The Black-capped Chickadee is the tiny, big-headed bird with a black cap and bib that finds a new feeder fast. The Cornell Lab of Ornithology calls it one of the first birds many people learn. In the Southeast the Carolina Chickadee takes its place, and Audubon's field guide calls the two "almost identical." This page puts them side by side. A shorter profile sits on common backyard birds.
Quick facts
| Fact | Black-capped | Carolina |
|---|---|---|
| Scientific name | Poecile atricapillus | Poecile carolinensis |
| Length | 4.7–5.9 in (Cornell) | 3.9–4.7 in (Cornell); smallest North American chickadee (FeederWatch) |
| Weight | 0.3–0.5 oz | 0.3–0.4 oz |
| Wingspan | 6.3–8.3 in (Cornell); 6–8 in (Audubon) | 5.9–7.9 in |
| Range | Northern US and much of Canada, south along the Appalachians (Audubon) | Southeastern US, west to Oklahoma (Audubon) |
| Population | 43 million; up slightly 1966–2019 (Cornell) | 13 million; down about 16% 1966–2019 (Cornell) |
| Oldest known | At least 11 years 8 months, New York (Cornell) | At least 10 years 11 months, West Virginia (Cornell) |
Black-capped vs Carolina: the comparison
Cornell says the two probably split more than 2.5 million years ago and still hybridize where their ranges meet. No single mark is decisive, so check several.
Photo: Margaret Strickland on Unsplash
- Wing: Black-capped shows broad white edges on the greater coverts and secondaries, like a long white panel in fresh plumage. Carolina's wing looks plainer and grayer.
- Cheek and nape: Black-capped's white cheek stays clean back to the nape. On Carolina it fades to gray toward the nape.
- Bib edge: Black-capped's lower edge is uneven and messy. Carolina's bib is generally smaller, with a neat, straight edge.
- Flanks: noticeably buffy on Black-capped, especially in fall and winter; grayer on Carolina.
- Tail: Black-capped's is longer, with broadly white-edged outer feathers. Carolina's is shorter and can look all gray.
| Feature | Black-capped | Carolina | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| Average length | About 5.25 in | About 4.75 in | FeederWatch |
| Head and tail | Longer tail; to some observers a larger head | Proportionately smaller head, shorter tail | FeederWatch |
| Wing | White-edged coverts and secondaries | Plainer, grayer; gray-edged secondaries | FeederWatch; Kaufman; Cornell |
| Sides of nape | Mostly white | Mostly grayish | FeederWatch; Kaufman |
| Bib | Less defined, uneven lower edge | Smaller, neat line against the belly (can blur on worn summer birds) | FeederWatch; Kaufman |
| Flanks and back | Buffy flanks; olive tinge on the back in fall and winter | Grayer, less buff; fresh birds in the Northeast of the range can look cinnamon | FeederWatch; Kaufman |
| Outer tail feathers | Broadly edged white | Less white; tail may look all gray | FeederWatch |
| Song | 2–3 note whistled fee-bee or hey, sweetie, second note lower | Often 4 notes, fee-bee-fee-bay, first and third higher; at least 35 other songs | Cornell |
| Chick-a-dee call | Slower, lower | Faster and higher-pitched | Cornell; Kaufman |
Cautions. By late spring, wear and fading make the two look alike, and bright sun can make gray edges look white (Kaufman). Each species can learn the other's song, and hybrids may sing either parent's song or an intermediate one (Cornell), so song doesn't settle a bird near the range boundary.
Where the ranges meet
Kaufman describes a very narrow contact zone running from New Jersey west to Kansas, usually no more than about 20 miles across, whose boundary has been shifting north slowly for decades. A Cornell-led study (Taylor and colleagues, Current Biology, 2014) compared blood samples from 2000–2002 and 2010–2012 in Pennsylvania. It found the hybrid zone, averaging 21 miles wide there, moved north about 0.7 mile per year over that decade. It lay where average winter lows were 14–20°F. In the Appalachians, Carolina lives at lower elevations (Audubon).
FeederWatch says both are rare far outside their mapped ranges, so away from the overlap zone, location usually settles the ID.
Other look-alikes
| Species | How it differs |
|---|---|
| Mountain Chickadee | A white stripe over the eye; dry evergreen forests on western mountain slopes, where Black-capped keeps to streamsides and broad-leaved trees (Cornell) |
| Boreal Chickadee | Brown cap; coniferous forests of the far north; no whistled song, a harsh tschick-a-dee-dee call (Cornell) |
| Male House Sparrow | Sometimes mistaken for a chickadee (Audubon) |
Cornell also lists Chestnut-backed Chickadee, White-breasted Nuthatch and Blackpoll Warbler. More on shape-first ID: bird identification basics.
Voice and behavior
- Song: in much of the range, males begin singing in mid-January, more often as winter goes on. Females sing occasionally. Pacific Northwest birds sing 3 or 4 notes on one pitch (Cornell).
