Poecile atricapilla

Description

These fat little birds are gray and white and have black heads and throats with white cheeks.

Voice

Black-capped chickadees are almost always singing and calling in the woods. Their call is a low "chicka dee dee dee." Its song is a high "fee bee ee."

Breeding

March to August

Habitat

These birds like any forested area.

Diet

Black-capped chickadees flutter around tree branches picking of spiders and insects. They also eat seeds and like to visit bird feeders.

Range

Black-capped chickadees live year-round in Canada and the northern United States.

Other Useful Information

This is a very social bird. They stay in groups with other black-capped chickadees or even with other woodland songbirds like warblers and nuthatches.

Similar Species

The Carolina chickadee is almost identical to the black-capped chickadee, but it lives in the southern United States and the ranges of these two species do not overlap.