Mountain Chickadee

There are two Mountain Chickadee reports from 2004, which was a year in which the species was fairly common in Western Washington lowlands.

In 2009, 2010, and now in 2011, a chickadee has been photographed that has a white supercillium, similar to that of a Mountain Chickadee, though in all photos, rather fuzzy.  Other aspects of this bird (or these birds) look more like plumage details of a Black-capped Chickadee.

Whether the the sightings from all three years are all of the same is unclear, but they are certainly similar.  In the 2010 and 2011 photos, buffiness of the flanks is quite apparent.  In all of the photos, the bold white edges on the secondaries (on the wings) are obvious; this is another plumage characteristic of Black-capped Chickadees and not Mountain Chickadees.

For these reasons, I believe the sightings from 2009-2011 are of an aberrant-plumaged Black-capped Chickadee.

All photos taken at Marymoor Park.  Uncredited photos by Michael Hobbs.  All rights reserved.

Aberrant-plumaged Black-capped Chickadee. Photo by Ollie Oliver, 2009-04-16	Aberrant-plumaged Black-capped Chickadee.  Photo by Ollie Oliver, 2009-04-16
Aberrant-plumaged Black-capped Chickadee.  Photo by Scott Ramos, 2009-04-16	Aberrant-plumaged Black-capped Chickadee.  Photo by Bryan Matthew, 2010-11-05
Aberrant-plumaged Black-capped Chickadee, 2011-03-11.  Photo by Lillian Reis	Aberrant-plumaged Black-capped Chickadee, 2011-03-11.  Photo by Lillian Reis