- Alarm: more dee notes in chickadee-dee-dee signal a higher threat. A high see warns of a fast-approaching predator, and listeners freeze until an all-clear chickadee-dee (Cornell).
- Memory: chickadees cache food in many spots and can remember thousands of them (Cornell).
- Flocks: nuthatches, woodpeckers, kinglets, warblers and other small birds travel with chickadee flocks, so checking them in spring and fall can turn up migrants (Cornell).
Food and feeders
Insects, spiders and other animal food make up 80–90% of the diet from spring to fall, and about half in winter (Cornell). Chickadees rarely stay at a feeder; they take one seed and fly off to eat it.
| Feeder food | What the sources say |
|---|---|
| Black-oil sunflower | "Among the favorite feeder foods" of chickadees (FeederWatch); the main seed taken at feeders, pecked open bit by bit (Cornell) |
| Peanuts | Small birds such as chickadees do better with shelled peanuts (FeederWatch); keep them dry so they don't mold (Cornell) |
| Suet | Used by both species (Cornell). See suet recipes and heat limits |
| Mealworms | Chickadees "relish" them (FeederWatch) |
Small hanging feeders and window feeders work well (Cornell). Compare designs on bird feeder types.
Nesting and nest boxes
Both mates excavate or choose a cavity, often in rotten wood of alder or birch for Black-capped, and the female builds a moss cup lined with softer material such as fur (Cornell). Sources differ, so both are shown:
| Stage | Black-capped (Cornell) | Black-capped (Audubon) | Carolina (Cornell) | Carolina (Audubon) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Nest height | Usually 5–23 ft | 5–20 ft | Usually 2–25 ft | Usually 5–15 ft |
| Clutch | 1–13 eggs | Usually 6–8 | 3–10 | 3–10 |
| Incubation | 12–13 days | 12–13 days | 12–15 days | 11–13 days |
| Nestling period | 12–16 days | Young leave at about 16 days | 16–19 days | Young leave 13–17 days after hatching |
| Broods | 1 | 1 | 1 | — |
Nest box (NestWatch): both species use a 1⅛-inch hole, a 5½ × 5½-inch floor and 8 inches of interior depth. Mount Black-capped boxes 5–15 ft up with about 1 inch of wood shavings inside; Carolina boxes 4–15 ft up, no shavings needed. Cornell adds a predator guard and placing boxes at least 60 feet into woods to keep wrens out. Full table: birdhouse dimensions.
A chickadee's year
- Present all year: both species are resident (Audubon).
- Winter flocks: Black-capped pairs form in fall and stay together in the flock, which breaks up in late winter (Audubon).
- Black-capped song: begins in mid-January and grows more frequent through winter (Cornell); no end date given.
- Molt: midsummer to early fall (Kaufman, Audubon).
- Fresh plumage, marks clearest: fall and winter (Kaufman); FeederWatch says autumn and early spring.
- Worn plumage, species look most alike: from late spring (Kaufman), especially in summer (FeederWatch), until the molt (dashed).
For your Bird-a-Day streak
Chickadees stay all year, so keep them as a reserve bird for a hard day; the challenge guide and species planner explain why. Near the contact zone, log an uncertain bird as FeederWatch does, "Black-capped/Carolina," rather than guess. The Northern Cardinal profile covers another year-round regular.
Chickadee-friendly yard checklist
- Black-oil sunflower, shelled peanuts or suet in a small hanging or window feeder
- A nest box with a 1⅛-inch hole and a predator guard, put up well before breeding season
- About 1 inch of wood shavings in Black-capped boxes; optional for Carolina
- Dead snags left standing where safe; Cornell notes cutting too many harms chickadees
- Feeders cleaned on a schedule: see how to clean a bird feeder
Sources
- Black-capped Chickadee Overview — All About Birds, Cornell Lab of Ornithology
- Black-capped Chickadee Identification — All About Birds
- Black-capped Chickadee Life History — All About Birds
- Black-capped Chickadee Sounds — All About Birds
- Carolina Chickadee Overview — All About Birds
- Carolina Chickadee Identification — All About Birds
- Carolina Chickadee Life History — All About Birds
- Carolina Chickadee Sounds — All About Birds
- Tricky Bird ID: Black-capped Chickadee and Carolina Chickadee — Project FeederWatch
- Identifying Black-capped and Carolina Chickadees — Audubon (Kenn Kaufman, 2013)
- Warming Temperatures Are Pushing Two Chickadee Species—and Their Hybrids—Northward — All About Birds (Hugh Powell, 2014)
- Black-capped Chickadee — Audubon Guide to North American Birds
- Carolina Chickadee — Audubon Guide to North American Birds
- Black-capped Chickadee nest box — NestWatch
- Carolina Chickadee nest box — NestWatch
- Food Types — Project FeederWatch
- Mountain Chickadee Identification — All About Birds
- Boreal Chickadee Overview — All About Birds