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Recent retiree--35 year's experience teaching reading, English, adult basic education and volunteer leadership skills. Started this blog to exchange ideas and commentary with friends and others having an interest in joining the discussions. Greatest life accomplishments include: 1.organized my 3rd grade class to check out library books for me to get around librarian's weekly limit--Amazon.com, the Mullins Elementary 3rd Grade Class of 1956 is still waiting for "thank you" notes; 2. volunteered in the Peace Corps, island of St. Kitts, West Indies; 3.taught adults to read, earn their GEDs., and speak English as a second language; 4. bought a border collie puppy for $6, got evicted rather than give him up, and began a life-long love affair with all things "Dog"; 5. joined a physical fitness boot camp in my mid-50s--don't mess with someone who's been doing regulation pushups in wet grass at 5:30 a.m.; 6. walked across Northern England with best friend Sally--over 80 miles from the Irish to North Seas; and 7. travelled to many foreign countries for pleasure and work.

Tuesday, August 20, 2013

Wild Bird Wednesday - Chick ID




This little charmer visited the bird buffet for the first time over the weekend. Now those of you who check out my WBW posts know that I'm often wrong about bird IDs, but I'm pretty sure that this cutie is a Carolina Chickadee.

I've only recently become interested in learning about birds, photographing them, and attracting to my yard. My bird ID skills were almost nil except for robins, cardinals, and blue jays! :-) So, I recently ordered several books on Kentucky birds which should up my ID scores considerably. Like using each of them for different reasons--drawings as opposed to photos, different ways to ID, etc. Here's a sampling of how the books are organized:


Comparing the chickadee entries in the three guides, I went with Carolina over Black-capped because his markings were black all the way down neck instead of "capped". Here are a few more shots just because they're so dang cute!


Now, despite all my studying, if I got this "chick ID" wrong, don't hesitate to correct me. I won't be offended at all since I'm just beginning birder education! :-)

Linking to Wild Bird Wednesday .

15 comments:

TexWisGirl said...

i'm not good at differentiating between these two so i'll defer to others.

mick said...

Very cute chick - no matter what it's name is! For difficult bird ID's I am lucky enough to have a couple of very knowledgeable friends!

eileeninmd said...

Cute captures of your Chickadee. I have tried so many times to make one of my Carolina Chickadees into a Black Capped. The are so similar and very cute. Thanks for sharing, have a happy week!

Brian King said...

It's difficult to tell these two apart. The Black-capped tends to be larger, but that's not much help if you don't see them side by side. After studying my own photos a couple of years ago, I determined we get Carolina's at our feeders. Plus, the Black-capped's range is north of KY. Not that that's a hard and fast rule, either.

Mary Howell Cromer said...

Darling little birds...they are some of my favorite yard visitors~

Sallie (FullTime-Life) said...

I know it's a chickadee but that's as far as I could go.... they are such little wonders....always seems like they expand far more energy darting around than they would get from what they eat!

Love the cute title for this post too as well as the darling pix.

Unknown said...

I think the black capped are up with me. I use Cornell University on the web. Just google Chickadee and Cornell will come up. Boom & Gary of the Vermilon River, Canada.

Maude Lynn said...

I don't know, but he's cute!

Carole M. said...

love it that you're taking up on including the birds in your photographic realm; lovely bird. Enjoy it all

Neil said...

Its good to have more than one ID book.

Unknown said...

Cute little birds!

FAB said...

Sweet little bird.

Faye, it's good to see you getting serious with all those helpful field guides. According to my copy of Sibley the two species are very similar apart from size (B-C is larger) and different calls but based on your location I reckon your ID of Carolina is correct.

Hootin Anni said...

These aren't the only ones that are difficult to ID...sparrows [I've very nearly given up on getting THEM 'cause they're so similar yet so many]

Hey Faye, if you ever have MORE bird photos to share, I too have a meme {the Bird D'Pot} that becomes active for linking each Saturday at noon [Texas time]...the link is on my sidebar "I'd Rather B Birdin'" ---if you ever wish to add a link.

I'm happy to know that you are becoming interested in birding. It's a GREAT hobby.

Connie Smiley said...

They are such sweet little things, aren't they?

Stewart M said...

Cant help I'm afraid!

Either would be anew bird for me!

Cheers and thanks for linking to WBW

Stewart M