{{Short description|Genus of birds in the tit family Paridae}} {{Redirect|Chickadee}} {{Italic title}} {{Automatic taxobox | name = ''Poecile'' | image = Sumpfmeise.jpg | image_caption = Marsh tit, ''Poecile palustris'' | image2 = Chestnut-backed Chickadee - MGL0807.jpg | image2_caption = Chestnut-backed chickadee, ''Poecile rufescens'' | taxon = Poecile | authority = Kaup, 1829 | type_species = ''Parus palustris'' | type_species_authority = Linnaeus, 1758 | subdivision_ranks = Species | subdivision = see text | range_map = Poecile distribution map.png | range_map_caption = Combined map of all ''Poecile'' species }}
'''''Poecile''''' is a genus of birds in the tit family Paridae. It contains 15 species, which are distributed across Europe, Asia, and North America; the European and Asian species are known as '''tits''', and the North American species as '''chickadees'''. In the past, most authorities retained ''Poecile'' as a subgenus within the genus ''Parus'', but treatment as a distinct genus, initiated by the American Ornithologists Union, is now widely accepted.<ref name=hbw>{{cite journal | last1=Gosler | first1=A. | last2=Clement | first2=P. | last3=Bonan | first3=A. | year=2019 | orig-year=2007 | title=Tits and Chickadees (Paridae) | editor1-last=del Hoyo | editor1-first=J. | editor2-last=Elliott | editor2-first=A. | editor3-last=Sargatal | editor3-first=J. | editor4-last=Christie | editor4-first=D.A. | editor5-last=de Juana | editor5-first=E. | journal=Handbook of the Birds of the World Alive | publisher=Lynx Edicions | doi=10.2173/bow.parida1.01 | s2cid=216446005 | url=https://www.hbw.com/node/52340 | access-date=27 August 2019 |url-access=subscription }}</ref> This is supported by mtDNA cytochrome ''b'' sequence analysis.<ref>{{ cite journal | last1=Gill | first1=F.B. | last2=Slikas | first2=B. | last3=Sheldon | first3=F.H. | year=2005 | title=Phylogeny of titmice (Paridae): II. Species relationships based on sequences of the mitochondrial cytochrome-''b'' gene | journal=Auk | volume=122 | issue=1 | pages=121–143 | doi=10.1642/0004-8038(2005)122[0121:POTPIS]2.0.CO;2 | doi-access=free }}</ref>
The genus ''Poecile'' was described by the German naturalist Johann Jakob Kaup in 1829.<ref name=Kaup>{{ cite book | last=Kaup | first=Johann Jakob | author-link=Johann Jakob Kaup | year=1829 | title=Skizzirte Entwickelungs-Geschichte und natürliches System der europäischen Thierwelt | volume=c. 1 | language=de | place=Darmstadt | publisher=Carl Wilhelm Leske | page=114 | url=https://biodiversitylibrary.org/page/41576537 }}</ref> Kaup included two species in the genus, marsh tit ''Poecile palustris'' and coal tit ''P. ater'';<ref name=Kaup/> the type species was subsequently designated as the marsh tit by English zoologist George Robert Gray in 1842 (with coal tit now in the genus ''Periparus'').<ref>{{ cite book | last=Gray | author-link=George Robert Gray | year=1842 | title=Appendix to a List of the Genera of Birds | edition=2nd | place=London | publisher= R. and J.E. Taylor | page=8 | url=https://biodiversitylibrary.org/page/14050355 }}</ref><ref>{{ cite book | editor-last1=Dickinson | editor-first1=E.C. | editor1-link=Edward C. Dickinson | editor-last2=Christidis | editor-first2=L. | editor2-link=Leslie Christidis | year=2014 | title=The Howard & Moore Complete Checklist of the Birds of the World | volume=2: Passerines | edition=4th | place=Eastbourne, UK | publisher=Aves Press | isbn=978-0-9568611-2-2 | page=428 }}</ref> The name ''Poecile'' as cited by Kaup is from Ancient Greek ποιχίλος ''poikhilos'', with his interpretation as 'bunt' ("coloured") in German;<ref name=Kaup/> another related word ''poikilidos'' denoted an unidentified small bird.<ref name=hbwkey>{{cite web | last=Jobling | first=J.A. | year=2018 | title= Key to Scientific Names in Ornithology | editor1-last=del Hoyo | editor1-first=J. | editor2-last=Elliott | editor2-first=A. | editor3-last=Sargatal | editor3-first=J. | editor4-last=Christie | editor4-first=D.A. | editor5-last=de Juana | editor5-first=E. | work=Handbook of the Birds of the World Alive | publisher=Lynx Edicions | url= https://www.hbw.com/dictionary/definition/poecile | access-date=15 May 2018 }}</ref> It had traditionally been treated as feminine, giving name endings such as ''cincta''; however, this was not specified by Kaup, and under the ICZN the genus name must therefore be treated by default as masculine, giving name endings such as ''cinctus''.<ref name= hbw/> {{Cladogram |caption=Phylogeny of the ''Poecile'' based on Tritsch et al. 2017.