This is How to Attract Chickadees

Attracting chickadees to your backyard is a simple task that can add excitement to your birdwatching experience. These energetic birds are known for their curiosity and are easy to please. All it takes is understanding their needs and creating a suitable environment for them.

Chickadee Types:

All seven species of chickadees commonly found in North America can be easily attracted to your garden with feeders, baths and a bird-friendly environment.

Black-Capped Chickadee
Carolina Chickadee
Boreal Chickadee
Gray-Headed Chickadee
Chestnut-Backed Chickadee
Mountain Chickadee
Mexican Chickadee

How to Attract Chickadees:

Bring chickadees to your backyard by meeting their basic needs for food, water, shelter, and nesting sites.

Food: Offer a diverse range of food, including insects, seeds, nuts, and fruit. You can plant flowering trees or shrubs that attract insects, and limit the use of pesticides. Chickadees love black oil sunflower seeds, peanuts, suet, peanut butter, and can be fed from tray, tube, or hopper feeders. Growing seed-bearing flowers, like sunflowers, or offering peanut butter or soft suet directly on a tree or fence post can also attract these birds. From experience, our local black capped chickadees prefer out no-mess seed cylinder recipe.

Water: Chickadees like to drink and bathe in small bird baths. To make the basin the right depth, either place a smaller dish in a deeper basin or add rocks. Chickadees may be drawn to dripping faucets or other sources of flowing water. Due to the fact that these birds do not migrate in the winter, heated bird baths are required.

Shelter: Provide cover by planting coniferous or deciduous trees, shrubs, or roosting boxes. For winter shelters, evergreen trees and bushes are essential, and dense landscaping may provide lovely thickets or tiers.

Nesting Sites: Chickadees are cavity-nesters and will use birdhouses of the appropriate size. An ideal house is 8 inches tall with a 4-5 inch square base and a 1 1/8 inch entrance hole. Mount the birdhouse on a tree, wall, or pole 4-15 feet off the ground. Encourage chickadees to nest by scattering wood shavings or sawdust inside and offering nesting materials like pet fur or string. Leave snags or dead trees for natural nesting sites, and chickadees will also reuse old woodpecker cavities.

Attracting Chickadees: Tips

Chickadees are friendly and easily drawn to bird-friendly yards. You can make your yard even more inviting by following these tips.

Plant trees and shrubs in clumps of different sizes for better foraging and denser shelter.
Place perches near feeders for chickadees to eat comfortably.
Position bird feeders and baths near thicket-like areas for safety.
Keep pets indoors or discourage feral cats to protect the chickadees.
Add multiple feeders if many chickadees visit to allow more birds to eat at once.

Attracting Chickadees: A Rewarding Experience

Birders can attract and enjoy the company of curious, perky and playful chickadees by being patient. With time, these birds will become familiar with your yard and you may even be able to hand-feed them. Whether up close or from a distance, chickadees are delightful to watch at your feeders and birdhouses.

After testing all our recipes on our local chickadee population, we noticed they liked our No-Mess Seed Cylinders the best.