Note on the map where the overlap zone is in New Jersey. When I lived and birded there in the 1980s, the overlap zone was much farther south, around Trenton and further south.
Now, the overlap zone is not in CT, but I have also read (can’t remember the source) that Carolina Chickadee genes have been found in chickadees a fair ways north of the overlap zone, and that some chickadees that look like Black-capped have been found singing Carolina-like songs. Perhaps your bird is one of these.
On the song, I remember reading in older field guides that the songs were completely different. Well, I remember clearly hearing Carolina songs in southern New Jersey, and at a distance those high notes (notes 1 and 3) are completely inaudible, and all you here are notes 2 and 4, which sound exactly like Black-capped. If you don’t notice the brief pause between the 2 notes (non-existent in Black-capped song), you could really be fooled.
So far, in northern Westchester county, I have not yet heard any song that I would mistake for Carolina, but I don’t spend all that much time in the field anymore.
Joe Zygala
South Salem, NY, just over the border from Ridgefield, CT
Sent from one of my iDevices
> On Apr 15, 2024, at 11:11 AM, Loralee Richter via CTBirds <ctbirds...> wrote:
>
> Hi everyone!
>
> As I sit on the deck on a beautiful spring day, I have the Merlin app open. It oddly just picked up the sound of a Carolina Chickadee. I would like to preface this by saying that I absolutely know the limitations of Merlin sound ID and AI in general. I would never consider reporting a Carolina chickadee, and I highly doubt the ID, but it did bring up a bigger question for me. With our climate changing, is there any knowledge of whether the Carolinas chickadee range may be shifting? I know that Carolina/black-capped hybrids are possible as well. Are there any reports of these in Connecticut?
>
> On a fun note, I also found a new construction above our front door this morning. Our Eastern Phoebes are busy building a beautiful nest of moss!
>
> Loralee Richter
> Danbury, CT
>
> Sent from my iPhone
>
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