<ref>{{Cite journal | last1=Tritsch | first1=Christian | last2=Martens | first2=Jochen | last3=Sun | first3=Yue-Hua | last4=Heim | first4=Wieland | last5=Strutzenberger | first5=Patrick | last6=Päckert | first6=Martin | date=2017 | title=Improved sampling at the subspecies level solves a taxonomic dilemma – A case study of two enigmatic Chinese tit species (Aves, Passeriformes, Paridae, ''Poecile'') | journal=Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution | volume=107 | pages=538–550 | doi=10.1016/j.ympev.2016.12.014| pmid=27965081 | bibcode=2017MolPE.107..538T }}</ref> |align=centre |cladogram={{Cladex| style=font-size:100%;line-height:100%;width:420px; |label1='''''Poecile''''' |1={{clade |1={{clade |1=White-browed tit (''Poecile superciliosus'') |2=Sombre tit (''Poecile lugubris'') }} |2={{clade |1={{clade |1={{clade |1=Grey-headed chickadee (''Poecile cinctus'') |2={{clade |1=Chestnut-backed chickadee (''Poecile rufescens'') |2=Boreal chickadee (''Poecile hudsonicus'') }} }} |2={{clade |1={{clade |1=Mexican chickadee (''Poecile sclateri'') |2={{clade |1=Carolina chickadee (''Poecile carolinensis'') |2={{clade |1=Black-capped chickadee (''Poecile atricapillus'') |2=Mountain chickadee (''Poecile gambeli'') }} }} }} }} }} |2={{clade |1=Père David's tit (''Poecile davidi'') |2={{clade |1={{clade |1=Black-bibbed tit (''Poecile hypermelaenus'') |2=Marsh tit (''Poecile palustris'') }} |2={{clade |1=Sichuan tit (''Poecile weigoldicus'') |2={{clade |1=Caspian tit (''Poecile hyrcanus'') |2=Willow tit (''Poecile montanus'') }} }} }} }} }} }} }} }}
==Species== The genus includes the following fifteen species:<ref name=ioc>{{cite web| editor1-last=Gill | editor1-first=Frank | editor2-last=Donsker | editor2-first=David | title=Waxwings and their allies, tits & penduline tits | work=World Bird List Version 6.1 | url=http://www.worldbirdnames.org/bow/waxwings/ | publisher=International Ornithologists' Union| access-date= 15 February 2016 }}</ref> {| class="wikitable" |- ! Image !! Common name !! Scientific name !! Distribution |- |150px || White-browed tit || ''Poecile superciliosus''|| central China and Tibet. |- |150px || Sombre tit || ''Poecile lugubris''|| southeast Europe and southwest Asia |- |150px || Grey-headed chickadee (North American name) or Siberian tit (European name) || ''Poecile cinctus''|| subarctic Scandinavia and northern Asia, and also into North America in Alaska and the far northwest of Canada |- |150px || Chestnut-backed chickadee || ''Poecile rufescens''|| Pacific Northwest of the United States and western Canada, from southern Alaska to southwestern California |- |150px || Boreal chickadee ||''Poecile hudsonicus''|| Canada, Alaska, and northernmost portions of the lower 48 United States |- |150px || Mexican chickadee || ''Poecile sclateri''|| Mexico |- |150px || Carolina chickadee || ''Poecile carolinensis''|| United States from New Jersey west to southern Kansas and south to Florida and Texas |- |150px || Black-capped chickadee || ''Poecile atricapillus''|| Across North America, from New England to Newfoundland in the east, and from Washington to Alaska in the west |- |150px || Mountain chickadee || ''Poecile gambeli''|| western United States |- |150px || Père David's tit || ''Poecile davidi''|| central China in southern Gansu, western Hubei, southern Shaanxi and Sichuan |- |150px || Black-bibbed tit || ''Poecile hypermelaenus''||central and eastern China to southeast Tibet and western Myanmar. |- |150px || Marsh tit || ''Poecile palustris''|| temperate Europe and northern Asia |- |150px || Sichuan tit || ''Poecile weigoldicus''|| central China |- |150px || Caspian tit || ''Poecile hyrcanus''|| northern Iran, just extending into Azerbaijan. |- |150px || Willow tit || ''Poecile montanus''|| temperate and subarctic Europe and northern Asia |- |}
All the species are roughly similar in size, ranging from 11–15 cm, with marsh, willow, and black-bibbed tits marginally the smallest (11–13 cm), and sombre tit and mountain chickadee marginally the largest (13–15 cm). The plumage pattern is also broadly similar across the genus, with a black or dark brown crown and bib, whitish or pale buffy cheeks, and whitish to buffy underparts. Two species (white-browed tit and mountain chickadee) differ in having a white supercilium. The back and wings are brown to grey-brown or reddish brown, in some with pale fringes on the secondary feathers.<ref name="Hoyo">{{cite book |last=Hoyo |first=Josep del |title=All the birds of the world |publisher=Lynx edicions |publication-place=Barcelona |date=2020 |isbn=978-84-16728-37-4 |pages=574–575}}</ref>
