Black-capped Chickadee

The Black-capped Chickadee is one of the most familiar and widespread birds in North America. It ranges from coast to coast, including much of Canada and about the northern two thirds of the United States.

Adult Male (spring/summer)

Black cap and throat; white cheek and nape; brownish gray back; wings dark with white edging; long gray tail; belly white; buff or orange flanks and eyes and beak black.

Adult Female (spring/summer)

Similar to adult male.

Juvenile (spring/summer)

Juvenal plumage essentially the same as adults in overall pattern, but somewhat looser in texture. Similar to adults, but cap duller and feathers softer and shorter.

General:

Widespread and relatively longer-tailed than other chickadees. Length: 12-15cm. Wing: 16-21cm. Weight: 11grams.

Behaviour:

The Black-capped Chickadee associate in flocks and during winter the flocks are frequently mixed specie flocks with Kinglets, Creepers, Woodpeckers and Nuthatches. While foraging for seeds and insects the chickadee is acrobatic, hanging under leaves, conifer branches and in shrubs. It darts quickly to and from seed and suet feeders not lingering but moving to eat elsewhere. Their bouncy flight can be seen as it crosses open areas.

Habitat:

Deciduous and mixed deciduous/coniferous woodland, open woods and parks, willow thickets, and cottonwood groves. Also disturbed areas, such as old fields or suburban areas, where suitable nest sites are available with sufficient foliage to support adequate food for dependent offspring. Generally more common near edges of wooded areas, but can be found even in the middle of large wooded tracts. Often found in, though not confined to, areas where birch or alder trees occur; these provide both food and nest sites. Food is a mix of seeds, berries, plant matter, insects and fat from animal sources and suet feeders. They are quick to discover suet and seed feeders.

Information:

Despite its vast range, this species is remarkably homogeneous in its genetic make-up. As Black-capped Chickadees are resident throughout their range, northern populations must withstand winters of short days and very cold temperatures. Under such conditions they can lower their body temperature at night and enter regulated hypothermia saving significant amounts of energy. In addition, they store food and have exceptional spatial memory to relocate it, even a month later. Chickadees are seen most readily during winter when nonbreeding flocks visit feeders. Winter populations may contain both regular flock members, which typically spend the whole winter in a single flock, and also winter floaters—birds whose home range includes that of 3 to 5 flocks, with an established position in the dominance hierarchy of each one. Under suitable conditions, a high-ranked bird that disappears from a flock may be replaced by a floater, which assumes the rank, and pairs with the mate of the vanished bird. Such replacements evidently occur only where floater density is high. Black-capped Chickadees are cavity nesters and take well to nest boxes and also utilize small cavities and abandoned Downy Woodpecker cavities. Cup shaped nest inside cavity is made of moss and coarse material lined with finer material. Clutch size is 1-13 white with fine reddish spots eggs.

Similar species:

Conservation Status:

Listed as Least Concern. Overall populations have been increasing since 1966. Western populations slightly declined between 1966 and 2010 but increases in eastern populations more than made up for the losses in the west.

Capture Rates

Year-round residents of the Lower Mainland, Black-capped Chickadee capture rates peak in winter months when non-breeding winter foraging flocks of 3 to 12 individuals are conspicuous.

Molt Summary:

PF: HY Partial, PB: AHY complete; PA absent
Preformative molt includes 6 – 10 inner gr covs and occasionally 1 – 2 terts but no rects.

Beware pseudolimits within the greater coverts in this species (see below).

Juv (May-August) differs in having a slightly duller (sootier) black cap and more loosely textured undertail coverts, especially the undertail coverts. Juv M = F

This HY in December is showing a molt limit within the greater coverts with the outer 3 GCs replaced (red arrow).

Notice the outer GCs are thinner and more tapered than the replaced inner GCs and there is a noticeable difference in length, the retained feathers being longer forming the ‘step-out’ (red line) visible in this photo. Retained feathers on members of the tit family (Paridae) will sometimes (but not always) be longer than the replaced ones showing the step-down (or out) illustrated in this example. Notice the broader more rounded replaced feathers with pale grayish edging and lack of grayish edging to the retained feathers.

Care should be taken when when looking for this molt limit to make sure we are not misled by the pseudolimit mentioned in the molt summary above which is the result of a natural colour contrast within the inner greater coverts and can simulate a molt limit but is NOT the result of feather replacement. However, in the case of this bird, the molt limit among the outer greater coverts is real with the outermost feathers being retained juvenal feathers and the inner visible feathers being replaced feathers.

While the colour does fade a bit distally (outwards) on the wing, the outer greater coverts, and for that matter the retained carpal covert, aula, and primary coverts, are identified as retained feathers because of their much more washed out, worn, and lightly pigmented appearance. And again, retained feathers on members of the tit family (Paridae) will sometimes be longer than the replaced ones – the step down (or out) visible here.

The photo below shows a molt limit in the making and illustrates the sequence of events that results in the molt limit shown in the photo immediately above.

This HY bird in August is undertaking its preformative molt replacing inner greater coverts and the carpal covert (feathers in sheath). Notice the outermost retained greater covert (GC1) which will form the molt limit between it and the adjacent feather (GC2) in sheath. Knowing this to be a retained feather is helpful in recalling differences in shape and structure between replaced and retained feathers once molt has completed.

Sometimes molt limits can be difficult to detect in Chickadees due to the colour contrasts in the greater coverts which simulate molt limits (pseudolimits) mentioned above and also when birds are approaching the end of their preformative molt when retained juvenal feathers are still very fresh. This HY in August is at the very end of its preformative molt with the carpal covert (CC) still in sheath (red arrow). Although a molt limit within the GCs is very difficult to detect here, knowing the sequence of events allows us to accurately age this bird as a HY. In the preformative molt the carpal covert is replaced when the GCs complete whereas in the adult PB the carpal covert is replaced after the GCs complete but during the molt of the primaries so in this photo some primaries would still be in sheath in the process of being replaced.

Of course at this time of the year banders can always confirm age by additional criteria such as skull ossification.

Tail shape is another helpful clue to ageing this species but it is important not to use tail shape alone as it is generally not very reliable because of a) individual variation and b) the possibility of accidental loss and replacement. This is called adventitious molt and is common in Chickadees which frequently lose and replace tail feathers.

The rectrices in the photo below show a second year (SY) bird in January. They are more tapered (pointed) than the adult rectrices below, have little or no white edging and the white doesn’t wrap around on to the inner web of those feathers. Notice also the amount of wear to these feathers – retained juvenal feathers which are poor quality and weaker structured are more prone to wear than adult feathers.

This ASY in January is showing greater coverts which are all uniformly adult with broad, pale grayish edging.

In addition to the broad pale edging notice two additional features of the greater coverts shown in this photo – the shape of the outer GCs is uniformly u-shaped rather than thin and tapered and there is no difference in the length of the feathers. Notice also the consistency in structure and wear of these feathers and compare with the first year (HY/SY) birds above.

The retrices in the photo below show a quintessential adult (AHY) Black-capped Chickadee tail in October. Notice the shape of the retrices are broad and truncate with a corner to the inner web. In addition the pale grayish edging on the outer web of the outer retrices wraps around on to the inner web.

This AHY tail in December is relatively worn but again notice the shape of the retrices which are broad and truncate with a corner to the inner web and again that the pale grayish edging on the outer web of the outer retrices wraps around on to the inner web.