Boreal Chickadee

Boreal Chickadee, Adirondacks, NY, winter

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1. Description
2. Sound
3. Conservation Status
4. Other Names
5. Cool Facts
6. Full detailed species account

A brown-capped chickadee of the northern boreal forest, the Boreal Chickadee is one of the few birds living completely within that biome in Canada and bits of the United States.

Description

• Small, short-billed bird.
• Brownish cap.
• Black bib.
• White cheeks.
• Rufous flanks.
• Brown back.

• Size: 12-14 cm (5-6 in)
• Weight: 7-12 g (0.25-0.42 ounces)

Sex Differences

Sexes look alike.

Sound

Calls a scratchy "chick-a-dee-dee." Lacks a whistled song.

Conservation Status

Populations appear stable throughout most of range, but species is difficult to monitor.

Other Names

Mésange à tête brune, Mésange du Canada (French)
Paro canadiense, Paro boreal (Spanish)

Cool Facts

• Like most chickadees, the Boreal Chickadee hides food regularly. Such storage is probably vital for winter survival in the harsh boreal environment. An analysis of the items a Boreal Chickadee cached found that the only seeds stored were those of spruce trees. Most of the stashed items were insect larvae.

Sources used to construct this page:

Ficken, M. S., M. A. McLaren, and J. P. Hailman. 1996. Boreal Chickadee (Boreal Chickadee). In The Birds of North America, No. 254 (A. Poole and F. Gill, eds.). The Academy of Natural Sciences, Philadelphia, PA, and The American Ornithologists' Union, Washington, D.C.