fact, I can identify this individual
chickadee with 100% accuracy when he comes by without even so much as a
glance. The rhythm is the same, but the tone is much drier, more like
"dah-dah-dah" instead of the usual "dee-dee-dee".

So my hunch is that this chickadee is from elsewhere. Anyone have any
ideas?

Joe Dlugo
Lacey, WA
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: http://mailman1.u.washington.edu/pipermail/tweeters/attachments/20100312/5d220527/attachment.htm