Chestnut-backed Chickadee, Poecile rufescens


Chestnut-backed Chickadee
The Chestnut-backed, the regular chickadee along the Pacific Coast, is the most colorful North American chickadee species, but less vocally variable than the others in that it doesn't have a distinctive whistled song like the "fee-bee" of the Black-capped or "fee-bee-bee" of the Mountain Chickadee; like other chickadee species it features squeaky calls and "chickadee-dee-dee" sequences. These charmers are regulars in my yard.


Chestnut-backed Chickadee
Birds south of San Francisco, see the two above, have mostly gray flanks, with
varying relatively small amounts of chestnut; birds north of San Francisco, mostly
of the nominate subspecies rufescens, generally have much more extensive chestnut in
the flanks, as in the bird below, in Sonoma County.

Chestnut-backed Chickadee

Chestnut-backed Chickadee
The bird above, photographed in my yard, shows more than the usual amount of chestnut on the flanks for a southern bird; compare the typical southern birds in the top two images on the page, one of which was also photographed in my yard. The bird just below, also from my yard, shows a moderate amount of chestnut, illustrating the variability of this feature.

Chestnut-backed Chickadee

Chestnut-backed Chickadee
The bird above, with wings extended, shows the full extent of the rich chestnut back on this species.


Chestnut-backed Chickadees
An adult feeding a young bird, in San Mateo County not far from the coast.