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Step 1
Watch your bird feeders, especially in the winter. Black-capped chickadees will readily come to bird feeders looking for seeds. They will flit back and forth taking their turn at the feeder. This particular species of chickadee is found throughout Canada and the northern United States, and is a favorite of those who put out food for the birds when the ice and snow make finding any quite difficult.
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Step 2
Find titmice and nuthatches and you will find chickadees. These species hang out together in the woods and at the bird feeders, mostly in the winter months when food is hard to find. The chickadee will call out when it finds a good meal, alerting these other birds to the fact.
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Step 3
Listen for the voice of the black-capped chickadee. One of the most discernible bird sounds is the “chick-a-dee-dee-dee” that comes from the throat of the state bird of Maine. You will often hear the chickadee before you see it, especially as you are walking through the woods. When you hear this refrain stop and look up in the nearby branches. A curious chickadee is giving you the once over.
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Step 4
Look for the black head and “bib” on the black-capped chickadee. This is a small songbird with distinctive coloration. The head is black on top with white on the face. The chest will have the black markings extending down. The underbelly is white or rust-colored and the back of the state bird of Maine is gray. The tail is long and usually grayish but the wings are short.
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Step 5
Identify the chickadee by it upside down acrobatic behavior. The chickadee will often be observed hanging from a small tree branch or twig upside down. They can quickly snatch a bug from the air, as insects make up most of its warm weather diet.
