Black-capped chickadees, Parus atricapillus, were presented with two prey patches in an aviary. In the first experiment (‘single-step change’), an unstable patch offered an initially high prey density (60% or 30%) that declined unpredictably to zero, and a stable patch offered a low (10%) but unvarying prey density. The birds displayed a significantly shorter mean giving-up time in the unstable patch when the initial prey density in the unstable patch was 60% than when it was 30%. In the second experiment (‘double-step change’), treatments were as follows: (1) first step=60%, second step=10%; (2) first step=60%, second step=30%; and (3) first step=60%, second step=60%. The mean giving-up time in the 60%–60%–0 treatment was significantly shorter than that in the 60%–30%–0 treatment, indicating that information from the 30% second step influenced the birds’ patch-leaving decisions. The mean giving-up time in the 60%–10%–0 treatment was intermediate between those in the 60%–60%–0 and 60%–30%–0 treatments. The data agree with the predictions of a statistical decision theory model that compares the probability of capturing a prey in the current patch with the probability of capturing prey in alternative patches (the capture-probability model).