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  Profile

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  In flight

Songbirds

Black-capped Chickadee

Poecile atricapillus

• common
• 19 km/h
• Starter
• Least Concern

Tiny, curious, and fearless. Will land on your finger to hand-deliver the message.

Population

~43 million mature individuals (global), per Partners in Flight estimate cited by Cornell/Wikipedia

Habitat

Deciduous and mixed forests, forest edges, willow/alder thickets, and urban/suburban parks and yards with trees; avoids dense unbroken conifer stands

Fun fact

Black-capped Chickadees cache thousands of individual food items each autumn and have a hippocampus that seasonally enlarges (peaking around October) and regrows neurons, helping them relocate cached food and even recall the relative quality of cached items weeks later.

Range

Northern North America — from Alaska across Canada to the northeastern and north-central United States, extending south through the Appalachians and into parts of the northern Rockies/West; largely a non-migratory permanent resident

Diet

Omnivorous — mostly insects, spiders, and caterpillars in summer; seeds, berries, and cached food (especially at feeders) in winter, when vegetable matter can reach up to ~50% of intake

Size

0.13 m

Wingspan

0.185 m

Lifespan

12 years