This week’s Bird of the Week, compliments of the Weminuche Audubon Society and Audubon Rockies, is the mountain chickadee.
In winter, it is common for small birds of different species to flock together as an aid in locating food and avoiding danger. Often when a predator like a pygmy owl, sharp-shinned hawk or house cat shows up, it is the chickadee who sounds the alarm to keep flock members on guard.
Mountain chickadees are birds of the dry, evergreen forests of Western mountainous regions. Except during nesting season when they use cavities in aspen trees, they more often inhabit coniferous than deciduous woods. In summer they are found climbing and hanging upside down in conifers, picking off spiders and a variety of insects, including destructive ones like bark beetles.
In winter they rely on seeds, berries and some fruits and depend on seed caching to survive times when food is scarce. Shivering to generate body heat is one of their adaptations to get through cold winter nights. Especially at the end of the day, they need a source of fat calories to fuel this activity.
Where their ranges overlap, mountain chickadees are often found with their close cousins, black-capped chickadees. Mountain chickadees are grayish overall with white cheeks and black cap and throat. A thin white eyebrow distinguishes them for the similar, but more colorful, black-capped, whose flanks are buff-colored.
Mountain chickadees are common feeder birds who can become quite tame around people. One will grab a sunflower seed and fly off to shell it by holding it between its feet and hammering it apart with its beak. They spend so little time at the feeder that it’s hard to tell if there is one bird making repeated trips or several hiding out in the bushes.
They will also eat suet and consider meal worms a real treat.
Feederwatch.org, the website of Project Feederwatch, operated by Cornell Lab of Ornithology and Birds Canada, is a wealth of information on adding joy to your life and contributing to science by feeding and observing birds.
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