MAINE NATURE NOTES Black-capped chickadee

. The chickadee is Maine’s official state bird. It’s also the state bird of Massachusetts.

. The chickadee is named after its most common song: “chick-a-dee-dee-dee-dee-dee.”

. The black-capped chickadee is most common in Maine. Also seen are boreal chickadees which have a brown cap.

. Chickadees nest in holes in trees. They make their own, and use abandoned woodpecker nests.

. They eat mainly caterpillars, insects and spiders in the summer, and seeds and berries in the winter. They especially like sunflower seeds.

. They store food in bark crevices, and can remember thousands of hiding places for as long as a month.

. They normally spend the winter in Maine, but food shortages can prompt them to go south. A common cause of death in winter is starvation,

. To conserve energy, chickadees can drop their body temperature as much as 10-12 degrees Celsius from their daytime temperature to their nighttime temperature.

. The average chickadee is about 5 inches long and weighs one-third ounce. About 305 chickadees weigh as much as one loon.

. Their longest-distance flights are about 15 yards. Their average speed, about 12 mph. They have been seen hovering while searching for food.

. The average life span is 21/2 years. The oldest chickadee on record lived to be 121/2.