"The chickadee is a symbol of faithfulness. It lives the year around in the same region. It never deceives it's human friends, as so many birds do, by changing its coat and colors. In the summer, to be sure, it is not much seen. .... But with wintery blasts, time the others go south, the Chickadee begins to be noticed. Then there comes a time when it is almost the only thing to lend a touch of life and a note of gladness to a bleak outdoors.
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Aves
Order: Passeriformes
Family: Paridae
Subfamily: Parinae
Genus: Poecile
Species: atricapillus
Subspecies: atricapillus
Common Name: Eastern Black-capped Chickadee
French Name: La Mésange à tête noire
Other Subspecies
Related Species and how to tell them apart.
The Chickadee belongs to the group of birds known as titmice.
The word titmouse comes from the Old Icelandic word titr,
meaning something small and a corruption of an old english word mase
meaning small bird.
articapillus, Latin, ater meaning black capillus
meaning hair of the men, or hair of the head.(Gotch.,A.F. 1981. Gruson,E.S.
1972.)
Distinguishing Characteristics:
The adult Black-capped Chickadee: The crown and throat are black, with white
cheeks, greenish gray back, dark gray wings and tails. There is a narrow
band of white on the wing coverts. The greater coverts are also white. They
have black bills, brown iris, bluish gray legs and feet. The sexes are similar
in appearence. The male is slightly larger than the female. Measurements
vary according to subspecies, age and sex of the Chickadee. The average
lenght from bill to tail tips: 13-14 cm; mass is 10-14 g.
See my page on related species for differences
between subspecies of Black-capped Chickadees.
Molts and Plumage:
Juvenile Plumage: Similar to adults.
Prebasic I Molt: Takes place in spring, few flight feathers replaced.
Prebasic II Molt: In July or August most feathers replaced with feathers
of same color.
Their feathers do not change color with molts.
Behavior:
Locomotion:
Their flight is ungulated with rapid wing beats. Flights last less than
15 meters. Flight speed about 20 km\h. They hop along trees while searching
for food. Chickadees have been known to hang upside-down while feeding.
They can "walk" or creep up a tree that is nearly vertical. These
behaviors give the Chickadee the appeareance of being an accomplished acrobat.
Grooming:
Preen and scratch frequently. Chickadees will bathe in water also in snow
and dew.
Habitat:
Their perfered habitat is a deciduous and mixed deciduous/coniferious woodland.
Open woods, parks, willow thickets, and cottonwood groves are also taken.
They can be found readily near the edges of woodlands. Birch or alder trees
are perfered.
Other Chickadees are rarley found overlapping the Black-cappeds range.(Poole,A.P.
, et al,1992)
Territory
Black-capped Chickadees hold both breeding and non-breeding territories.
Non-breeding territories: In late summer or early fall flocks
of Black-capped Chickadees form. A Black-capped Chickadee flock contains
six to ten birds. The flock may contain juveniles, paired adults or single
adult birds. There is an heirarchy within the flock. Male birds above female;
old above young bird. The flock defends its feeding territory against neighboring
flocks. These flocks are last from August to Febuary. Contact with other
flock members are by a Tseet call. The area a flock holds is about
20 acres. Chickadee movement in flocks is unusual. The number of the flock
can be counted because they fly one or two at a time. These winter flocks
can be joined with others species such as Downy Woodpeckers, Tufted Titmouse,
Kinglets, Brown Creepers, or White-breasted nuthatches. These kinds of flocks
are called mixed flocks. Chickadees make up the nucleus of these mixed flocks.
This nonbreeding territory breaks up in late winter. The males become restless
and less tolerant of flock members as breeding season begins. The males
begins his Fee-bee song.
There are floaters (birds of either sex that are nonterritorial,
usually young and unpaired) that do not hold a territory in the breeding
season. Winter floaters may go between 3-6 flocks. They hold a position
in the heirarchy below regular members of the same sex. If a member of the
winter flock dissappears one of these winter floaters may take its place
in the heirarchy of the flock and pair with the mate of the bird that has
disappeared.(Stokes, D.W.,1979)
Breeding Terriotory: In the late winter / early spring the
winter flocks begin to break up as male chickadees become more intolerant
of other members by uttering the two note Fee-bee song, ariel chases,
and other calls. As a pair seperates from the flock they begin to defend
an area of about 10 acres. Size of defended territory varies. This lasts
for a couple of months, the actual defense against all intruders lasts only
a couple of weeks around nest building time. Territorial disputes consists
of agressive calls such as the Fee-bee call, Chebeche call,
Tseedeleedeet call, and the Dee-dee call mostly given by the
male chickadee. Chases often accompies the calls until one bird leaves.
