Midwest USA. December 2025.

Olympus E-M1+ Oly 75mm-300mm f/4.8-6.7 II @ 252, f/8, 1/80s, ISO-640.

Did I find an IRL shiny? Is this leucism? It’s rare that I see a chickadee with white feathers in its cap.

  • Jim@midwest.socialEnglish
    2·
    13 hours ago

    Jealous! Here in central Ohio we supposedly should get a few but confirmed sightings are basically nonexistent. EBird mods won’t trust Merlin audio because they say Carolinas can mimic black-caps, and when you get something that has black-cap-looking markings they’ve said it “looks like a Carolina with some black-cap genes”. I’d just like to get a confirmed black cap around here, I know we must get some. Great pictures.

    • Tempus Fugit@lemmy.worldOPEnglish
      1·
      11 hours ago

      Thanks. You must get some black caps. You’re not too far south of me and I do believe they’ll span most of OH. I love the birds, but black caps are by far the most common, and while I love shooting them they can get a bit samey. I just back from a birding walk and all I spotted were black caps and some crows.

  • robocall@lemmy.worldEnglish
    10·
    10 days ago

    Hell yeah! What a frickin adorable little bird you’ve captured there on your camera

  • Doubleohdonut@lemmy.caEnglish
    9·
    10 days ago

    Amazing! I’m still waiting to capture a “perfect” chickadee pic be ause of how fast they move. This took patience, I can tell. Wtg friend!

    • Tempus Fugit@lemmy.worldOPEnglish
      9·
      10 days ago

      Thank you. These chickadees are quite used to humans being present. These were taken near a public bird feeder. It’s pretty cool, there are probably 20-30 around at most times and they’ll buzz just a few inches from my head and you can feel their wing flaps. They’ll get within a few inches of me and check me out. they’re quite smart for a tiny bird.

      Here are some bonus shots I couldn’t upload earlier.

    • Tempus Fugit@lemmy.worldOPEnglish
      5·
      10 days ago

      Interesting. I didn’t think we had mountain chickadees here I’m way over East vs their typical range.

      • tyler@programming.devEnglish
        6·
        10 days ago

        You probably don’t but bird ranges are expanding rapidly. Also from what I’ve been told by some experts, mountain chickadees will sometimes join a BCC gang and hang out with it even without being near their range. So maybe you got a hybrid that just traveled very far east. In any case it looks just like a hybrid to me!