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Range
 Black-capped
Chickadee is resident from western and central Alaska,
southern Yukon, and southern Mackenzie across forested
regions of the continent to Newfoundland, south to
northwestern California, northeastern Nevada, central Utah,
northern New Mexico, northern Kansas, and central Ohio; and
south through the Appalachian Mountains to North Carolina
and Tennessee.
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Status
On the coast, a common resident
in the Fraser Lowland of the Georgia Depression; very rare
on the Sunshine Coast. Fairly common in the southern Coast
and Mountains Ecoprovince, becoming rare on the central and
northern mainland of that ecoprovince. Absent from Vancouver
Island, the Queen Charlotte Islands, and the Gulf
Islands.
In the interior, a common
resident in the southern half of the province, including the
Southern Interior, Southern Interior Mountains, and Central
Interior ecoprovinces; fairly common in the Sub-Boreal
Interior, Northern Boreal Mountains, and Boreal Plains
ecoprovinces; uncommon in the Taiga Plains
Ecoprovince.
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Status
Change
No change
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Nonbreeding
 The
Black-capped Chickadee is the most widely distributed of the
four species of chickadees that occur in the province. It is
resident throughout the interior of the province and on the
Fraser Lowland of the southwest mainland coast. It occurs
only sporadically between Gibsons and Powell River and at
Port Neville on the mainland coast north of Vancouver. On
the central and northern mainland coast, north to the Skeena
River basin, it occurs locally where major river valleys cut
through the coastal mountains. It has not been reliably
reported from Vancouver Island, the Queen Charlotte Islands,
or the many southern offshore islands.
The Black-capped Chickadee
reaches its highest numbers in winter in the Fraser Lowland
of the Georgia Depression. An analysis of Christmas Bird
Counts for the period 1944 to 1985 could not detect a change
in the provincial population (Brennan and Morrison
1991).
The Black-capped Chickadee is
most abundant at lower elevations. On the coast, it occurs
from near sea level to the lower mountain slopes; in the
interior, it occurs up to about 2,300 m elevation. Favoured
habitats include deciduous, mixed deciduous-coniferous, and
open coniferous forests; shrub thickets; and riparian
woodlands, especially alder, cottonwood, willow, trembling
aspen, and birch stands with a shrub understorey. On the
coast, riparian habitats with salmonberry or thimbleberry
thickets are heavily used. Thimbleberry is especially
attractive to the Black-capped Chickadee, as it is often
heavily infested with a gall-producing insect whose larvae
are sought as food. In coniferous forests, the Black-capped
Chickadee prefers edges and openings along beaver ponds,
lakeshores, river banks, bogs, swampy areas, meadows,
pastures, regenerating clearcuts, burned forests, orchards,
and other human-made clearings where deciduous habitat
occurs.
The Black-capped Chickadee is
also a familiar visitor to rural and suburban areas, and is
readily attracted to backyard bird feeders. It is also found
at bush camps, where it comes to glean shreds of meat and
fat from animal carcasses and hides. It roosts overnight in
cavities in trees or in thick tangles of vegetation (Smith
1991).
 The
range of the Black-capped Chickadee overlaps that of the other chickadee
species in much of British Columbia. On the coast, where the Black-capped
Chickadee and Chestnut-backed Chickadee coexist, the former favours more
deciduous habitats and tends to forage in the shrubby forest understorey,
whereas the Chestnut-backed Chickadee forages mainly higher in the canopy
and in conifers (Smith 1967; Sturman 1968b; Brennan 1989). In the interior,
both the Boreal and Mountain chickadees prefer coniferous forests at higher
elevations than does the Black-capped Chickadee. Overlap with the Mountain
Chickadee occurs often at lower elevations, but the Boreal Chickadee generally
frequents higher elevations than the Black-capped Chickadee.
Aside from seasonal elevational
movements and irruptive southward movements during years of
low food supply, the Black-capped Chickadee is essentially
non-migratory. It is more widespread in nonbreeding than in
breeding seasons. After the breeding season it may move to
higher elevations for the autumn and winter, where it mixes
with other chickadees, kinglets, nuthatches, and
creepers.
