Mountain Chickadee Life History

Habitat

Common across most of the evergreen forests of Western mountains, particularly pine, mixed conifer, spruce-fir, and pinyon-juniper forests. Mountain Chickadees use conifers heavily, typically leaving deciduous stands to the Black-capped Chickadee. The exception is in nesting, when Mountain Chickadees will seek out any available aspen trees for their soft, easily excavated wood.Back to top

Food

Mountain Chickadees eat protein-rich insects and spiders during warm months, supplementing them with seeds and nuts as available. They come to bird feeders year-round. Many kinds of insects are eaten, including beetles, caterpillars, wasp larvae, aphids, and leafhoppers, as well as hard-to-reach scale insects and fly larvae hidden in plant galls. In fall and winter, seeds of montane pine species are very important.

Nesting

Nest Placement

Mountain Chickadees nest in cavities but they can’t excavate them unless the wood is very soft. Instead, they rely on holes made by other birds such as small woodpeckers and nuthatches. They also nest in natural crevices, in nest boxes, and occasionally on the ground amid roots.

Nest Description

Inside the cavity the female makes a neat cup from fur she gathers. She also makes a fur plug or cap that she uses to cover her eggs when she leaves the cavity. In some cases chickadees compensate for large cavities by filling them several inches deep with insulating material.

Nesting Facts

Behavior

Like other chickadees, Mountain Chickadees are quick, agile, curious birds that hop and flit through the outer twigs as they look for insects and seeds, often accompanied by several other species. As summer draws to a close, Mountain Chickadees band together into groups of up to three pairs of adults plus a variety of young birds. These juveniles have spent some time after fledging traveling in their own groups, but by September they typically join a group of adults and remain in that flock for the winter. In late winter, pairs begin to break away from foraging flocks to inspect possible nest sites. At feeders, chickadees have a distinct pecking order, with males typically forcing females aside except early in the breeding season. On cold, sunny mornings, Mountain Chickadees catch a little extra warmth by "sunbathing" on an exposed perch out of the wind. Unlike some other species, Mountain Chickadees typically brave the cold winter nights alone, huddled in foliage clumps or under big flakes of bark.Back to top

Conservation

Mountain Chickadee populations declined by close to 1% per year between 1966 and 2019, resulting in a cumulative loss of approximately 39%, according to the North American Breeding Bird Survey. Partners in Flight estimates a global breeding population of 7.9 million and rates them 11 out of 20 on the Continental Concern Score, indicating a species of relatively low conservation concern. However, they are included on the list of Common Birds in Steep Decline for species that are still too numerous or widely distributed to warrant Watch-List status but have been experiencing troubling long-term declines.

Credits

Dunne, P. (2006). Pete Dunne's essential field guide companion. Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, New York, USA.

Lutmerding, J. A. and A. S. Love. (2020). Longevity records of North American birds. Version 2020. Patuxent Wildlife Research Center, Bird Banding Laboratory 2020.

McCallum, D. Archibald, Ralph Grundel and Donald L. Dahlsten. (1999). Mountain Chickadee (Poecile gambeli), version 2.0. In The Birds of North America (P. G. Rodewald, editor). Cornell Lab of Ornithology, Ithaca, New York, USA.

Partners in Flight. (2020). Avian Conservation Assessment Database, version 2020.

Rosenberg, K. V., J. A. Kennedy, R. Dettmers, R. P. Ford, D. Reynolds, J. D. Alexander, C. J. Beardmore, P. J. Blancher, R. E. Bogart, G. S. Butcher, A. F. Camfield, A. Couturier, D. W. Demarest, W. E. Easton, J. J. Giocomo, R. H. Keller, A. E. Mini, A. O. Panjabi, D. N. Pashley, T. D. Rich, J. M. Ruth, H. Stabins, J. Stanton, and T. Will (2016). Partners in Flight Landbird Conservation Plan: 2016 Revision for Canada and Continental United States. Partners in Flight Science Committee.

Sauer, J. R., D. K. Niven, J. E. Hines, D. J. Ziolkowski Jr., K. L. Pardieck, J. E. Fallon, and W. A. Link (2019). The North American Breeding Bird Survey, Results and Analysis 1966–2019. Version 2.07.2019. USGS Patuxent Wildlife Research Center, Laurel, MD, USA.

Sibley, D. A. (2014). The Sibley Guide to Birds, second edition. Alfred A. Knopf, New York, NY, USA.

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