Top Ten Lifers of 2009: Number 6

Chestnut-backed Chickadees by Louis Agassiz

My number six bird is actually going to be another tie between the closely related Chestnut-backed Chickadee and the Mountain Chickadee. Both of these birds are found in the Northwest and this past summer I saw them on my trip out there. I love the energy of chickadees, and their noisy calls remind me of my childhood spent in South Carolina where the lovely Carolina Chickadee could be heard in every yard. Though these birds are quite common I found them very entertaining on my trip out West.

Mountain Chickadee

My first Chestnut-backed Chickadee was seen on the Glacier View Trail outside of Mt. Ranier. We started out hike off of a long Forest Service Road. Not too far up the trail we found a mixed flock and many Chestnut-backed Chickadees calling from a tall evergreen tree. We would hear them throughout our hike and I would see many more during my 2 weeks on the West Coast.

My lifer Mountain Chickadee was also found in a mixed flock of but this time I was on the beach of Medicine Lake in California. Rupp, her dog Chapare, and I were hiking through the Glass Mountains that day when we decided to stop in at Medicine Lake and go for a swim. After cooling off I decided to walk down the road and do some birding. A quick flock of birds were moving fast through the trees. I kept following them and sorting through all the Yellow-rumped Warblers looking for something new when I noticed that one mixed flock was intersecting another flock and this one had a dozen or more Mountain Chickadees mixed in. The other highlight of this side trip was on the way to Medicine Lake I saw my 400 life bird, a White-headed Woodpecker. It was a brief sighting but if not it would have made my top ten list this year.