Black-capped Chickadee
Poecile atricapillus
Call and song
Recording 1
Recording 2
Recording 3
About the Black-capped Chickadee
This tiny, plump-bodied, big-headed bird is a familiar woodland resident and backyard visitor in the northern U.S. and Canada. Gray overall with light buffy flanks and a contrasting head pattern: black cap, white cheek, and black throat. Short, stubby bill is used for hammering open seeds. Often the core of mixed flocks of songbirds. Visits feeders. Nearly identical to Carolina Chickadee, but range barely overlaps. Especially note voice, brighter white on wings, and buffier flanks on Black-capped. Beware that hybrids occur frequently in the overlap zone and some are best left unidentified.
Species account: eBird.org, fetched 2025-12-26 · How these pages are made
Where it has been recorded
Recorded in 3 of the 253 countries we have eBird lists for. Each opens that country's checklist.
