Question by vilma: How do you distinguish a black capped chickadee from a carolina chickadee?
I have a back yard feeder. I’m trying to identify a little bird that is visiting. I have found two pictures that both look like him. How do you tell if it is a black capped chickadee or a carolina chickadee?
Range isn’t much help. I live in Illinois, right about where the range lines meet. 
Best answer:
Answer by DiverDown77
Black-capped Chickadee:
*avg. 5.25″ long
*proportionately larger head.
*In fresh plumage (in the autumn and early spring) the greater wing coverts (marked with an arrow in the picture above) and secondaries are broadly edged in white, forming what appears to be a long white patch.
*The lower edge of the black bib is generally less defined and appears uneven.
*Mostly white on nape of neck.
*The outer tail feathers are more broadly edged with white.
*The Black-capped Chickadee’s call is a lower and slower chick-a-dee-dee-dee, which functions as a contact call, one that serves to keep the winter flock together when birds cannot see one another.
*The song is a clear fee-bee, with a loud version given during territory skirmishes and a soft version given during mate feeding.
Carolina Chickadee:
*avg. 4.75″” long
*proportionately smaller head and shorter tail.
*The greater wing coverts (marked with an arrow in the picture above) are more uniformly grey and show less white, lending a plainer look to the upper parts.
*The bib is generally smaller, although there is some individual variation in bib size in both species. There is also a neat line of separation between the bib and belly, although thismay be obscured in very worn birds (especially in summer).
*Mostly greyish on nape of neck.
The cinnamon-buff coloring under the wings is less developed on the Carolina Chickadee (but fresh adults in the northeast part of its range show brighter cinnamon and can be confused with Black-capped).
*The Carolina Chickadee’s call is a higher and faster chick-a-dee-dee-dee.
*It has a four note song, fee-bee-fee-bay.
Know better? Leave your own answer in the comments!
Tags:Birds, black, capped, carolina, Chickadee, distinguish, from, Identifying
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