Meet Vancouver’s city bird winner: Black-capped chickadee

by Stephen Hui on May 12th, 2014 at 10:43 AM

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Nevertheless, congratulations are in order to the winner of Vancouver's first city bird vote, the black-capped chickadee (Poecile atricapillus). The chickadee took the "election" with 277,924 votes.

Humans, thank you for your support. As your #VanCityBird 2015, I'll work hard to bring our species closer together. I'll do you proud!
— BlackCappedChickadee (@vancityblackcap) May 11, 2014

The varied thrush finished second with 202,791 votes. In third place, the Anna's hummingbird garnered 116,809 votes. Meanwhile, the northern flicker got 92,466 votes, the pileated woodpecker grabbed 7,218 votes, and the Pacific wren attracted a mere 6,800 votes.

Voting wrapped up on May 10 and included physical ballot boxes and an online poll that allowed people from anywhere to vote multiple times.

On its Twitter profile, the chickadee describes itself this way: "Longtime Vancouver bird. I work hard, play hard, and build my nest with my own two feet (and beak)." As the official city bird for 2015, it will be promoted on materials related to next year's Vancouver Bird Week.

Vancouver's 2014 city bird is purportedly the northwestern crow, but unlike the chickadee it was appointed to the post by city hall.