Maine’s friendly state bird…

One might think that this post would be comprised of two simple sentences: “C is for chickadee. It is the Maine state bird.” As it turns out, there is plenty to write about this friendly little creature.

According to the Maine Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife, the Pine Tree State is home to 292 species of birds. Amongst all these feathery options, the little chickadee made it to the top spot. Or should we say the top two spots? While the familiar black-capped variety is most familiar to Mainers, the state is also home to the boreal chickadee, its brown cousin…or sibling (I’m not an ornithologist so please consult the experts for the appropriate relationship term!). In 2019, the Maine State Legislature debated if they should officially distinguish which of the two was technically our state bird. They unanimously killed the bill in committee so we’re keeping things simple and sticking with “chickadee.”

If you’re a Mainer, you likely already knew that the chickadee is our official state bird. It has been since 1927. But did you know that Massachusetts also chose the chickadee as their state bird? They were more precise in specifying that it was the “Poecile atricapillus” AKA the black-capped chickadee. Our neighbors to the south made their selection 14 years after ours was in the books. I’ll let you draw your own conclusions…

One more legislative matter to include about our cheery chickadee: can you name the town which holds the designation of Chickadee Capital of Maine?

Guildford holds that title, along with that of Lilac Capital of Maine. So basically it’s a good-smelling and sweet-sounding community!

Thankfully our state bird doesn’t head south in the winter so we can enjoy it year-round. The chickadee is easy to spot, but sometimes tricky to identify by ear as it makes a variety of sounds. The video below will help you learn to recognize all of its songs.

This post is part of my A to Z Challenge Series with the overall theme, “This Maine Life.” I am covering a Maine-related topic with a different letter of the alphabet every day except Sundays throughout the month of April 2020.