CHICKADEE

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

 Dictionary entry overview: What does chickadee mean? 

• CHICKADEE (noun)
  The noun CHICKADEE has 1 sense:

1. any of various small grey-and-black songbirds of North America

  Familiarity information: CHICKADEE used as a noun is very rare.

 Dictionary entry details 

• CHICKADEE (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

Any of various small grey-and-black songbirds of North America

Classified under:

Nouns denoting animals

Hypernyms ("chickadee" is a kind of...):

tit; titmouse (small insectivorous birds)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "chickadee"):

black-capped chickadee; blackcap; Parus atricapillus (chickadee having a dark crown)

Carolina chickadee; Parus carolinensis (southern United States chickadee similar to the blackcap but smaller)

Holonyms ("chickadee" is a member of...):

genus Parus; Parus (type genus of the family Paridae)

 Context examples 

The researchers discovered that both chickadee species prefer the smell of their own species over the smell of the other species.

(Scent brings songbirds to the yard, National Science Foundation)

Great tits – a close relation of North America’s chickadee – make a good study species as they are generalist insectivores that forage in flocks, and are known to spread other forms of information through observation.

(Birds learn from each other’s ‘disgust’, enabling insects to evolve bright colours, University of Cambridge)

She and scientist Alex Van Huynh set out to test the potential for scent to act as a mate choice cue in the chickadees.

(Scent brings songbirds to the yard, National Science Foundation)

Huynh and Rice found that black-capped and Carolina chickadees produce chemically distinct oils used to maintain their feathers; the oils also contain scent-producing compounds.

(Scent brings songbirds to the yard, National Science Foundation)

They wondered whether smell might contribute to the reproductive isolation of black-capped and Carolina chickadees in a zone in Pennsylvania where birds are hybridizing.

(Scent brings songbirds to the yard, National Science Foundation)

Rice researches the black-capped chickadee and its relative, the Carolina chickadee.

(Scent brings songbirds to the yard, National Science Foundation)

Chickadees are interested in scents.

(Scent brings songbirds to the yard, National Science Foundation)