The Mountain Chickadees (Poecile gambeli) - also known as Mountain Titmice or Short-tailed Chickadees - are small songbirds found in the Americas. Order: Passeriformes Family: Paridae.
This dusty-looking chickadee lives in spruce forest of the North, mostly north of the Canadian border. Chickadees' complex vocalizations are likely an evolutionary adaptation to their habitat: they live and feed in dense vegetation, and even when the flock is close together, individual birds tend to be out of each other's visual range. A hardy permanent resident, it survives the winter even as far north as the Arctic Circle. Little flocks of Black-capped Chickadees enliven the winter woods with their active behavior and their cheery-sounding chick-a-dee callnotes as they fly from tree to tree, often accompanied by an assortment of nuthatches, creepers, kinglets, and other birds. The thin shell makes it an easy bird seed to open, even for the smaller birds. Black-capped chickadees fed primarily where foliage canopy was well developed above 26.4 feet (8 m) . In Montana foliage-insect feeders including black-capped chickadees were observed most often in uncut forests. But even if you live outside the range of Black-capped Chickadees, you may live within the range of one of the other chickadee species.
The chickadee needs more food in winter but, at the same time, the types of available food decrease. The Mountain Chickadees inhabit the mountainous regions of southwest Canada and the western United States. Types of Chickadees Seven types of chickadees regularly visit and breed in North America, all of which are readily attracted to yards, feeders, and baths in their respective ranges. Thirteen distinct types of vocalizations have been classified, many of which are complex and can communicate different types of information. They must eat almost non-stop during the day in order to survive the night.
Often the nucleus in mixed flocks of small birds, Mountain Chickadees flit through high branches, hang upside down to pluck insects or seeds from cones, and give their scolding chick-a-dee call seemingly to anyone who will listen. “The chickadee is a symbol of faithfulness. But with wintry blasts, time the others go south, the Chickadee begins to be noticed. …. Black-capped chickadee, Poecile atricapilla The titmice typically have crests, and they are not represented in Washington. The Mountain Chickadee is a small songbird. The Black-capped is the most widely distributed. The Paridae are mainly small stocky woodland species with short stout bills. Riparian communities are important to black-capped chickadees and other gleaners (birds which search vegetation for stationary prey). Average total length for the male is 128.4 mm and 122.8mm for females. Chickadees and titmice are small, sociable, energetic birds with short, pointed bills. Colloquially these birds are referred to as "Cheeseburger Birds", as their calls are rendered as "cheese-bur-ger.".
There are four species of chickadees in Washington, and they generally have dark caps and throat patches, with white on their cheeks. Like other chickadees, this species becomes much more quiet and inconspicuous during the nesting season. They are adaptable birds, with a mixed diet including seeds and insects. Those charming black-capped chickadees camped out in the backyard are no longer considered your average, sweet little songbirds. Like corn, peanuts have a high likelihood of harboring aflatoxins, so must be kept dry and used up fairly quickly. The tiny Mountain Chickadee is a busy presence overhead in the dry evergreen forests of the mountainous West. It lives the year around in the same region.
The underparts of the bird are generally olive gray, while flight and tail feathers are dark gray.