Mountain Chickadee

Poecile gambeliOrder: PASSERIFORMESFamily: Titmice and Chickadees (Paridae)

General

Mountain Chickadee: Medium-sized chickadee with gray upperparts, black cap and bib, white eyebrows, cheeks and nape, and pale gray underparts. Wings and tail are gray. Sexes are similar.

Range and Habitat

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

Listen to Call

Voice Text

"Fee-bee-bay", "fee-bee-fee-bee", "chick-adee-adee-adee"

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.

Author

Gary Owen Dick

Bird database and its related content, illustrations and media is Copyright © 2002 - 2007 Whatbird.com
All rights reserved. No part of this web site may be reproduced without written permission from Mitch Waite Group.
Privacy Policy.

Percevia® Registered in the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office.

Bird Call Credits: The Macaulay Library of Natural Sounds at the Cornell Lab of Ornithology. Martyn Stewart, http://www.naturesound.org, Redmond, Washington USA. The reuse or copying of bird calls in this database is strictly forbidden.

Mountain Chickadee

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.

● Song: "Fee-bee-bay", "fee-bee-fee-bee", "chick-adee-adee-adee"

● Foraging & Feeding: Mountain Chickadee: Eats insects, spiders, eggs of both, conifer seeds, and berries; gleans food from foliage and tree bark, often by hanging upside down.

● Breeding & nesting: Mountain Chickadee: Five to twelve white eggs, sometimes with red brown spots, are laid in a nest made of coarse materials such as moss, lined with plant material including grass, moss, feathers, and hair, and built in a tree or snag from 1 to 23 feet above the ground, or in a nest box. Incubation ranges from 11 to 12 days and is carried out by both parents

● Similar species: Mountain Chickadee: Bridled Titmouse has a tuft and black line encircling the face, connecting the eye-line with the bib. Black-capped Chickadee lacks white eyebrow, lower edge of black bib more ragged, and has pale olive-brown wash on sides, flanks, and lower belly.

Flight Pattern

Short slow weak flitting flights on rapidly beating wings. Often folds wings to sides after several quick wing beats; repeated.

Mountain Chickadee Breeding Male (Rockies gambeli) Body Illustration

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

^BreedingMonogamous

^Population

^MigrationNonmigratory

^Weight0.4 Ounces

Field Guide to Birds of North America