BC Conservation Data Centre: Species Summary
Poecile atricapillus
Black-capped Chickadee
| Scientific Name: | Poecile atricapillus (Linnaeus, 1766) | ||||||||||
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| Scientific Name Synonyms: |
Poecile atricapilla
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| English Name: | Black-capped Chickadee | ||||||||||
| Classification / Taxonomy | |||||||||||
| Scientific Name - Concept Reference: | American Ornithologists' Union (AOU). 2000. Forty-second supplement to the American Ornithologists' Union Check-list of North American Birds. The Auk 117:847-858 | ||||||||||
| Classification Level: | Species | ||||||||||
| Taxonomy Comments: | Changed to P. atricapillus from P. atricapilla as per 45th Suplement AOU Update (Feb 21, 2005 DDW). S and G names changed from POECILE ATRICAPILLUS 00-09-18 to match AOU. |
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| Species Group: | Vertebrate Animal | ||||||||||
| Species Code: | B-BCCH | ||||||||||
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| Conservation Status / Legal Designation | |||||||||||
| Global Status: | G5 (Apr 2016) | ||||||||||
| Provincial Status: | S5 (Mar 2015) | ||||||||||
| BC List: | Yellow | ||||||||||
| Provincial FRPA list: | |||||||||||
| Provincial Wildlife Act: | |||||||||||
| COSEWIC Status: | |||||||||||
| SARA Schedule: | |||||||||||
| General Status Canada: | 4 - Secure (2005) | ||||||||||
| Migratory Bird Convention Act: | Y | ||||||||||
| Ecology & Life History | |||||||||||
| General Description: | Black cap and throat, white cheeks, buffy flanks, and white-edged wing feathers. Length 13 cm, wingspan 21 cm. | ||||||||||
| Global Reproduction Comments: | Nesting phenology varies geographically. Examples of known egg dates include: late April to mid-June in Illinois; early May to mid-July in Massachusetts; late May to early June in Nova Scotia; mid-April to late June in Oregon; and mid-April to early July in Michigan. Clutch size is 5-10 (usually 6-8). Incubation lasts usually 12-13 days. Young are tended by both parents, fledge 12-16 days after hatching. Initially fledglings are fed by their parents, disperse usually 3-4 weeks after fledging. Pairbond may persist over several years. | ||||||||||
| Global Ecology Comments: |
In Massachusetts, once they became breeders, males lived an average of 3.2 years, females lived an average of 2.5 years (Smith 1995, Auk 112:840-846). In Alberta, winter survival rates were higher in a food-supplemented area than in a control area, but breeding densities in the two areas were similar (Desrochers et al. 1988). In Pennsylvania, supplemental food appeared to influence movements more so than it did winter survival, but in Wisconsin there was evidence that bird feeders influenced actual survival rates (Egan and Brittingham 1994). In southwestern Alberta, territory size averaged about 8-9 ha, overlapped with territories of mountain chickadee (Hill and Lein 1989). In cold winter weather, black-capped chickadees may undergo regulated hypothermia, which saves them significant amounts of energy. They also store food and may roose communally in tree cavities, thus minimizing heat loss. |
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| Migration Characteristics: (Global / Provincial) | |||||||||||
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Nonmigrant: Local Migrant: Distant Migrant: Within Borders Migrant: |
Y / N / N / na / |
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| Habitats: (Type / Subtype / Dependence) |
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| Global Habitat Comments: | Black-capped chickadees inhabit deciduous and mixed deciduous/coniferous forest and woodland, willow thickets, cottonwood groves, old fields, and wooded suburban areas. Nests are in cavities dug by both sexes in trees, especially dead trees or rotten branches, sometimes in existing natural cavities, old woodpecker holes, bird boxes, or similar sites (Grubb and Bronson 1995, Condor 97:1067-1070). | ||||||||||
| Food Habits: |
Frugivore: Adult, Immature
Granivore: Adult, Immature Invertivore: Adult, Immature |
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| Global Food Habits Comments: | Eats mainly insects and other small invertebrates, and their eggs and immature stages, and seeds and fruits; forages mainly on woody twigs, branches, and stems (Terres 1980). | ||||||||||
| Global Phenology: |
Diurnal: Adult, Immature
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| Provincial Phenology: (1st half of month/ 2nd half of month) |
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| Colonial Breeder: | N | ||||||||||
| Length(cm)/width(cm)/Weight(g): | 13/ / 11 | ||||||||||
| Elevation (m) (min / max): |
Global:
