The dominance hierarchy of the Black-capped Chickadee and it's relation to breeding territory and frequency of visitation to an artificial food source

Abstract

A peck-dominant type of dominance hierarchy was demonstrated in a group of twenty-one Black-capped Chickadees and was consistent with what is expected of this species of Paridae at the interflock level. No significant correlations were found between dominance and frequency of visitation to the study feeder, between dominance and distance from feeder to 1980 breeding territory, and between distance to territory and frequency of visitation.