Females also actively participate in defending the territory.
The male does not advertise his territory but sings when finds another male
in his territory. When the young are fledged in July, territories are no
longer defended.
Floaters (Those that do not have a territory / mate) can appear during this
time and try to associate with territory owners or simply they may simply
avoid them all together (Stokes,1968).
Sound and Vocalizations: I talk about this on a seperate page.
Diet:
They are ominvorous (eat both animal and plant).
Winter Season: About half of their diet consists animal matter (insects
such as catapillars an spiders) and the other half plant matter (such as
seeds and berries). Sunflower seeds seem to be prefered when at a birdfeeder.
Breeding Season: 90% animal matters (caterpillars, spiders other
insects) 10% plant (berries, seeds)
Method of capturing food:
Foraging occurs in the daylight hours. They rarely eat at the same place where they found the food. Usually they obtain a food piece, carry it away from the source and then eat it. Seeking shelter to eat helps shield them from possible predators.
Drinking Habits:
Most of their water needs are meant though consumption of food items, but
they will drink water if a source is readily available.
Food Storage:
Chicakdees store food for the winter months when food is hard to find. Common
sites where chickadees store their winter stash are places such as bark,
dead leaves, conifer needles, knotholes, dirt or snow. Chickadees do most
of their storing in the Autumn. They may carry several items at once but
each item is placed in a different storage site and no storage site is used
twice. This is called scatter-hoarding.
Memory:
To store food for the winter Chickadees must remember where they stored
the food they stashed away in Autumn. They also have to remember which sites
they have empited and sites that others have emptied during the winter.
The quaility and quantiy of food they have stored at each site also needs
to be remembered. To accomplish the huge task of storing food and remembering
where it is stored the black-capped chickadee is not without help. The hippocampus
(portion of the forebrain that is critical for memory formation/storage
and spacial learning) of the black-capped chickadee and other parids is
about 3 times larger than a bird that doesn't store food. It has been suggested
that the neurons in the hippocampus may actually grow new neurons in the
Autumn to help with the task of food storing. They can remember and retrieve
food from its storage site for up to 28 days.With the ability to grow new
neurons in the hippocampus is can truely be said that "Chickadees are
champion food storers."
Lifespan: The average life span of the black-capped chickadee
is 2.5 years. The oldest chickadee recorded was 12.5 years old.
Mortality: A common cause of death is starvation in the winter. The
young are vulnerable to starvation shortly after leaving the nest. They
survives severe weather conditions by roasting in protected areas such as
tree cavities and being able to lower their body temperature into controlled
hypothermia. They also fluff their feathers to create air pockets to trap
warm air.
Disease: There have been no reports of major disease outbreaks in
chickadees. They are hosts for a few blood parasites. Few ectoparasites
reported due in part by chickadees bathing, preening and digging out new
cavities each time it nests. They rarely reuses the same nest site.
Predators: Their Predators are manly hawks, owls, and shriks such
as the Sharp-shinned Hawk, Northern Shrike, Eastern screech Owl, and the
Saw Whet Owl. Nest predation is mostly done by mammals such as the raccoon,
squirrels and others. Snakes and House Wrens have also be reported as nest
predators.
Chicakdees give a high intensity alarm calls(High Sees) in response
to predation. Stationary predators are often mobbed. When the nest or mate
is threatned they respond with a distration display.(Poole,A.P. , et al,1992)
Their wings and tail are fully spread, leaning forward toward the predator,
they slowly raise and lower the wings. They are said to "hiss"
while displaying, some have called this a "snake display"(Burtt,H.E.1967).
Population:
The black-capped chickadee is a common bird in the northeast and northwest
North America. They are not endangered. Population trends: Increasing
in numbers in the eastern portion of range, stable numbers in the central
portion, and slighty decreasing, but not significant, in the western portion
of their range. Population regulation: Food supply, territorial behavior,
and predators control the population numbers.(Poole,A.P. , et al,1992)
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