| The Carolina chickadee is one of the prevailing birds of winter, unaffected by hostile storms-the embodiment of cheerfulness on the grayest of days. Few birds have endeared themselves to us as the chickadees. Their gentle, confiding ways, soft colors and saucy manners as well as their eagerness to patronize feeding trays render them a universal favorite.
Except during breeding season chickadees are almost always seen in small groups, family parties as it were. Together, the lively troop methodically works its way back and forth throughout the territory in an almost unending foraging trip. Insects make up most of its food during the warmer months. When the rest of the insect eaters fly south for the winter, the chickadee switches to vegetable matter and whatever dormant insects and larvae it can find hidden in the cracks and crevices of tree bark.
Chickadees are truly birds of the forest, seldom found very far from trees. They nest and roost in tree cavities, using old woodpecker excavations as well as creating their own in soft wood. They commonly appropriate nesting boxes, both those put up for them and those for other species.
Length 4 3/4 inches
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