Carolina Chickadee

Parus carolinensis

Carolina and Black-capped chickadees are virtually identical in nesting ecology and habitat. Like its northern counterpart, the Carolina Chickadee is primarily an occupant of mature and second-growth forests and is often associated with woodland edge and riparian habitats. It can breed in shaded urban habitats, including residential areas and parks. Chickadees excavate nest cavities in decaying trees or will nest in existing cavities such as woodpecker holes, broken branches or nest boxes (Terres 1987).

Code Frequency

Chickadees are easy to detect due to their abundance, despite their tendency to become more quiet and reclusive when raising young. Confirmation of breeding was considered difficult for this species because they nested before most of the Atlasing effort took place. Therefore, the majority of the possible and probable breeding blocks shown on the map likely did contain breeding areas. They presumably also bred, undetected, in most of the blocks within their southern Missouri range. Atlasers were usually able to distinguish Carolina from Black-capped chickadees according to the documentation forms that were required for unexpected locations. Although confusion between the two species may have produced a few erroneous records, most observations within the expected range should be considered valid.

Average Number of Birds / 100 stops

Distribution

Although the Mississippi Lowlands is within the Carolina Chickadee's southern Missouri range, breeding evidence was scarce in that natural division, perhaps because of a shortage of woodland habitat. They were listed only as possible breeders in a number of adjacent blocks in the central Ozarks. This may have been due to the species' association with open forests and forest edge habitats, which are less available in the more densely-forested regions of the state. However, it may simply have been more difficult to observe evidence of breeding in more-forested regions.

Abundance

Carolina Chickadees were most abundant in the Ozarks. Their abundance generally diminished towards the northern edge of their range.

Phenology

Replacement broods begun soon after the loss of a first brood may have accounted for the late observations of nest building, Eggs: and young. Actual second broods, begun after the first clutch fledges, are rare in chickadees (Smith 1991).

Breeding Evidence

Reported in 595 (49.3%) of 1,207 blocks

Home|Lists of Illustrations and Tables|Preface|Acknowledgments|Introduction|The Natural Divisions of Missouri|Guide to Species Accounts|Index of Bird Accounts|Appendix A.|Appendix B.|Appendix C.|Appendix D.|Appendix E.|Literature Cited