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Bird Sounds and Songs of the Black-capped Chickadee | The Old Farmer's Almanac

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Bird Sounds: Black-Capped Chickadee

The bold little chickadee is a welcome sight at any feeder.

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Photo by USFWS Mountain-Prairie via Wikimedia Commons
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Black-capped Chickadee Calls

April 29, 2022
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Here you can identify the sounds and bird song of the black-capped chickadee. You may recognize their “chick-a-dee-dee-ee” or the whistled “fee-bee.”

  1. Listen first for the two-note whistle of the male black-capped chickadee. It’s a very clear two-note song that drops in pitch and sounds like “fee-bee.” Now you know that THAT sound is! The males begin singing in mid-January, and the song increases in frequency as winter progresses. Females also sing occasionally.
  2. Then, listen for the chickadee call which sounds like “chickadee-dee-dee.“  Interestingly, they will use an increasing numbers of dee notes when they are alarmed.

If you wish to attract the friendly chickadee, they will readily visit bird feeders and especially like sunflower seeds or suet in winter. You may see them take the food and fly away to store in a tree crevice for later.

Their diet is mostly seeds, insects, and berries. They can been seen hopping among branches and foraging for food, even flying out to catch insects mid-air.

The bird sounds is complimentary, with permission from The Macaulay Library at The Cornell Lab of Ornithology. Click here to listen to the sounds of other birds!

Have you heard a Black-Capped Chickadee? Add your comments below. Be sure to let us know where you live or where you’ve heard this bird sound before!

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Comments

niya (not verified)

5 months ago

Heard the "fee-bee" call in British Columbia Canada

Lauren Hancock (not verified)

6 months 3 weeks ago

I've been in Groton CT for almost a couple years now and have heard this song so much. It's beautiful! I just couldn't figure out which bird it was coming from. Almost 2 years later and I finally googled the right thing and found that it was the Black capped chickadee.

Martha Federle (not verified)

10 months ago

When I lived in Swannanoa, NC my bird feeder was visited constantly by chickadees. I noticed that they would line up on a nearby tree branch and take their turn at the feeder. No line hopping! Such polite little beauties!

Lydia (not verified)

1 year 4 months ago

After the rain stopped and the sun came out, a little chickadee sang happily in the oak tree in our front yard: fee-bee-bee, fee-bee-bee! This late Spring has been cooler than usual, so the birds have been singing a lot more than they do in late May.

Bob (not verified)

1 year 7 months ago

Friendly bird if hungry they fly to meet me. Will come to me when I hold food in my hand and will eat from my hand. Takes time but they have to feel trust.