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Mexican Chickadee

Poecile sclateriOrder: PASSERIFORMES Family: Titmice and Chickadees (Paridae)
Codes: Common Name: MECH Scientific Name: POESCL ITIS Taxonomic No.: 554388
Least Concern
 
Mexican Chickadee Breeding Male
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Overview

Mexican Chickadee: Small chickadee with gray upperparts, sides, and undertail coverts, black cap and bib, white cheeks, and white lower breast and belly. Wings and tail are gray. Legs and feet are gray-black. The only chickadee found in Mexico, and is vulnerable to diminishing habitat.

Range and Habitat

Mexican Chickadee: Resident in extreme southeastern Arizona and southwestern New Mexico; also in Mexico. Preferred habitats include coniferous or pine-oak forests at high altitudes.

Topo Map: Perching-like Body


Listen to Call

Voice Text

"chischu-wur", "cheelee", "chick-a-dee-dee-dee", "chi-pi-tit"

Interesting Facts

 A group of chickadees are collectively known as a "banditry" and a "dissimulation" of chickadees.


Bird Term Glossary



Author

Gary Owen Dick

Splitbar
Range Map for Mexican Chickadee

Related Birds

Chestnut-backed Chickadee
Black-capped Chickadee
Boreal Chickadee
Gray-headed Chickadee
Bridled Titmouse
Mountain Chickadee
.
Family Titmice (Paridae)_blue
Species Poecile sclateri
Length5 Inches
Wingspan7.25 Inches

Mexican Chickadee

Mexican Chickadee: Small chickadee with gray upperparts, sides, and undertail coverts, black cap and bib, white cheeks, and white lower breast and belly. Wings and tail are gray. Legs and feet are gray-black. The only chickadee found in Mexico, and is vulnerable to diminishing habitat.

● Song: "chischu-wur", "cheelee", "chick-a-dee-dee-dee", "chi-pi-tit"

● Foraging & Feeding: Mexican Chickadee: Eats insects, spiders, arthropod egg cases, and seeds from conifers and other plants; clings under branches or pinecones when foraging, or gleans trunks, branches, and foliage.

● Breeding & nesting: Mexican Chickadee: Five to eight white eggs with red-brown spots are laid in a nest made of fine grass, bark strips, moss, and plant down, lined with animal fur, and built from 5 to 45 feet above the ground in a snag or tree. Incubation ranges from 11 to 14 days and is carried out by the female.

● Similar species: Mexican Chickadee: Mountain Chickadee has white eyebrow. Black-capped Chickadee has pale olive-brown wash on sides, flanks, and undertail coverts, smaller black bib (does not reach breast), and has more white edging on wing feathers.

Flight Pattern

Short slow weak flitting flights on rapidly beating wings. Often folds wings to sides after several shallow strokes; repeated.
Mexican Chickadee Breeding Male Body Illustration
● Range & Habitat: Mexican Chickadee: Resident in extreme southeastern Arizona and southwestern New Mexico; also in Mexico. Preferred habitats include coniferous or pine-oak forests at high altitudes.
BreedingMonogamous
PopulationStable
MigrationNonmigratory
Weight0.4 Ounces
Perching-like BodyX
Undertail covertsX
Small feathers that cover the areas where the retrices (tail feathers) attach to the rump.
UpperpartsX
Back, rump, hindneck, wings, and crown.
BellyX
The ventral part of the bird, or the area between the flanks on each side and the crissum and breast. Flight muscles are located between the belly and the breast.
BreastX
The upper front part of a bird.
CapX
The area on top of the head of the bird.
4 and 6 letter alpha codesX

The four letter common name alpha code is is derived from the first two letters of the common first name and the first two letters of common last name. The six letter species name alpha code is derived from the first three letters of the scientific name (genus) and the first three letters of the scientific name (species). See (1) below for the rules used to create the codes..

Four-letter (for English common names) and six-letter (for scientific names) species alpha codes were developed by Pyle and DeSante (2003, North American Bird-Bander 28:64-79) to reflect A.O.U. taxonomy and nomenclature (A.O.U. 1998) as modified by Supplements 42 (Auk 117:847-858, 2000) and 43 (Auk 119:897-906, 2002). The list has been updated by Pyle and DeSante to reflect changes reported by the A.O.U from 2003 through 2006.

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ITIS CodesX

The Integrated Taxonomic Information System (ITIS) was established in the mid-1990�s as a cooperative project among several federal agencies to improve and expand upon taxonomic data (known as the NODC Taxonomic Code) maintained by the National Oceanographic Data Center (NODC), National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA).

To find the ITIS page for a bird species go to the ITIS web site advanced search and report page at http://www.itis.gov/advanced_search.html. You can enter the TSN or the common name of the bird. It will return the ITIS page for that bird. Another way to obtain the ITIS page is to use the Google search engine. Enter the string ITIS followed by the taxonomic ID, for example "ITIS 178041" will return the page for the Allen's Hummingbird.

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Parts of a Standing birdX
Head Feathers and MarkingsX
Parts of a Flying birdX