CAROLINA CHICKADEE, COVE LAKE STATE PARK, CARYVILLE, TN

   We can ID this chickadee as a Carolina Chickadee, rather than the very similar Black-capped Chickadee by a combination of its location, size and other characteristics: 

• Location: The Carolina Chickadee occurs in southeast U.S. and the Black-capped Chickadee in northern U.S. and much of Canada.  There is a narrow band from northern New Jersey to Kansas where they overlap.  Cove Lakes State Park is in Southeastern U.S. and is south of this overlap band.  Thus, the location would tend to indicate this bird is a Carolina Chickadee.
• Size: When we sighted the chickadee we estimated its size to be 4"+-.  The Carolina Chickadee (4.75") is smaller than the Black-capped Chickadee (5.25").  Thus our estimated size is more in line with the size of a Carolina Chickadee.
• The cheek patch of a Carolina Chickakee is grayish (as in thr photo), while the cheek patch of a Black-capped Chickadee is white and more extensive.  Again the cheek patch in the photo favors being that of a Carolina Chickadee.
• The Carolina Chickadee appears grayish with not alot of white, as in the photo, rather than the more whitish and brighter with cleaner flanks of the Black-capped Chickadee.

   None of the above factors by itself would prove this chickadee is a Carolina Chickadee, but the combination of all these factors and the overall impression of the bird  we feel does.

   The Carolina Chickadee is a new species to our Life List, which now stands at 279.