Provincial: |
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| Distribution | |||||||||||
| Endemic: | N | ||||||||||
| Global Range Comment: | This species is resident from western and central Alaska eastward across central and southern Canada to Newfoundland, and south to northwestern California, southern Utah, central New Mexico, Kansas, central Missouri, central Indiana, and northern New Jersey, and at higher elevations to the southern Appalachians (AOU 1998). Wanders irregularly south in winter. | ||||||||||
| Authors / Contributors | |||||||||||
| Global Information Author: | Hammerson, G. | ||||||||||
| Last Updated: | Jan 29, 2010 | ||||||||||
| Provincial Information Author: | |||||||||||
| Last Updated: | |||||||||||
| References and Related Literature | |||||||||||
American Ornithologists' Union (AOU). 1983. Check-list of North American Birds, 6th edition. Allen Press, Inc., Lawrence, Kansas. 877 pp. |
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Bent, A.C. 1946. Life histories of North American jays, crows, and titmice. U.S. Natl. Mus. Bull. 191. Washington, D.C. |
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Campbell, R.W., N.K. Dawe, I. McTaggart-Cowan, J.M. Cooper, G.W. Kaiser, M.C.E. McNall and G.E.J. Smith 1997. The Birds of British Columbia, Vol. 3, Passerines: Flycatchers through Vireos. UBC Press in cooperation with Environ. Can., Can. Wildl. Serv. and B.C. Minist. Environ., Lands and Parks, Wildl. Branch. 700pp. |
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Desrochers, A., S. J. Hannon, and K. E. Nordin. 1988. Winter survival and territory acquisition in a northern population of black-capped chickadees. Auk 105:727-736. |
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Droege, S., and J.R. Sauer. 1990. North American Breeding Bird Survey, annual summary, 1989. U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Biological Report 90(8). 22 pp. |
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Egan, E. S., and M. C. Brittingham. 1994. Winter survival rates of a southern population of black-capped chickadees. Wilson Bull. 106:514-521. |
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Gill, F. B., A. M. Mostrom, and A. L. Mack. 1993. Speciation in North American chickadees: I. Patterns of mtDNA genetic divergence. Evolution 47:195-212. |
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Harrison, C. 1978. A Field Guide to the Nests, Eggs and Nestlings of North American Birds. Collins, Cleveland, Ohio. |
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Harrison, H. H. 1979. A field guide to western birds' nests. Houghton Mifflin Company, Boston. 279 pp. |
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Hill, B. G., and M. R. Lein. 1989. Territory overlap and habitat use of sympatric chickadees. Auk 106:259-268. |
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Mitchell, W. A. 1988. Songbird nest boxes. Section 5.1.8, US Army Corps of Engineers Wildlife Resources Management Manual. Tech. Rep. EL-88-19. Waterways Expt. Station, Vicksburg, Mississippi. 48 pp. |
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Pelech, S., and S. J. Hannon. 1995. Impact of tent caterpillar defoliation on the reproductive success of black-capped chickadees. Condor 97:1071-1074. |
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Robbins, M. 1989. What's your name, my little chickadee? Birding 21:205-207. |
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Sattler, G. D., and M. J. Braun. 2000. Morphometric variation as an indicator of genetic interactions between Black-capped and Carolina Chickadees at a contact zone in the Appalachian Mountains. Auk 117:427-444. |
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Schroeder, R. L. 1990. Tests of a habitat suitability model for black-capped chickadees. U.S. Fish and Wildl. Serv. Biol. Rep. 90(10). 8 pp. |
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Sheldon, F. H., et al. 1992. DNA-DNA hybridization evidence of phylogenetic relationships among major lineages of PARUS. Auk 109:173-185. |
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Smith, S. M. 1991. The black-capped chickadee: behavioral ecology and natural history. Cornell Univ. Press, Ithaca. xi + 362 pp. |
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Terres, J. K. 1980. The Audubon Society encyclopedia of North American birds. Alfred A. Knopf, New York. |
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Please visit the website Conservation Status Ranks for definitions of the data fields used in this summary report.
Suggested Citation:
B.C. Conservation Data Centre. 2010. Species Summary: Poecile atricapillus. B.C. Minist. of Environment. Available: https://a100.gov.bc.ca/pub/eswp/ (accessed Jun 10, 2026).