On the coast and in the
interior, the Black-capped Chickadee has been recorded
year-round.
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Breeding
 The
Black-capped Chickadee has a widespread breeding
distribution in interior British Columbia. It breeds
commonly in the Thompson, Okanagan, and Similkameen river
valleys, in the western Columbia River valley north to
Revelstoke, in the Rocky Mountain Trench and adjacent
valleys north to Brisco and Mount Robson, and into the
Central Interior. Breeding populations are less frequently
encountered further north, although the species is fairly
common along the Nechako and Skeena river valleys and in the
Peace Lowland from Tupper Creek to Fort St. John. Other
known northern breeding localities are at Telegraph Creek
(Swarth 1922), Fort Nelson, and the Tatshenshini
River.
On the coast, it breeds from
the Fraser River delta and lower slopes of the mountains to
the north, east to the Skagit River and north to Squamish
and Alta Lake. It also likely breeds in the low-elevation
valleys of the southern Coast and Mountains and in the major
river valleys (e.g., Bella Coola, Dean, Kitlope, Kitimat,
and Skeena rivers) along the central and northern mainland
portions of that ecoprovince.
The highest numbers in summer
occur in the Southern Interior and Southern Interior
Mountains. An analysis of Breeding Bird Surveys shows that
the number of birds on coastal routes decreased at an
average annual rate of 2% for the period 1968 through 1993;
an analysis of interior routes for the same period could not
detect a net change in numbers. Breeding densities during a
study on the University of British Columbia Endowment Lands
were 0.15 to 0.20 pairs/ha (Smith 1967).
The Black-capped Chickadee
breeds on the coast from near sea level to 210 m and in the
interior from 270 m to about 1,500 m. Its breeding habitat
is similar to its nonbreeding habitat. In all habitats it
prefers a rich understorey of brush, and tends to nest near
the forest edge rather than inside forest stands. In the
interior, its breeding distribution overlaps that of the
Mountain Chickadee, which also nests at higher elevations;
the two species are sometimes sympatric where forests have
high structural diversity (Hill and Lein 1989). On the
mainland coast and in the west Kootenay, it overlaps with
the Chestnut-backed Chickadee, but the Black-capped
Chickadee prefers to nest in open or riparian forests. In
the north, the Black-capped Chickadee may nest close to the
Boreal Chickadee at lower elevations where thickets of white
spruce are interspersed with stands of trembling
aspen.
Most of our breeding records
were from human-influenced habitats (58%) such as ranches,
farms, rural and suburban settings, and clearings. In more
natural environments (37%), nests were usually associated
with riparian thickets, estuaries, natural forest openings,
ponds, or sloughs.
On the coast, the Black-capped
Chickadee has been recorded nesting from 6 March
(calculated) to 25 July; in the interior, it been recorded
nesting from 12 March (calculated) to 11 August .
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Nests: 
 The
Black-capped Chickadee is a primary cavity excavator, but
will occasionally use old woodpecker or sapsucker cavities
for nesting. Nest cavities were most frequently excavated in
dead tree trunks, dead or diseased branches, and rotten
stumps. Deciduous trees were used 8 times as often as
conifers, and dead trees were preferred over living trees.
The most frequently used tree species were birches in the
interior and red alder on the coast. Other nest trees
included willow, trembling aspen, black cottonwood,
Douglas-fir, ponderosa pine, cascara, Pacific crab apple,
and domestic cherry and apple. New nest cavities were built
each year. The Black-capped Chickadee readily used nest
boxes placed on trees, poles, fence posts, and
buildings.
The heights of 109 nests in
natural cavities ranged from 0.3 to 23 m, with 62% between
1.2 and 3.6 m. Smith (1991) provides dimensions of 59 nest
cavities from various localities in North America: mean
depth, 21 cm (range: 10 to 46 cm); nest chamber diameter, 6
to 7 cm. Nests are cups composed mainly of mosses (52%),
animal hair (38%), grasses (27%), feathers (23%), bark
strips (12%), and human-made materials (9%).
