Mountain Chickadee
Mountain Chickadee
Poecile gambeli
(Paridae)
Global Rank:
G5
State Rank:
S5
Agency Status
USFWS:
USFS:
none
BLM:
none
General Description
The Mountain Chickadee is a small song bird. Average total length for the male is 128.4 mm and 122.8mm for females. Top of head (to just below eye) is black, forming a black "cap" on head; forehead and superciliary stripe white (distinguishing it from other North American chickadees); chin and throat black, forming a black "bib"; cheeks whitish; back, wings, and tail grayish, washed with olive to tan; breast and belly grayish white, black bill. ( McCallum, D. A., Grundel, R. and Dahlsten, D. The Birds of North America, No. 453, 1999).
Habitat
Year round resident of montane coniferous forests of west North America, primarily in areas dominated by pine, spruce-fir and pinon juniper. Occurs in mixed coniferous-deciduous forests. (McCallum, Grundel, Dahlsten 1999).
Food Habits
Insects during warm seasons augmented with spiders. Conifer seeds during cool seasons. (McCallum, Grundel, Dahlsten 1999).
Reproductive Characteristics
Nesting begins in mid-June and lasts into late July. Near Fortine, the earliest eggs were noted on May 28 and the earliest young were out of the nest was June 17.
Citations & Sources
- Lenard, S., J. Carlson, J. Ellis, C. Jones, and C. Tilly. 2003. P. D. Skaar's Montana Bird Distribution, 6th Edition. Montana Audubon, Helena, Montana. vi + 144 pp.
- NatureServe Explorer: An online encyclopedia of life [web application]. 2002. Version 1.6 . Arlington, Virginia, USA: NatureServe. Available: http://www.natureserve.org/explorer. (Accessed: March 20, 2003 ).
