![]() ![]() Song exchanges between incubating or brooding females and their mates appear to coordinate male feeding visits to the nest. Females also sing in territorial defense of their nest. That greater complexity probably has to do with what they’re communicating to the male regarding her needs during incubation and feeding young. Even then, they sing about a fifth as often as males or less.įemale cardinals have pretty much the same repertoires as males but their songs can be longer with more syllable types. Female cardinals have a much shorter singing period, more closely coinciding with nesting. Male cardinals sing year-round, most frequently in the Midwest from late February through July. At least some chickadees and cardinals were singing a bit back in December, but as days lengthen, giving them more hours to find food each day, they can spend more time on singing and other things. Those of us who feed birds get to hear more songs than people living farther from feeders-the chickadees who visit high-quality feeding stations first thing in the morning sing more frequently than chickadees who have to work harder for their breakfast.Ĭardinals are singing now, too. The singing right now, in the dead of winter, helps solidify flock rankings and pair bonds without disrupting flocking behavior. The male chickadees who rank higher in the flock hierarchy sing more than lower-ranking birds do. So instead of using that to describe chickadee songs, I use a different mnemonic, Hey, sweetie!, which serves a double purpose, suggesting one of the purposes of the song, to attract a mate and keep that pair bond strong.īird songs, including those of chickadees, usually do double duty, also announcing that the singer owns and is willing and able to defend a territory. The Eastern Phoebe’s raspy song is also described as fee bee, fee bee-bee, but it sounds entirely different ( listen here), confusing a lot of people. (You can hear it at this link.) My hearing is not very good, but I can hear that break almost all the time, even when the chickadees are pretty far away. ![]() Researchers describe the song as a simple Fee bee, the first note higher than the second, and the second with a very short amplitude break in the middle, audible at close range, that makes it sound more like fee bee-bee. That clear, whistled song is produced mostly by males, though females are known to sing, too. Every morning when I go out to add food to the feeders, I’m hearing a wonderfully welcome sound-my neighborhood chickadees are singing their lovely Hey, sweetie! song, a promise that come spring, these beloved little guys will be doing what needs to be done to ensure the production of new baby chickadees. ![]()
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |