Mountain Chickadee

Mountain Chickadee

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1. Description
2. Sound
3. Conservation Status
4. Other Names
5. Cool Facts
6. Full detailed species account

The Mountain Chickadee is one of the most common birds of the Western montane coniferous forests. It is distinguished from all other North American chickadees by its white eyestripe.

Description

• Small, short-billed bird.
• Black cap.
• Black bib.
• White cheeks.
• White eyestripe.

• Size: 12-14 cm (5-6 in)
• Weight: 8-14 g (0.28-0.49 ounces)

Sex Differences

Sexes alike.

Sound

Calls a scratchy "chick-a-dee-dee." Song a series of two to six clear whistles.

Conservation Status

Uses bird feeders and birdhouses. Declining in part of range.

Other Names

Mésange de Gambel (French)
Carbonero ceja blanca (Spanish)

Cool Facts

• The nest cup of a Mountain Chickadee is molded in fur and then plugged with looser fur. The unincubated eggs are covered with the fur plug while the female is not in the nest.

• Juvenile Mountain Chickadees leave their home territories about three weeks after fledging. The young birds settle in a new area by late summer, and usually remain in that spot all their lives.

• Like many members of its family the Mountain Chickadee hides food to eat later. It hides seeds and occasionally insects under bark, in pine needle clusters, and in the ground. An unusual cache site was inside a moth cocoon, where the seeds forced into it killed the pupae inside.

Sources used to construct this page:

McCallum, D. A., R. Grundel, and D. L. Dahlsten. 1999. Mountain Chickadee (Poecile gambeli). In The Birds of North America, No. 453 (A. Poole and F. Gill, eds.). The Birds of North America, Inc., Philadelphia, PA.