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Tits and Chickadees (Paridae)

Black-capped Chickadee

Poecile atricapillus

PasseriformesSmall (13 cm)
Appearance
Crisp black cap and bib contrasting with white cheeks. Soft gray back and wings with buffy flanks. Tiny, rounded body and short straight bill.
Habitat
Deciduous and mixed forests, woodland edges, parks, and suburban areas with mature trees. One of the most frequent backyard feeder visitors.
Behaviour
Acrobatic and fearless — often the first bird to investigate a new feeder. Named for its clear two-note 'fee-bee' song and sharp 'chick-a-dee-dee-dee' alarm call. The number of 'dee' notes signals predator threat level.
Seasonality
Non-migratory in most of range. May irrupt southward in large numbers when northern food sources fail.
Range
Northern North America from Alaska to northern California eastward across Canada and the northern United States.

Field note

"Chickadees cache thousands of individual food items in autumn and can relocate each cache up to 28 days later, thanks to a hippocampus that grows larger each fall."

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