Mexican Chickadee

Poecile sclateriOrder: PASSERIFORMES Family: Titmice and Chickadees (Paridae)

Codes: Common Name: MECH Scientific Name: POESCL ITIS Taxonomic No.: 554388

Breeding Location:

Forest

Breeding Type:

Monogamous

Breeding Population:

Stable

Egg Color:

White with red brown spots

Number of Eggs:

5 - 8

Incubation Days:

11 - 14

Egg Incubator:

Female

Nest Material:

Fine grasses, bark strips, moss, plant down., Lined with animal fur.

Migration:

Nonmigratory

General

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. Sexes are similar.

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.

Breeding and 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.

Foraging and 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.

Readily Eats

Suet, Sunflower Seed

Vocalization

Mexican Chickadee: Song is a short, clear trilled whistle "chischu-wur" and a rich "cheellee"; also "chick-a-dee-dee-dee." Call is a husky, buzzing "chi-pi-tit."

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.

Percevia^® Registered in the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office.

The Percevia field guides, database and search protocol patent pending.

The best bird guide and bird watching search engine to identify birds!

Bird Call Credits: The Macaulay Library of Natural Sounds at the Cornell Lab of Ornithology. Martyn Stewart, http://www.naturesound.org, Redmond, Washington USA. The reuse or copying of bird calls in this database is strictly forbidden.

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

Undertail coverts

Small feathers that cover the areas where the retrices (tail feathers) attach to the rump.

Upperparts

Back, rump, hindneck, wings, and crown.

Belly

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.

Breast

The upper front part of a bird.

Cap

The area on top of the head of the bird.

4 and 6 letter alpha codes

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.

Field Guide to Birds of North America