Winter residents: Mountain and Black-capped Chickadees

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A Black-capped Chickadee (Poecile atricapillus) watches one of the bird feeders from a perch in the boughs of one of the evergreens in the backyard.  The Chickadees are particularly curious and when I’m out on the deck photographing they flyby to see what’s going on.  Following the storm, the next day was beautiful and the birds flew in close when I went outside for a little while.  While the lone Grosbeak was aloof, the smaller birds were chattering nearby and landing in the branches a few feet away.

Here a Mountain Chickadee (Poecile gambeli) flits around in the same tree scavenging for edible bits.  Note the white stripe above the eye that distinguishes them from their Black-capped cousins.

While the little birds are still finding seeds and other things to eat in the forest, winter is at the doorstep so I returned our bird feeders to service a few days before the snow flew.  I wanted to let the resident Nuthatches and Chickadees return to the winter feeding pattern before the weather threw them a winter curveball.  Within a day there were a couple of birds who found the feeders and by the storm we were happy to see much of the congregation flying around the backyard again.