Black-capped chickadee
Poecile atricapillus
Small, year-round resident songbird of northern North America and a familiar feeder visitor. It is an insectivore through the breeding season — parents feed nestlings almost entirely on caterpillars and other arthropods gleaned from foliage and bark, which is why the keystone native trees that host the most caterpillars (oaks, cherries, willows, and aspens/cottonwoods) directly determine how many chickadees a landscape can raise. In fall and winter it shifts to roughly half plant matter (seeds and small fruits) and caches food in bark crevices for later retrieval. A cavity nester, it excavates or enlarges holes in soft, rotted snags and readily uses nest boxes.
Conservation
IUCN Red List: Least Concern, with a large range and a stable-to-increasing population. Common and widespread; no special protection status. Its value here is as the textbook example of why caterpillar-rich native host trees matter — fewer host plants means fewer caterpillars and fewer chickadees.