Physical condition of Black-capped Chickadees (Poecile atricapillus) in relation to road disturbance

Roads and their associated low-frequency noise have been linked with a reduction in abundance and density for many songbird species. However, a handful of species remain equally abundant in roadside habitats and nondisturbed areas. Abundance is a valuable baseline indicator of a species’ ability to adapt to habitats altered by roads, but does not directly ascertain whether health is affected in these species. Here we examine whether Black-capped Chickadees (Poecile atricapillus (L., 1766)), a species that remains abundant near roads, exhibit higher levels of chronic stress or reduced physical condition when residing near roads. Neither hematological measures of chronic stress, nor any of our measures of physical condition, differed significantly between Black-capped Chickadees inhabiting areas near or far from roads. Our results suggest that health and physical condition, like abundance, are not significantly affected by roads in the Black-capped Chickadee. This species may be an ideal model for understanding how some songbird species adapt to roads and the noise that they produce.