Mountain Chickadee

Overview

Mountain Chickadee: Medium chickadee, gray upperparts, black cap and bib, white cheeks and nape, and pale gray underparts. The wings and tail are gray. Bill is black, legs and feet are gray-black. It has a white eyebrow, which differentiates it from all other North American chickadees.

Range and Habitat

Mountain Chickadee: Resident from interior British Columbia south through Rocky Mountain and Cascade-Sierra chains to southern California and Texas. Preferred habitats include dry coniferous forests. During the summer can also be found in high-elevation aspen forests. In winter, sometimes inhabits juniper stands and river bottoms.

INTERESTING FACTS

The Mountain Chickadee is one of the most common birds of the Western montane coniferous forests.
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.
The species name honors naturalist William Gambel.
A group of chickadees are collectively known as a "banditry" and a "dissimulation" of chickadees.

The Mountain Chickadee has a large range, estimated globally at 2,700,000 square kilometers. Native to Canada, the United States, and Mexico, this bird prefers subtropical or tropical forest and shrubland ecosystems. The global population of this bird is estimated at 12,000,000 individuals and does not show signs of decline that would necessitate inclusion on the IUCN Red List. For this reason, the current evaluation status of the Mountain Chickadee is Least Concern.