Carolina Chickadee

Description:

Carolina Chickadees have a black cap and bib separated by stark white cheeks. The back, wings, and tail are soft gray. Carolina Chickadee looks very much like a Black-capped Chickadee, with a black cap, black bib, gray wings and back, and whitish underside. Carolina chickadees are so similar to black-capped chickadees that they themselves have trouble telling their species apart. Because of this they sometimes mate producing hybrids. The most obvious difference between the three chickadees is that the Carolina chickadee sings four-note song, black-capped ones sing two-note songs, and the hybrids sing three-note songs.

Habitat:

Forested areas or urban and suburban yards or parks with large trees. These chickadees prefer deciduous woods, especially along edges of streams or clearings. A lowland species, Carolina Chickadees are replaced by Black-capped Chickadees at higher elevations in the Appalachian Mountains. They nest in a hole in a tree; the pair excavates the nest, using a natural cavity or sometimes an old woodpecker nest. The ranges of Black-capped and Carolina chickadees don't overlap much. http://www.birdsource.org/Birds/chickade...

Notes:

Spotted through my window at home