Mountain Chickadee

Overview

The mountain chickadee (Poecile gambeli) is a small passerine songbird belonging to the tit family Paridae. It is currently classified as Least Concern on the IUCN Red List and is considered a sister species to the black-capped chickadee.

Identification

• Distinguished from other North American chickadees by a white line running through the side of its black cap, whereas others have a solid black cap.
• Adults feature a black cap joining a postocular stripe behind distinctive white eyebrows, with gray backs and flanks, paler gray underparts, a short black bill, and a black bib.
• Overall length is 5–6 in (13–15 cm) with a typical wingspan of 7.5 in (19 cm).
• Vocalisations include a throaty 'chick-adee-dee-dee' call and a 3- or 4-note descending whistle described as sounding like the word 'Cheeseburger'.

Habitat

Common inhabitants of the mountainous regions of the western United States and Canada, their range extends from the southern Yukon to California and the Rocky Mountain States. They live across a wide range of altitudes and ecosystem types, often limited to locations with good nesting sites and many cavities.

Diet

Their primary diet consists of insects during the summer and breeding season, with conifer and other plant seeds taken throughout the year. They forage by clinging to the undersides of branches and tree trunks, searching in the bark or hammering seeds open with their beaks, and are highly active, often hanging upside down while grasping small twigs.

Did you know?

Females construct a seal for nest entry using resources such as fur, which functions as protection for newly laid eggs when the female leaves the nest. There is also evidence that these birds possess spatial cognition regarding where they have cached food.