boreal chickadee

noun

: a chickadee (Poecile hudsonica) chiefly of coniferous forests of Canada and the northernmost U.S. that has a brownish cap and black throat and a distinctive wheezy call

In the autumn, boreal chickadees tuck away spruce, pine and juniper seeds in the lichens growing on the undersides of pine and spruce branches, then retrieve them when deep snow covers other food.

—Richard Wolkomir, National Wildlife, December/January 1985

Word History

First Known Use

1953, in the meaning defined above

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