Poecile rufescens
adult
The Chestnut-backed Chickadee’s colorful plumage (by chickadee standards) makes identification relatively easy. The sexes are similar, as are adults and juveniles. All birds have a distinctive chestnut back. The dark cap and black throat frame the white cheeks, and the darkish wings have pale feather margins, giving them a silvery look. The underparts are overall gray-buff in Californian birds but heavily flushed with chestnut on the flanks in birds found elsewhere in the species’ range. The legs are blue-gray and the bill is dark.
Within its restricted, mainly coastal, range the Chestnut-backed Chickadee is present year-round, favoring areas of tall mature conifers, including rainforests in the Pacific Northwest. Outside the breeding season it is often found in roving mixed-species flocks of small songbirds.
adult
FACT FILE
LENGTH 4.75 in (12 cm)
FOOD Invertebrates and seeds
HABITAT Mainly coastal conifer and mixed forests
STATUS Locally common resident
VOICE Calls include a sharp tsiti-tchee-tchee. The species does not appear to have an obvious song
