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Seasonal changes in maximal thermogenic capacity (Msum) in wild black-capped chickadees suggests that adjustments in metabolic performance are slow and begin to take place before winter peaks. However, when mean minimal ambient temperature (Ta) reaches -10°C, chickadee's phenotype appears to provide enough spare capacity to endure days with colder Tas, down to -20°C or below. This suggests that birds could also maintain a higher antioxidant capacity as part of their cold acclimated phenotype to deal with sudden decreases in temperature. Here, we tested how environmental mismatch affected oxidative stress by comparing cold acclimated (-5°C) and transition phenotypes (20°C) in chickadees exposed to an acute 15°C drop in temperature to that of control individuals. We measured superoxide dismutase, catalase, and glutathione peroxidase activities, as well as lipid peroxidation damage, and antioxidant scavenging capacity in pectoralis muscle, brain, intestine and liver. We generally found differences between seasonal phenotypes and across tissues, but no differences with respect to an acute cold drop treatment. Our data suggest oxidative stress is closely matched to whole-animal physiology in cold-acclimated birds compared with transition birds, implying that changes to the oxidative stress system happen slowly.