Unknown Chickadee

[Chris Hansen]

Is this a Dark Phase Chestnut Backed Chickadee or something else? Habitat was Mixed Coniferous forest 2,500 ft. Elev. Coastal Range. Mendocino County Northern California. It was photographed with other Chestnut backed Chickadees coming to my bird feeder.

[Paul Guris]

That is one neat looking bird. I will be posting that in the ID-Frontiers list server for comment. Some of the best birders from the West Coast are on that list and hopefully can shed some light on this plumage. I'll be very interested in what they have to say.

To see my post and any replies, you can go to:
http://birding.aba.org/maillist/IDF

[Paul Guris]

There is now a great explanation of this at the link above, as well as photos of a few other birds (non-chickadees) with similar coloration. Looks like your chickadee is pretty unique.

[Chris Hansen]

Paul, thanks for posting this over on the birding forum. It's great to know more information about that little bird.
chris

[Declan Troy]

This bird look superficially like a Varied Tit (found in Japan and adjacent Asia). It isn't one but this rufous color lurks in tit DNA!.