On the Wing #60: "My Name is Chickadee....Carolina Chickadee"
So during my first week in New Jersey I've learned two things: 1. Living on a wildlife preserve is the most amazing thing I think I've ever done in my life (which will lead to an important announcement at the end of this blog post) and 2. The main species of chickadee here are Carolina Chickadees ( Poecile carolinensis ). Now I've seen Carolinas before. Last year when I visited Assateague National Seashore (my girlfriend worked there as a plover steward), I heard their higher pitched and almost raspy calls in the trees above. Now that I'm in New Jersey however, I have hit upon an interesting problem. In New Jersey, both Carolina and Black-capped Chickadees ( P. atricapillus ) exist practically side by side, with Black-caps occupying the more northerly areas, while Carolinas are more central to southerly. Now, one would think that such a difference in range would put them on either side of a well defined line, but as any good birder will note, where their ranges seem t...