Mountain Chickadee
Poecile gambeli
The Mountain Chickadee (Poecile gambeli) is a common tits, chickadees, and titmice found in 3 countries, weighing about 11 g. The mountain chickadee is a small songbird, a passerine bird in the tit family Paridae.
About the Mountain Chickadee
The mountain chickadee is a small songbird, a passerine bird in the tit family Paridae.
Text adapted from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.
How to identify it
Adults of both sexes have a black cap joining a black postocular stripe behind distinctive white eyebrows. Their backs and flanks are gray and they have paler gray underparts; they have a short black bill, and a black bib. The typical adult wingspan is 7.5 in (19 cm), and the overall length is 5–6 in (13–15 cm). The Mountain Chickadee is one of 55 species of chickadees and tits. Voice: Their call is a throaty chick-adee-dee-dee, while their song is a 3- or 4-note descending whistle fee-bee-bay or fee-bee-fee-bee. Their song sounds like it is whistling the word "Cheeseburger". They travel in pairs or small groups, and may join multi-species feeding flocks after breeding season.
What the Mountain Chickadee sounds like
Where it lives
When to see it
The Mountain Chickadee can be seen all year round, with peak activity in June. It is a resident species across most of its range.
Easily confused with
Quick questions
- How do you identify a Mountain Chickadee?
- Adults of both sexes have a black cap joining a black postocular stripe behind distinctive white eyebrows. Full identification notes are on this page.
- How big is a Mountain Chickadee?
- The Mountain Chickadee is a tiny sized bird weighing about 11 g.
- Where can you see a Mountain Chickadee?
- The Mountain Chickadee occurs in 3 countries, including the United States, Canada and Mexico.
- What does a Mountain Chickadee sound like?
- You can listen to 3 field recordings of the Mountain Chickadee on this page, contributed to xeno-canto under open licences.
- What birds look similar to a Mountain Chickadee?
- The Mountain Chickadee is most easily confused with the Marsh Tit, the Willow Tit and the Chestnut-backed Chickadee.
- Is the Mountain Chickadee endangered?
- The Mountain Chickadee is listed as Least Concern on the IUCN Red List.
Learn the Mountain Chickadee for real
BeakBrain drills you on photos and calls until you can greet this bird by name in the field. Free to play, on any device.
Play BeakBrainEvery photo and recording on this page is credited to its author under the licence shown. Spotted a problem with this page, or have a better photo? Contribute.