Updated: February 6, 2024

Black-capped Chickadee on sumac branch. — Black-capped Chickadee on sumac branch (photo by Patrice Bouchard).

Did you know that Black-capped Chickadees are already singing for a mate?! Their first songs can be heard around the second week of January, each and every year - like clockwork.

This behavior is triggered by the the most powerful stimulus for plants and animals: photoperiod (the period of light during each day).

The Power of Photoperiod

We’ve gained about 45 minutes of daylight since Winter Solstice and these cheerful little birds are deeply attuned, responding in song as they take their first devoted steps toward bringing more of their kind into the world.

Their songs signal me to celebrate - that we’ve made it through our darkest days. We don’t need to wait until March. As early as mid-January, these chickadee songsters are the true harbingers of spring in this part of the world. We just need to listen.

Different than the "chickadee-dee-dee” call, their song is a simple pure whistle of two or three notes that sounds a bit like "hey sweetie" or " fee bee". Take a listen here (source: Cornell Lab of Ornithology).

A bird’s call and a bird’s song communicate very different things, and if you’re a chickadee you use at least 16 different vocalizations. Chickadees might not be the first species that comes to mind when you think of bird intelligence, but these little birds have developed a remarkably complex and sophisticated language. Their calls and songs communicate varying levels of danger, details about threats to the flock, courtship opportunities and ranking of males, territorial information, and real-time intel on food resources. Incredible, isn’t it?!

Want to learn more? You can learn how to de-code some of their impressive repertoire with the help of Lesley the Bird Nerd’s You Tube channel here.

Not only do chickadees garner my admiration for their intellect and resourcefulness, but they quite literally embody the first notes of spring. When I hear their sweet songs on a sunny winter day it fills my cup with the promise of growing light and green shoots. Their songs are one of my all-time favorite seasonal sounds.

Their clear two-note whistles evoke so many memories and feelings for me, bringing me back to days of long snowshoe treks to bear dens. Those were the days!!

Did you know…? The winter-persistent fruits of our native Staghorn Sumac (Rhus typhina; pictured here) are consumed by Black-capped Chickadees and at least 20 additional bird species.