Black-capped Chickadee vs Tufted Titmouse
The check that settles it
Larger, grey, crested, with a black forehead and no bib.
Black-capped Chickadee
Poecile atricapillus
- Size
- 12–15 cm
- Bill
- conical
- Where
- feeder, woodland, yard
- Voice
- A clear whistled 'fee-bee' on two notes, and the scolding 'chick-a-dee-dee-dee' that names it. More 'dee' notes means more alarm.
Tufted Titmouse
Baeolophus bicolor
- Size
- 14–16 cm
- Bill
- conical
- Where
- feeder, woodland, yard
- Voice
- A loud clear whistled 'peter-peter-peter', carrying much further than the bird's size suggests.
Confirming a black-capped chickadee
- Black cap and black bib with clean white cheeks between them.
- Grey back, no wing bars of note, white edging on the wing feathers.
- Takes a single seed and leaves — it does not sit and feed.
- Hangs upside down from twigs habitually.
Confirming a tufted titmouse
- A grey pointed crest — the only small grey crested bird in the east.
- Black forehead patch just above the bill.
- Rusty-peach wash along the flanks.
- Large dark eye in an unmarked face.