Chickadees Eat Bad Bugs
Because all chickadees are year-round insectivores as well as seed eaters, they are part of the natural pest control system in your yard. Those that live in and around the property patrol it regularly in their search for protein, dispatching all kinds of pest insects that are also resident in the yard. In the summer they can be depended upon to eat:
| Lunch for Chickadees | ||
|---|---|---|
| Aphids | beetles | many weevils |
| Caterpillars | Colorado potato beetles | flea beetles |
| Flies | leafhoppers | tree hoppers |
| Leafminers | moths and moth eggs | plant lice |
| scale insects | true bugs | wasps |
In the winter chickadees scour tree bark for eggs and pupae of various moths, spiders, katydids and other insects that winterover as eggs. They habitually feed from the ground to about five feet from the ground. When gleaning the bark of tall trees they will feed higher, but the bulk of their feeding is low to the ground.