Friday Foto: Chestnut-backed Chickadee

Chestnut-backed Chickadee, Rockaway, Oregon, 8 January 2011 by Greg Gillson.

 

A cute little guy from a recent visit to the coast.

See other posts about the Chestnut-backed Chickadee.

Chestnut-backed Chickadee

Chestnut-backed Chickadee, Newport, Oregon on 7 March 2010 by Greg Gillson.

 

Earlier in the month I spent the weekend at Newport, Oregon. Around the Marine Science Center I found this Chestnut-backed Chickadee (see previous post about this species).

It was a cloudy morning, as it often is along the Oregon coast. I shot this at ISO 800 equivalent, which gives it a bit of grainy appearance.

The Chestnut-backed Chickadee was described to science by its discoverer, John Kirk Townsend, in 1837. He obtained the type specimen during a trip to the Oregon country in 1834-1836. He didn't keep very accurate notes about where he collected each species. His collection location for the Chestnut-backed Chickadee he shot was entered as the "forests of the Columbia River." So the type location of Chestnut-backed Chickadee became Ft. Vancouver, Washington, where he spent the most time after he arrived.

Townsend's lackadaisical note-keeping also produced some odd records. For instance, he named several southern seabirds from Oregon. These, no doubt, came from ocean trips to South America he made about the same time.

Backyard birds of... Seattle, Washington

Chestnut-backed Chickadee, Newport, Oregon on 15 September 2008 by Greg Gillson.

 

The following common yardbirds are found in Seattle, Washington.

The seasons listed are those when most common, though some individuals may occur at other seasons.

Rock Pigeon, year round
Band-tailed Pigeon, spring, summer, fall
Mourning Dove, year round
Anna's Hummingbird, year round
Rufous Hummingbird, spring, summer
Downy Woodpecker, year round
Northern Flicker, year round
Western Wood-Pewee, summer
Warbling Vireo, spring, summer
Steller's Jay, year round
American Crow, year round
Violet-green Swallow, spring, summer, fall
Barn Swallow, spring, summer, fall
Black-capped Chickadee, year round
Chestnut-backed Chickadee, year round
Bushtit, year round
Red-breasted Nuthatch, year round
Bewick's Wren, year round
Winter Wren, year round
Golden-crowned Kinglet, year round
Ruby-crowned Kinglet, fall, winter, spring
Swainson's Thrush, summer, fall
American Robin, year round
Varied Thrush, year round
European Starling, year round
Cedar Waxwing, spring, summer, fall
Orange-crowned Warbler, spring, summer
Yellow-rumped Warbler, fall, winter, spring
Black-throated Gray Warbler, spring, summer
Townsend's Warbler, fall, winter, spring
Wilson's Warbler, spring, summer
Western Tanager, spring, summer
Spotted Towhee, year round
Fox Sparrow, fall, winter, spring
Song Sparrow, year round
White-crowned Sparrow, year round
Golden-crowned Sparrow, fall, winter, spring
Dark-eyed Junco, year round
Black-headed Grosbeak, spring, summer
Red-winged Blackbird, year round
Brewer's Blackbird, year round
Brown-headed Cowbird, spring, summer, fall
Purple Finch, year round
House Finch, year round
Red Crossbill, year round
Pine Siskin, winter, spring
American Goldfinch, spring, summer, fall
Evening Grosbeak, winter, spring
House Sparrow, year round

This list was compiled based on information on the Seattle Audubon's BirdWeb site, as well as Seattle Audubon's Backyard Bird Feeding web site, and Seattle-area Backyard Birds by Christine Vadai.

In the backyard... Chestnut-backed Chickadee

Chestnut-backed Chickadee, Timber, Oregon on 28 June 2008 by Greg Gillson.

 

If one were to describe the typical habitat of the Chestnut-backed Chickadee, it would likely be the dark, cool, foggy, moss-covered coastal forests of ancient western hemlock and Sitka spruce. But these birds are equally at home in residential neighborhoods with conifer cover whether in Seattle or San Francisco.

In the western Cascades, they can be found from lowlands to high elevations. However, the Black-capped Chickadee is more common in the lowland valleys until the oaks and maples give way to solid Douglas-fir. Likewise, the Mountain Chickadee is the more expected species in the lodgepole pine and silver fir forest at the summit of the Cascades. The Chestnut-backed Chickadee is more common between them in the western Hemlock and Douglas-fir forest.

Chestnut-backed Chickadees are found from coastal Alaska south to coastal central California, west of the Cascades and northern Sierra-Nevada Mountains. They also occur in a limited area of the Rocky Mountains in northeastern Oregon, eastern Washington, northern Idaho, and southern British Columbia. They are absent in the Great Basin and most of the Central Valley of California.

The Chestnut-backed Chickadee is a very small chickadee. The bright chestnut back is an obvious field mark along with the black cap and throat and white side of face. The voice is a soft wheezy "tzick-a-dzee-dzee." Unlike other chickadees in the Pacific Northwest, these birds do not have a whistled song. From San Francisco southward, Chestnut-backed Chickadees lack the broad chestnut sides that birds to the north (as pictured above) show.

Like other chickadees, you can attract these birds to your backyard with black oil sunflower seeds and suet cakes. They will also use nest boxes.