Black-capped chickadee

Black-capped chickadee perched on a bare branch against a green background

While most birds have long since fled for warmer places, the chickadee is still here at forty below, cheerfully working the feeder and calling out its own name. It is the songbird that makes a Manitoba January feel friendly. In spring it trades the feeder for new buds and insects, and by summer it is flitting through the branches with a beak full of food for nestlings.

Black-capped chickadees stay in Manitoba all year, and they have tricks to survive the cold: at night they can lower their body temperature to save energy, and in fall they hide thousands of seeds, each remembered by location, while the memory centre of their brain grows to keep track. A chickadee weighs only about 11 grams. Its chick-a-dee call carries information too: more dee notes at the end means a bigger threat nearby.

To find out more about the black-capped chickadee and the places it lives, visit All About Birds.

Field notes in photographs

  • Black-capped chickadee perched on a bare branch against a green background
  • Black-capped chickadee on a frosty metal hook in light snow
  • Black-capped chickadee perched on a curved metal hook, facing the camera
  • Black-capped chickadee clinging to a thin stalk
  • Small chickadee on frosted branches against a blue sky
  • Black-capped chickadee on a branch with a soft, blurred background
  • Black-capped chickadee perched on a branch among red berries
  • Black-capped chickadee perched on a red daylily
  • Black-capped chickadee taking flight from orange daylilies
  • Black-capped chickadee on a leafy branch with its wings blurred
  • Black-capped chickadee perched on a red seed feeder
  • Black-capped chickadee on a feeder as a hummingbird hovers nearby
  • Black-capped chickadee photographed in Manitoba, 1
  • Black-capped chickadee photographed in Manitoba, 4
  • Black-capped chickadee perched on a snow-covered crabapple branch, Manitoba

Black-capped chickadee Manitoba sightings

Where and when you can find the black-capped chickadee in Manitoba depends on the season and the habitat. You can see more species in the Manitoba birds section.

Map of Manitoba showing where the black-capped chickadee lives year-round, with major cities and lakes
Where to look for the black-capped chickadee in Manitoba through the seasons: living year-round in the Boreal Shield, the Boreal Plains, and the Prairies (teal). Habitat regions: National Ecological Framework for Canada. Boundaries: Statistics Canada. Lakes: Natural Earth.

Back to Manitoba bird photography, or see the portfolio.

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