Chickadee Information and Control

Lake Tahoe, CA & Stateline & Carson City, NV

The chickadees, tits, and titmice constitute Paridae, a large family of small passerine birds which occur in the northern hemisphere and Africa. Most were formerly classified in the genus Parus.

Chickadees damage the siding on a home - much like a woodpecker.

These birds are mainly small stocky woodland species with short stout bills. Some have crests. They range in length from 10 to 22 centimetres. They are adaptable birds, with a mixed diet including seeds and insects.[1] Many species will live around human habitation and come readily to bird feeders for nuts or seed, and learn to take other foods. In Britain, Great Tits and Blue Tits famously learned to break open the foil caps sealing bottles of milk that had been delivered to homes to get at the cream floating on top.

With the exception of the three monotypic genera Sylviparus, Melanochlora and Pseudopodoces, the tits are extremely similar in appearance, and have been described as "one of the most conservative avian families in terms of general morphology".[2] The typical length of the family is between 10–16 cm (3.9–6.3 in) in length, when the monotypic genera are added this range is from 9–21 cm (3.5–8.3 in). In weight the family ranges from 5–49 g (0.18–1.7 oz), this contracts to 7–29 g (0.25–1.0 oz) when the three atypical genera are removed. The majority of the variation within the family comes in plumage, and particularly colour.[3]

The bills of the tits are generally short, and vary between stout and fine dependent on diet. The more insectivorous species have finer bills, whereas those that consume more seeds have stouter bills. The most aberrant bill of the family is possessed by the Hume's Ground Tit, which is long and decurved.[3]

The tits are a widespread family of birds, occurring over most of Europe, Asia, North America and Africa. The genus Poecile occurs from Europe through Asia into North America, as far south as southern Mexico. American species in this genus are known as chickadees. Some species in this genus have quite large natural distributions, one, the Grey-headed Chickadee, is distributed from Scandinavia to Alaska and Canada. The majority of the tits in the genus Periparus are found in the south eastern portion of Asia. This includes two species endemic to the Philippines. The Coal Tit, also in this genus, is a much more widespread species, ranging from the British Isles and North Africa to Japan. The two crested tits of the genus Lophophanes have a disjunct distribution, with one species occurring in Europe and the other in central Asia.[3]

The titmice (genus Baeolophus) are unique to America. The biggest genus, Parus has numerous species found in Africa, several in southern and eastern Asia, and one, the Great Tit, which ranges from Western Europe to Indonesia. Cyanistes has a European and Asian distribution (also nudging into northern Africa), and the three remaining genera, Pseudopodoces, Sylviparus and Melanochlora are all restricted to Asia.[3] Behaviour

Tits are active, noisy and social birds. They are territorial during the breeding season and often joining mixed-species feeding flocks during the non-breeding season. The tits are highly adaptable and, after the corvids (crows and jays) and parrots, amongst the most intelligent of all birds. - Wikipedia