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Boreal Chickadee

Status Fairly common resident. Breeds. Less common than the Black-capped Chickadee, it is largely restricted to coniferous woods. Occasionally, it wanders in winter and is seen at feeding stations in towns and villages remote from its normal habitat, showing particular interest in suet and peanut butter. The winter population fluctuates from year to year, perhaps the result of wandering movements induced by food shortages at irregular intervals.

Description Length: 13-14 cm. Adults: Top of head and back of neck dark brownish gray; rest of upperparts lighter brownish gray; sides pale rufous; tail and wings grayish brown; breast, belly and sides of head white; throat black; tail much more deeply notched than that of the Black-capped Chickadee.

Breeding Nest: Similar to that of the Black-capped Chickadee but generally located at lower heights and far more often in damp, well-shaded coniferous woods. Eggs: 5-7; practically indistinguishable from those of the Black-capped Chickadee but clutch size averages slightly smaller. Laying begins about 20 May and continues to about the end of the month. On 9 May 1913, on Wolfville Ridge, one was seen excavating a nest. On 30 May 1913, another nest containing seven slightly incubated eggs was examined, and on 1 June 1914 another contained seven fresh eggs; both nests were also on Wolfville Ridge, both in open woodland pastures, in natural cavities within a metre from the ground in dead stumps and with entrances from the top. The cavities are invariably lined with a layer of dry moss covered with a pouch-shaped nest of soft, matted fur.

Range Breeds in the coniferous forest of northern North America from the limit of trees, south to northern New York State, northwestern Montana and northern Washington State. Winters in most of its breeding range and irregularly further south.

Remarks The common call of this little woodland acrobat, unlike the clean-cut, well enunciated chick-a-dee-dee of its black-capped cousin, is a very husky rendition of sick-a-dee-dee, with the accent strongly on the sick giving the listener the impression that the performer is suffering from a bad head cold. It also nas a soft warbling song that is rarely heard, and a chattering call.

In summer they are usually seen in pairs, or in small flocks that may well be family groups. In winter they commonly associate with Golden-crowned Kinglets, Black-capped Chickadees and Red-breasted Nuthatches, all foraging together through snow-laden branches and thickets in search of the tree-infesting insects and their eggs that make up a large part of their winter fare; I have never seen any evidence of quarrelsome competition for these morsels. Watching these feathered mites on a bitterly cold day with a blizzard raging through the creaking forest, I have marvelled at how they are able to survive such adverse conditions.