A small black-capped chickadee with distinctive white eyebrow stripe. Western counterpart to black-capped chickadee.
§ Quick facts
§ Encyclopedia
The mountain chickadee is a small songbird, a passerine bird in the tit family Paridae.
Source: Wikipedia — Mountain chickadee Licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0
§ Identification
Field marks. Gray chickadee with a black cap broken by a distinctive white eyebrow stripe, white cheeks, and a black bib.
Similar species. Black-capped and other chickadees lack the white eyebrow; the white supercilium splitting the black cap is diagnostic.
Voice. A hoarse, husky 'chick-a-zee-zee' and a clear, descending three-note whistle 'fee-bee-bay'.
§ Diet & behavior
Diet. Insects, seeds, occasional fruits; caches food in fall.
Behavior. A chickadee of western mountain conifer forest; caches huge numbers of seeds and remembers the locations through winter, descending to lower elevations in harsh weather.
§ Range
Western mountain forests
§ Habitat
Coniferous and mixed mountain forests
§ Threats
Western forest loss.
§ Conservation status
According to the IUCN Red List, the mountain chickadee is currently classified as Least Concern.
§ What helps
Support mountain forest conservation.
§ Further reading
- Wikipedia — Mountain chickadee
- www.allaboutbirds.org — authoritative profile of Poecile gambeli
- IUCN Red List — search for Poecile gambeli
- GBIF occurrence records
- Encyclopedia of Life — Poecile gambeli
§ Sources cited
- Cornell Lab of Ornithology — All About Birds
- National Audubon Society
- iNaturalist
- IUCN Red List
