Carolina Chickadee Sounds

Overview
ID info
Life History
Maps
Sounds

Song
Media Player Error
Update your browser or Flash plugin
Maryland, May 14, 1997Recorded by Wil Hershberger | Macaulay Library
Song
Media Player Error
Update your browser or Flash plugin
Texas, May 13, 1993Recorded by Geoffrey A. Keller | Macaulay Library
Calls
Media Player Error
Update your browser or Flash plugin
Indiana, May 28, 1992Recorded by Geoffrey A. Keller | Macaulay Library
Calls
Media Player Error
Update your browser or Flash plugin
Maryland, March 01, 1998Recorded by Wil Hershberger | Macaulay Library
Calls
Media Player Error
Update your browser or Flash plugin
Maryland, February 23, 1997Recorded by Wil Hershberger | Macaulay Library

Sounds provided by Macaulay Library.
Listen to more sounds of this species from the ML archive.

Songs

Often a four-note whistle. One pattern is fee-bee-fee-bay with first and third notes higher in pitch, but at least 35 other songs heard.

Calls

The Carolina Chickadee’s version of the chickadee-dee-dee is more rapid than the comparable sound produced by Black-capped Chickadees. Carolina Chickadees also produce a wide variety of gargles and raspy notes. A very high-pitched seee warns of falcons or accipiters flying over.

Other Sounds

Sometimes Carolina Chickadees make an audible wing whir as they fly over a potential predator or a rival chickadee. It’s not clear whether this has a communicative purpose. When an intruder approaches an incubating female on her nest, she will both hiss and bang her head and feathers against the nest and cavity.