Black-capped Chickadee (Poecile atricapillus)

Other Scientific Names
Parus atricapillus [AOU checklist (1998 + supplements)], Parus atricapillus [Sibley and Monroe (1990, 1993)]

Family
Paridae (Tits And Chickadees)

Size
13 cm

First Described (Guide)
(Linnaeus, 1766)

Habitat
Temperate forest. From sea-level - 3,200 m.

Range (Guide)

Canada (P), St Pierre and Miquelon (B) (NB), USA (B).

Population
Estimated population is 34,000,000 (2010).

Status LC
For more information see BirdLife International Species Factsheet.

Voice
Xeno-Canto Sound Files (more (236)...)

Black-capped Chickadee (Poecile atricapillus) [XC624457]
by Patrick Turgeon from 2310 North Wygant Street, North Portland, Multnomah County, Oregon, United States (aberrant, song)

Black-capped Chickadee (Poecile atricapillus) [XC351736]
by Thomas Magarian from Crabtree Nature Center, Barrington, Cook County, Illinois, United States (call, contact call, scold)

Subspecies
Until recently present genus normally subsumed into a broad Parus, and many authors still prefer that treatment. Genus normally treated as feminine, but no evidence in original description or elsewhere justifies this, so genus is masculine by default. May form a superspecies with Willow Tit (Poecile montanus) and Carolina Chickadee (Poecile carolinensis), possibly also with Mountain Chickadee (Poecile gambeli) and/or Mexican Chickadee (Poecile sclateri). Has been considered conspecific with Willow Tit (Poecile montanus), but DNA studies indicate that the two are not closely related genetically. Hybridizes with Carolina Chickadee (Poecile carolinensis) in narrow band in east-central USA (extending from southern Kansas east to Pennsylvania, New Jersey and western North Carolina). Geographical variation clinal, and subspecies intergrade widely; paler-flanked birds in southern Canada (north-central Ontario) sometimes separated as subspecies anamesus, but better included within nominate.

The following 9 subspecies are recognised:

turneri (Ridgway, 1884) - North-western USA (west-central and southern Alaska) and north-western Canada (extreme north-western British Columbia).
occidentalis (Baird, SF, 1858) - Coastal south-western Canada and western USA (south to north-western California).
fortuitus (Dawson, WL, 1909) - Inland south-western Canada and north-western USA (south to north-western Idaho).
septentrionalis (Harris, E, 1846) - Western and central Canada south to central USA.
bartletti (Aldrich & Nutt, 1939) - Newfoundland and Miquelon I.
atricapillus (Linnaeus, 1766) - Eastern Canada south to central USA.
nevadensis (Linsdale, 1938) - South-western USA.
garrinus (Behle, 1951) - West-central USA.
practicus (Oberholser, 1937) - Eastern USA (Appalachian Mts).

References
See References.

Files:

JPG files for Black-capped Chickadee (Poecile atricapillus) - 10 files

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BirdLife International

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