Bird guide · Poecile hudsonicus
Boreal Chickadee
What the boreal chickadee eats, where it lives, when it comes to feeders and how to recognise it – with sightings from every US state.
- Season
- Year-round resident
- Size
- 5.1 in (13 cm)
- Eats
- seeds, suet
- Feeds
- tube, suet cage
- Most common
- Alaska, New Hampshire, Minnesota
Food
What do boreal chickadees eat?
At feeders, boreal chickadees take seeds, suet.
Quiet and inconspicuous; stores food and retrieves it later.
Feeder that suits it
A suet cage on a tree trunk or pole; peanuts and sunflower hearts work too.
Range
Where do boreal chickadees live?
Spruce forests of the North, mostly north of the Canadian border. By share of all bird sightings, boreal chickadees are most common in Alaska (0.7%).
States where boreal chickadees are most common
- Alaska0.7%
- New Hampshire0.05%
- Minnesota0.05%
- Maine0.02%
- Montana0.01%
- Vermont0.01%
- New York0.00%
- Michigan0.00%
- New Jersey0.00%
- Idaho0.00%
Share of all bird sightings in each state that are boreal chickadees, 2019–2024.
Season
Does the boreal chickadee migrate?
Year-round resident. Across the US it is reported in every month; its share of bird sightings is highest in February.
Share of all bird sightings in the US that are boreal chickadees, by month.
Identification
How to identify the boreal chickadee
Adults: Brown cap, brown sides and a dusky wash on the cheeks.
Size: 5.1 in (13 cm)
On camera
Getting the boreal chickadee on a feeder camera
Pick a camera feeder that takes a suet cage, or mount a separate camera next to a suet feeder on the trunk – woodpeckers cling to the bark while they feed.
Questions
Boreal Chickadee: questions
What do boreal chickadees eat?
At feeders, seeds, suet.
Do boreal chickadees migrate?
Year-round resident. Across the US it is reported in every month; its share of bird sightings is highest in February.
Where do boreal chickadees live?
By share of all bird sightings, they are most common in Alaska, New Hampshire, Minnesota, Maine, Montana. They are rare or absent in Alabama, Arizona, Arkansas, California, Colorado, Connecticut.