Here we have a Black-Capped Chickadee complaining about being watched, or the cold, or a Chickadee’s hard life. Chickadees are a half ounce of complaints.
They get their family name from those complaints, which sound like a kazoo playing “chick-a-dee!”, or “chick-a-dee-dee!”, or “chick-a-dee-dee-dee!”, and so forth. The more “dees” at the end, the more annoyed or alarmed the bird is; when a hawk is around, they’re virtual “dee” machine guns.
There are seven native species of Chickadee in North America, but the Black-Capped one is our most common, which may be why it’s our state bird. For such a small creature, it does well during our often-frigid winters (when it stores and eats seeds), as well as during our lush summers (when it eats mostly insects). (Brooklin, Maine)