Eggs:
 Dates
for 128 clutches ranged from 19 March to 12 July, with 52%
recorded between 6 May and 30 May. Calculated dates indicate
that eggs can be found as early as 2 March. Egg laying
normally begins about 1 or 2 weeks earlier in the Georgia
Depression than in other ecoprovinces. Sizes of 105 clutches
ranged from 1 to 9 eggs (1E-6, 2E-4, 3E-3, 4E-8, 5E19,
6E-31, 7E-19, 8E-13, 9E-2), with 66% having 5 to 7 eggs. In
a sample from all parts of North America, Smith (1991) found
that 80% of clutches held 6 to 8 eggs. The incubation period
is 12 to 13 days (Bent 1946; Smith 1991), although Peck and
James (1987) list the range as 11 to 17 days in
Ontario.
Young: Dates for 220 broods
ranged from 18 March to 11 August, with 54% recorded between
23 May and 19 June. Sizes of 134 broods ranged from 1 to 8
young (1Y-6, 2Y-10, 3Y-13, 4Y-25,5Y-37,6Y-20,7Y-15,8Y-8),
with 61% having 4 to 6 young. Bent (1942) and Smith (1991)
report the nestling period to be 16 days. Some pairs in
southern British Columbia raise 2 broods annually (Kelleher
1963).
Brown-headed Cowbird
Parasitism: In British Columbia, there were no cases of
cowbird parasitism in 214 nests found with eggs or young.
There are only 7 records of parasitism in North America
(Friedmann et al. 1977; Friedmann and Kiff 1985).
Nest
Success:
Of 52 nests found with eggs and
followed to a known fate, 36 produced at least 1 fledgling,
for a success rate of 69%; interior success was 73% (n
= 41), while coastal success was 54% (n = 11).
Cannings et al. (1987) suggest that most nest failures in
the Okanagan valley may be caused by competition for nest
sites with House Wrens and Tree Swallows.
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Remarks
In several areas of British
Columbia, all 4 species of chickadee (Black-capped, Boreal,
Chestnut-backed, and Mountain) can be found occupying the
same area. These areas include Manning Park, the Monashee
Mountains, Anahim Lake in the west Chilcotin, the Nelson and
Revelstoke regions, and Yoho National Park. This sympatric
occurrence offers opportunities for research on resource
partitioning and ecological specialization.
Four subspecies are recognized
within the province (Smith 1991): P. a. turner) in
the far northwestern corner; P. a. septentrionalis
east of the Coast Ranges and northern portions of the
interior; P. a. fortuitus in the southern portions
of the interior; and P. a. oregonensis on the
extreme southern mainland coast. At least three of these
subspecies are readily identifiable by plumage
characteristics under field conditions (Smith
1993).
Many people are amazed at how
the tiny chickadees can survive the severe winters of
interior regions. The Blackcapped Chickadee adjusts to
colder temperatures by roosting in cavities and by dropping
its nighttime temperature as much as 10° to 12°C
below its daytime temperature in a regulated hypothermia,
thus conserving energy (Smith 1991).
Some populations can be
enhanced by providing winter food at feeders, by retention
of snags along forest edges, by retention of riparian
woodlands, and by placement of nest boxes (Smith
1993).
The Black-capped Chickadee has
been reported a number of times from Vancouver Island,
including the Nanaimo, Pender Island, and Port Alberni
Christmas Bird Counts; however, adequate documentation is
lacking and these reports have been excluded from the
account.
For a complete review of the
ecology and biology of the Black-capped Chickadee, see Smith
(1991, 1993).
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Located at:
675 Belleville Street,
Victoria, British Columbia,
CANADA
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Copyright © Royal BC Museum
All rights reserved
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This
information was scanned from The Birds of British Columbia (Campbell
et al.), Volume III, pages 244-249. Volumes I, II and III of The Birds
of British Columbia, can be ordered electronically at: 
Nests