Hi David, and my fellow Ohio birders,

Like many, I have always been skeptical of assigning "black-capped" status to chickadees found well south of the species accepted haunts. However, a couple winters ago an individual visited the feeders on my farm in Hopewell Township, Muskingum County, a bird that caused me to revise my long-held policy. This chickadee was in the company of others that were clearly Carolinas, although it didn't seem to associate too closely with them: didn't always fly when they flew. There were also house finches and goldfinches in the mix around the feeders, which include standard birdseed, thistle tube, and suet feeders. The bird in question was "like a chickadee on steroids." I believe that's how I reported it. The anomalous bird was more the size of the house finches (or even the house sparrows), whereas Carolinas are closer to the size of goldfinches. The jumbo chickadee had more white in the primaries, a less-clearly demarcated border between bib and breast, and a big head: seemingly like black-capped. It hung around for quite a while, allowing close side-by-side comparisons. I was converted.

So, I now think more southerly black-capped chickadees happen, if only rarely. I would urge skepticism unless the evidence is strong. I have only seen that one large chickadee "south of forty" in my almost 54 years, at least only the one that I have noticed.

As for hybrids, who knows? Unless we revert to shotgun birding, or mist-net and needles..., but that would take all the fun out of it.

It certainly seems more likely than alien aircraft in Texas, or sasquatch on Mars.

----

This morning, as I talked to my wife Jane by cellphone during her daily walk around the farm, she reported a "huge" set of turkey tracks in the snow by the "Beech Point," a spot in the woods along our north boundary line. It's always nice to get my home birding buzz vicariously. 

Bob Evans
Hopewell, OH (currently working in intermittantly rainy southern California, where the birds are grooving on it, but the people are depressed)

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