Speak chickadee?
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- March
- 21
You probably don’t. But the white-breasted nuthatches that tend to hang out with black-capped chickadees apparently do. Anyone with a bird feeder in the Lower Hudson Valley can’t help but notice the gray-and-white birds (pictured below) that walk head first down tree trunks.
Long wintertime companions of chickadees  those two plus tufted titmice move in flocks together nuthatches, according to a University of Washington researcher, are able to understand what chickadees are saying.
Next time you look out your window at the birds congregating around your feeder, you now know they know something you don’t know.
For the scientifically minded, here’s the study’s abstract.
This entry was posted
on Wednesday, March 21st, 2007 at 1:20 pm by Mike Risinit.
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Journal News staff writer Greg Clary writes Earth Watch, reporting on environmental issues in the lower Hudson region. Clary has been a reporter, editor and columnist at the Journal News since 1988 and has covered police and courts, transportation, municipal government, development and the environment in the Lower Hudson Valley, among other topics. 
Laura Incalcaterra covers the environment, open space and zoning and planning issues for The Journal News. A Boston College graduate, Laura grew up in Rockland, attended East Ramapo schools and has worked for The Journal News since 1993. Laura has written features and covered North Rockland, crime, government and a host of other issues.
Mike Risinit covers Patterson and Kent in Putnam County, as well as environmental topics touching on the Hudson River and the Great Swamp. Risinit has been a reporter at The Journal News since 1998.
