Maine State Bird
Black-capped Chickadee

• Official Maine State Bird Name: Chickadee
• American Ornithologists' Union Common Name: Black-capped Chickadee
• Family: Paridae, Chickadees & Titmice
• Scientific name: Poecile atricappilus
• Length: 5.25" (13 cm)
• Diet: Insects, seeds, fruit, spiders and their eggs.
• Voice: Song of most populations a simple, high, pure whistle freebee, with second note lower than first and relative pitch of two notes constant; sometimes sounds three-noted, second part broken by slight falter but no real temporal break fee beeyee. Common and familiar call chickadee dee dee dee. Contact call a sharp chik or tsik slightly harsh, often leading into chick-a-dee call. Gargle call a complex, descending jumble of short notes and alarm a very high, thin series teeteeteeteetee; both similar in all chickadees.
• Habitat: Mixed and deciduous woods; willow thickets, groves, shade trees, clearings, suburbs. Usually forages in thickets, low branches of trees.
• Displays: Courtship: simple pursuit of female by male.
• Number of broods: 1
• Nest: Excavates or enlarges snag cavity usually 4-8', but up to 40' above ground; rarely in coniferous tree; lined with plant down, moss, feathers, hair, insect cocoons.
• Eggs: 6-8 white, finely marked with reddish browns. 0.6" (16 mm)
• Incubation period: 11-13 days
• Fledge: 14-18 days after hatching
• Longevity Record: 12 Years and 5 months (according to USGS Bird Banding Lab)

The Chickadee was adopted as the Maine state bird by the Legislature in 1927.

Maine Birds

The Chickadee is also the Massachusetts State Bird.

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