Mountain Chickadee
Poecile gambeli

1/500s at f5.6, ISO:2000, Canon EOS-1D X w/800mm


The mountain chickadee is a small songbird, a passerine bird in the tit family Paridae. Common inhabitants of the mountainous regions of the western United States, their range extends from the southern Yukon to California and Rocky Mountain States in the United States. A few mountain chickadees may migrate locally up the mountains in the summer and down into the mountain foothills in the winter. They breed monogamously, producing 1 to 2 broods per year. Incubation by the female is 14 days. The young are altricial, and stay in the nest for 21 days while being fed by both parents. Their primary diet is insects during the summer and breeding season; conifer seeds and other plant seeds are taken throughout the year. They cling to the undersides of branches and to tree trunks, searching for food in the bark or breaking seeds open by hammering them with their beaks.
Rocky Mountain N.P., CO
 
06/20/2014