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:
i'm not good at differentiating between these two so i'll defer to others.
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!
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!
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.
Darling little birds...they are some of my favorite yard visitors~
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.
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.
I don't know, but he's cute!
love it that you're taking up on including the birds in your photographic realm; lovely bird. Enjoy it all
Its good to have more than one ID book.
Cute little birds!
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.
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.
They are such sweet little things, aren't they?
Cant help I'm afraid!
Either would be anew bird for me!
Cheers and thanks for linking to WBW
Stewart M
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