Boreal Chickadee
Poecile hudsonica

Migratory Status: Resident

PIF Population Estimate: 8 000 000

Percent of western hemisphere population breeding in boreal forest: 75%

BAM Effective Detection Radius (m) : 53.61

PIF Maximum Detection Distance (m) : 50

Canadian BBS Population trend: -3.2 (-5.4 to -1.1)

Life History

The Boreal Chickadee is the only chickadee species in North America that resides exclusively in the boreal forest. The presence of a brownish cap, instead of black, connects this species with the similar Chestnut-backed (P. rufescens) and Gray-headed Chickadee (P. cinctus), which together, make up the ‘brown-capped’ chickadee assemblage in North America. In addition to obvious differences in their appearance, all three ‘brown-capped’ chickadee species lack a whistled song like those of the ‘black-capped’ assemblage, but still have the typical ‘chick-a-dee’ call.

Boreal Chickadees favour dense stands of mature spruce (Picea spp.) and fir (Abies spp.) year-round and range from central Alaska in the north, east across Canada to Newfoundland, and south into the northernmost states of the United States. In the coastal forests of the Pacific Northwest, the Boreal Chickadee is replaced by the Chestnut-backed Chickadee, and where fir trees are scarce and eastern hemlocks (Tsuga canadensis) are more prevalent, the Black-capped Chickadee (P. atricapilla) becomes the more common species of the two. Like Black-capped Chickadees and other resident seed-eaters in boreal forests, Boreal Chickadees experience irruptive events where young individuals can be found outside of their normal range. These events are thought to coincide with food shortages.

Male and female Boreal Chickadees look alike. Both have a brown cap and back, brownish-red flanks, white breast, belly, and cheeks, and a black bib. Their tail and wing feathers are grayish. Because of their wide distribution, five subspecies are currently recognized based on slight differences in appearance and morphology.

Boreal Chickadees are omnivores, feeding on seeds, fruits, arthropods and other insects throughout the year. They move throughout the middle and upper canopy layers of the forest, gleaning insects off the bark and often hanging upside down to get at hard to reach places. Like other chickadee species, they also cache (i.e., store) food in several locations, which are then utilized over the winter and are an extremely important food source for ensuring overwintering survival.

Reference(s)

Ficken, M. S., M. A. Mclaren, and J. P. Hailman. 1996. Boreal Chickadee (Poecile hudsonica), The Birds of North America Online, . A. Poole, Ed. Ithaca: Cornell Laboratory of Ornithology; Retrieved from The Birds of North America Online database: http://bna.birds.cornell.edu/bna/species/254

Hadley, A., and A. Desrochers. 2008. Winter habitat use by boreal chickadee flocks in a managed forest, The Wilson Journal of Ornithology, 120(1):139-145.