Poecile atricapillus
Silhouette: Ferran Sayol · PhyloPic
In 3 days ~90% in a week >90%
The black-capped chickadee (Poecile atricapillus) is a small, nonmigratory, North American passerine bird that lives in deciduous and mixed forests. It is a member of the Paridae family, also known as tits. It has a distinct black cap on its head, a black bib underneath, and white cheeks. It has a white belly, buff sides, and grey wings, back, and tail. The bird is well known for its vocalizations, including its fee-bee song and its chick-a-dee-dee-dee call, from which it derives its name.
The black-capped chickadee is widely distributed throughout North America, ranging from the northern United States to southern Canada and all the way up to Alaska and Yukon. It feeds primarily on insects and seeds, and is known for its ability to cache food for use during the winter. The hippocampus of the black-capped chickadee grows during the caching season, which is believed to help it better remember its cache locations. The black-capped chickadee is a social bird and forms strict dominance hierarchies within its flock. During the winter, these flocks include other bird species. It has the ability to lower its body temperature during cold winter nights, allowing it to conserve energy.
Black-capped chickadees build nests in tree cavities, with the nesting season starting in late April and lasting until late June. They lay on average 6–8 eggs, which hatch after 11–14 days. Juveniles fledge 12–16 days after hatching.
The population of black-capped chickadees is thought to be increasing, and they are considered a species of least concern by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN). It is the state bird of both Massachusetts and Maine in the United States, and the provincial bird of New Brunswick in Canada. Wikipedia →
| # | City | Country | Daily sighting probability |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Vancouver | 🇨🇦 Canada | |
| 2 | Calgary | 🇨🇦 Canada | |
| 3 | Montreal | 🇨🇦 Canada | |
| 4 | Seattle | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 5 | Edmonton | 🇨🇦 Canada | |
| 6 | Portland | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 7 | Minneapolis [Saint Paul] | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 8 | Denver | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 9 | Salt Lake City | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 10 | Toronto | 🇨🇦 Canada |
| # | Zoo / Centre | Country | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | National Zoological Park | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 2 | Iowa Raptor Project | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 3 | Montreal Biodome | 🇨🇦 Canada |
Likely
About 60% of wildlife watchers report a Black-capped Chickadee sighting in Cape Breton Highlands National Park on a given day, based on 630 verified sightings from GBIF citizen-science data from 2019 to 2026. It is the 5th most-seen of the 145 birds we can rate there. Over three days the chance rises to about 90%, and over a week to over 90%, if each day is a fresh chance.
April and October
In those months about 80% of wildlife watchers report a Black-capped Chickadee in Cape Breton Highlands National Park on a given day, against about 40% in February and June–July, the lowest months.
Between 10 am and 1 pm
Across all the parks we cover, that three-hour window holds the most Black-capped Chickadee sightings with a recorded time, and about 9 in 10 of them come between 6 am and 6 pm: it is a daytime animal.
6th of 27
Of the 27 parks where we can rate Black-capped Chickadee sightings, Cape Breton Highlands National Park ranks 6th at about 60%. The best odds are in Acadia National Park (United States, about 70%), Elk Island National Park (Canada, about 60%) and Riding Mountain National Park (Canada, about 60%). All parks ranked.
GBIF citizen-science records
It is estimated from how often the Black-capped Chickadee is recorded against all the birds logged in Cape Breton Highlands National Park (630 verified sightings from 2019 to 2026), calibrated against known sighting rates. Figures are rounded to the nearest 10% because citizen-science data supports honest approximations, not decimals, and months with records from fewer than five people show "—". How it works.
