Mountain Chickadee
(Poecile gambeli)

Overview

Summary

© Jukka Jantunen (flickr.com/photos/jukka_jantunen)
For additional photos and vocalizations, visit Dendroica. (Link opens in a new window.)

The Mountain Chickadee is a common resident of the drier coniferous forests of southern British Columbia and Alberta. It is best monitored in Canada by the Breeding Bird Survey, data from which show wide fluctuations but generally little change in the population relative to about 1970. Management concerns centre on the retention and availability of decaying trees that are needed for nest sites. This species has been identified as a priority for conservation and/or stewardship in one or more Bird Conservation Region Strategies in Canada.

Designations

Population status

Population estimate

Distribution maps

• BirdLife International / NatureServe
• Breeding Bird Survey (BBS): Relative Abundance and Breeding Distribution (1993-2012)

Migration strategy, occurrence

Responsibility for conservation of world population

Conservation and management

Mountain Chickadees are generally more common in older forests than in recently logged forests (McCallum et al. 1999). Breeding densities are regulated to some extent by the availability of nest sites; the species readily accepts nest boxes, especially in areas where natural nest sites (decaying snags, aspens) are uncommon (McCallum et al. 1999). Populations fluctuate with conifer seed abundance (McCallum et al. 1999) and with pine beetle outbreaks (Martin et al. 2006). The species may benefit from retention of aspen and snags during salvage logging after Pine Beetle outbreaks (Environment Canada 2011a, Environment Canada 2011).

Bird conservation region strategies

Environment and Climate Change Canada and partners have developed Bird Conservation Region Strategies in each of Canada’s Bird Conservation Regions (BCRs). In these strategies, selected species are identified as priorities for one or more of the following reasons:

• conservation concerns (i.e., species vulnerable due to population size, distribution, population trend, abundance, or threats)
• stewardship responsibilities (i.e., species that typify the regional avifauna or have a large proportion of their range or population in the sub-region)
• management concerns (i.e., species that require ongoing management because of their socio-economic importance as game species, or because of their impacts on other species or habitats)
• other concerns (i.e., species deemed a priority by regional experts for other reasons than those listed above or because they are listed as species at risk or concern at the provincial level)

Select any of the sub-regions below to view the BCR strategy for additional details.

References

• Environment Canada. 2011. Draft Technical Plan for Pacific & Yukon Region BCR 10, Northern Rockies. Unpublished report. Canadian Wildlife Service, Environment Canada. Ottawa, ON.
• Environment Canada. 2011a. Draft Technical Plan for Pacific & Yukon Region BCR 9, Great Basin. Unpublished report. Canadian Wildlife Service, Environment Canada. Ottawa, ON.
• Martin, K., A. Norris and M. Drever. 2006. Effects of bark beetle outbreaks on avian biodiversity in the British Columbia interior: Implications for critical habitat management. BC Journal of Ecosystems and Management 7:10–24. Martin, K., A. Norris and M. Drever. 2006. Effects of bark beetle outbreaks on avian biodiversity in the British Columbia interior: Implications for critical habitat management. BC Journal of Ecosystems and Management 7:10–24. (Link)
• McCallum, D.A., R. Grundel and D.L. Dahlsten. 1999. Mountain Chickadee (Poecile gambeli), The Birds of North America Online (A. Poole, Ed.). Cornell Lab of Ornithology, Ithaca, New York. McCallum, D.A., R. Grundel and D.L. Dahlsten. 1999. Mountain Chickadee (Poecile gambeli), The Birds of North America Online (A. Poole, Ed.). Cornell Lab of Ornithology, Ithaca, New York. (Link)