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Strange Chickadee Songs of Massachusetts Islands
Chickadees develop a song all their own away from the mainland.
© David Mitchell
The song of the Black-capped Chickadee pretty much the same throughout the U.S. and Canada — with just a few exceptions, like on some Massachusetts islands. Chickadees on Martha’s Vineyard and tiny Tuckernuck Island nearby have developed songs entirely their own. It’s likely that the birds’ isolation from mainland birds led them to develop unique behaviors.
BirdNote®
Strange Chickadee Songs on Massachusetts Islands
Written by William von Herff
This is BirdNote.
[Black-capped Chickadee song]
If you live in the northern United States or Canada, chances are you know this sound. Black-capped Chickadee songs are a common sound throughout parks and neighborhoods, and from New York…
[Black-capped Chickadee song]
to British Columbia…
[Black-capped Chickadee song]
…they sound pretty much the same: one high note, followed by one or two low notes.
With just a few exceptions, like on some Massachusetts islands. There, chickadee songs get weird.
[Black-capped Chickadee song]
That was recorded on Martha’s Vineyard, an island south of Cape Cod. The chickadees there sing a song with no change in pitch, just two high notes.
[Black-capped Chickadee song]
Even stranger than the Martha’s Vineyard songs are those from nearby Tuckernuck Island. Tuckernuck is tiny, barely 900 acres in size, and yet its chickadee population has developed a whole new song too.
[Black-capped Chickadee song]
It’s likely the islands themselves made these chickadees sound so strange. When a group of birds becomes isolated on an island, they begin to develop free from influence from the mainland. Eventually, this separation can lead to changes in genes and brand new species. In the short term, though, island populations can come up with new behaviors — like these chickadees and their unique songs.
[Black-capped Chickadee song]
For BirdNote, I’m Michael Stein.
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Senior Producer: John Kessler
Producer: Mark Bramhill
Managing Editor: Jazzi Johnson
Managing Producer: Conor Gearin
Content Director: Jonese Franklin
Bird sounds provided by The Macaulay Library of Natural Sounds at the Cornell Lab of Ornithology, Ithaca, New York. Black-capped Chickadee ML217850561 and ML94959121 recorded by Jay McGowan, Black-capped Chickadee ML315584611 recorded by Serge Wolf, Black-capped Chickadee ML41167 recorded by Dolly Minis, Black-capped Chickadee ML508173821 recorded by Lily Morello, and Black-capped Chickadee ML551015111 recorded by Sky Kardell.
BirdNote’s theme was composed and played by Nancy Rumbel and John Kessler.
© 2023 BirdNote September 2023
Narrator: Michael Stein
ID# BCCH-10-2023-09-29 BCCH-10
References:
https://academic.oup.com/auk/article/116/2/387/5168708
William von Herff
Writer
Michael Stein
NarratorSights & Sounds
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