Black Capped/Carolina Hybrid Chickadees pictured here are a hybrid species of the common Black Capped and Carolina Chickadee. Very hard to tell one species from the other, apparently even they can't tell themselves apart because they can interbreed, producing the Hybrid species. According to some website I ran across awhile back and forgot the address to, the only way to really tell them apart is by the song they sing. Carolina Chickadees end with two D's, Chickadee-dee-dee, while the Black capped version have four dee's, Chickadee-dee-dee-dee-dee and the Hybrids, wouldn't you know it, sing with three D's, Chickadee-dee-dee-dee.

Whatever they really are, they are one of my favorite little birds to watch. Sometimes I drive down to Goose Island County Park just to play with these little guys. You'll see when you watch the slideshow that they are quite tame and will fight each other to get into your hand to eat shelled peanuts.