Chickadees Developing Their Own Dialects

Some bird watchers know the feathered species so well they don’t even have to see the birds, they just hear the twittering and can shout out the type of bird.

With black-capped chickadees, though, identification becomes more challenging. Researchers have found some black-capped chickadee populations in Washington and Oregon to be particularly sedentary and isolated, and they’ve apparently developed their own song dialects.

In other words, they don’t sing the same old songs chickadees in other states sing.

Birders will need to learn these different dialects to bird by ear. (From August Birder’s World)

* Trap it, then what?: If some of the critters you don’t like find your yard all too attractive, take action. You can do the trapping or you can pay someone to do the trapping. Either way, the point is to get the creature to a place where it will likely be happier, and you definitely will.

Humane traps for skunks and raccoons can be rented (just call rental agencies listed in the phone directory). But before you just dump the animal out somewhere, call the local office of the Department of Wildlife, since there are rules about where you can relocate certain animals. And, please, don’t relocate skunks to someone else’s neighborhood and call it problem solved.

It’s better to take care of these animals now; they nest early in the spring and you don’t want to leave a group of little ones as orphans.

* Keeping track on cyberspace: The National Audubon Society’s on-line state-by-state WatchLists have been updated. These lists are designed to call attention to birds considered “at risk” before they require federal listing as threatened or endangered.

To see the Audubon WatchList for Idaho or Washington, go to www.audubon.org/bird /watch/state2/ and follow the directions.

* Backyard journal: Three porcupines silhouetted against the horizon looked like basketballs sitting on the limbs of the plum tree. Gnawing on the bark. Rising up and mewing when I demanded they move on. When prodded with the handle of a tree pruner, they agreed. Time to go look for a quieter orchard.