==Behaviour== Many species have alarm calls with a distinctive "chick-a-dee-dee-dee" format, which gives rise to the name 'chickadee'; the number of "dees" depends on the predator and the risk it poses, with more "dees" for high risk predators such as small owls.<ref>[https://www.newscientist.com/article/dn7570-chirpy-chickadees-signal-deadliness-of-predators/ "Chirpy chickadees signal deadliness of predators"]. ''New Scientist''. 23 June 2005. Retrieved 6 March 2019.</ref>
==Ecology== All are birds of mature woodlands and forests, often with a preference for old-growth habitats with plentiful tree cavities for nesting; many, but not all, readily adapt to human provision of food and nestboxes.<ref name="Harrap">{{cite book |last1=Harrap |first1=Simon |last2=Quinn |first2=David |title=Tits, Nuthatches & Treecreepers |publisher=Christopher Helm |publication-place=London |date=1996 |isbn=0-7136-3964-4 |pages=237–294}}</ref>
Several species, including Siberian, marsh and willow tits in Eurasia and mountain chickadee in North America, are food-caching birds. Siberian tit, living in the coldest environment, is the greatest hoarder, with individual birds storing up to half a million food items throughout each year for winter use.<ref name="Harrap1">{{cite book |last1=Harrap |first1=Simon |last2=Quinn |first2=David |title=Tits, Nuthatches & Treecreepers |publisher=Christopher Helm |publication-place=London |date=1996 |isbn=0-7136-3964-4 |page=287}}</ref> Mountain chickadees can hide as many as 80,000 individual seeds each, which they retrieve during the winter. Their ability to do so depends on their spatial memory of the locations. Birds that live in harsher conditions, where their ability to remember the location of food is more important, have been found to have better memory abilities, a larger hippocampus, and more neurons than chickadees that live in milder climates where food sources are easier to find without relying on memory.<ref name="Mason">{{cite journal |last1=Mason |first1=Betsy |title=Total recall: A brilliant memory helps chickadees survive |journal=Knowable Magazine |date=5 September 2019 |doi=10.1146/knowable-090519-1 |url=https://knowablemagazine.org/article/mind/2019/chickadee-memory-food |doi-access=free |access-date=24 February 2022}}</ref><ref name="Pravosudov">{{cite journal |last1=Pravosudov |first1=Vladimir V. |last2=Roth II |first2=Timothy C. |title=Cognitive Ecology of Food Hoarding: The Evolution of Spatial Memory and the Hippocampus |journal=Annual Review of Ecology, Evolution, and Systematics |date=23 November 2013 |volume=44 |issue=1 |pages=173–193 |doi=10.1146/annurev-ecolsys-110512-135904 |url=https://www.annualreviews.org/doi/full/10.1146/annurev-ecolsys-110512-135904 |access-date=24 February 2022 |language=en |issn=1543-592X|url-access=subscription }}</ref>
==In culture== The chickadee (specifically the black-capped chickadee ''P. atricapillus'') is the official bird for the US state of Massachusetts,<ref>[https://www.sec.state.ma.us/cis/cismaf/mf1a.htm Massachusetts Facts] Secretary of the Commonwealth. Retrieved 6 March 2019.</ref> the Canadian province of New Brunswick,<ref>{{Cite web |last=Government of New Brunswick |first=Canada |date=2020-06-17 |title=NB Symbols |url=https://www2.gnb.ca/content/gnb/en/gateways/about_nb/symbols.html |access-date=2022-08-17 |website=www2.gnb.ca |language=en}}</ref> as well as the cities of Calgary, Alberta,<ref>{{Cite web |last=Villani |first=Mark |title=Tweet it out! Calgary names official bird |url=https://www.ctvnews.ca/calgary/article/tweet-it-out-calgary-names-official-bird/ |access-date=2022-05-18 |website=ctvnews |date=14 May 2022 |language=en}}</ref> and Regina, Saskatchewan.<ref>{{cite web |title=Regina's Official Bird! |url=https://beheard.regina.ca/bird-city-regina/news_feed/regina-s-official-bird-2 |access-date=2025-03-08 |website=beheard.regina.ca |language=en}}</ref> The chickadee is also the state bird of Maine, but a species has never been specified. A proposed bill in 2019 would have named the black-capped chickadee as the official species for Maine, but was unanimously voted down in committee.<ref>{{Cite web |date=2019-03-06 |title=Maine lawmakers end the flap over Maine's state bird |url=https://www.pressherald.com/2019/03/06/chickadee-dee-dee-maine-will-not-get-a-new-state-bird/ |access-date=2024-04-11 |website=Press Herald}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |last=WGME |date=2019-03-07 |title=Lawmakers kill bill over Maine's state bird |url=https://wgme.com/news/local/lawmakers-kill-bill-over-maines-state-bird |access-date=2024-04-11 |website=WGME |language=en}}</ref> The de facto species for Maine remains the black-capped.
==References== {{Reflist}}
{{Passerida|P.|state=collapsed}} {{Taxonbar|from=Q1075355}} {{Authority control}}
Category:Poecile Category:Bird genera