General

Boreal Chickadee: Large chickadee with brown upperparts, dark brown cap, small black bib, gray face and neck, white cheek, rufous sides, and white underparts. Wings and tail are gray. Sexes are similar.

Range and Habitat

Boreal Chickadee: Resident species from northern Alaska east to Labrador and Newfoundland, and south to the northern edge of the U.S. from Washington to Maine. Occasionally wanders farther southward during winter, and had been recorded as far south as Pennsylvania. Usually found in coniferous forests.

Breeding and Nesting

Boreal Chickadee: Four to nine white eggs with red brown specks are laid in a cavity nest made of decaying wood, grass, moss, and animal hair, usually from 1 to 15 feet above the ground. Incubation ranges from 14 to 18 days and is carried out by the female.

Foraging and Feeding

Boreal Chickadee: Eats variety of insects, insect eggs, and seeds. Mostly forages in conifers.

Vocalization

Boreal Chickadee: Song is short and warbled. Call is a drawling "chick-a-dee-dee-dee" or "chick-chee-day-day."

Similar Species

Boreal Chickadee: Gray-headed Chickadee has more white on cheeks, gray-brown cap, longer tail, paler flanks, and gray-brown upperparts. Black-capped Chickadee has black cap, pale gray upperparts, large white cheek patch extending onto hind neck, and white-edged tertials and secondaries.