Black-capped chickadee

Poecile atricapillus · The black-capped chickadee is a small, nonmigratory North American songbird that lives in deciduous and mixed forests.

Black-capped chickadee
Photo: Paul Danese, CC BY-SA 4.0
Black-capped chickadee
Photo: Paul Danese, CC BY-SA 4.0
Black-capped chickadee
Photo: Paul Danese, CC BY-SA 4.0

Taxonomy

KingdomAnimalia
PhylumChordata
ClassAves
OrderPasseriformes
FamilyParidae
GenusPoecile
SpeciesPoecile atricapillus

Where it lives

Forests and backyards of Alaska, Canada and the northern US.

Fun facts

  • On cold winter nights, a black-capped chickadee can drop its body temperature by as much as 12°C to save energy.
  • A chickadee's memory for where it hid food can last up to 28 days.
  • The part of a chickadee's brain used for memory, the hippocampus, is biggest in October and smallest in February, probably to help it remember its food hiding spots.
  • Chickadees can warn others about danger: a small, dangerous raptor triggers calls with extra "dees", typically four instead of two.

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Facts and taxonomy adapted from Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 4.0).