Mystery Bird: Carolina Chickadee, Poecile carolinensis

Well, Carolina chickadee is the obvious choice. But maybe you just want me to think it's a Carolina chickadee, when your nefarious plan is actually to foist a black-capped or Mexican chickadee on me...

Too complicated for me. I'm sticking with Carolina. But I look forward to hearing from any contrarians.

The official Texas list has Carolina, Mountain and Black-capped Chickadee, with the latter one being quite rare. The photo bird lacks the distinctive face pattern of Mountain, so the choice is between Carolina and Black-capped. The amount of white edging on the wing can be helpful, but I can't get much white out of this dark photo. If what appears lighter gray is white in good light, then it appears to be enough white for Black-capped. It may be an artifact of the darkness of the photo, but the bird does appear browner overall, which is another factor favoring Black-capped. The black bib seems somewhat ragged in the corners, which also points to Black-capped. So, I'll go out on the limb and go for the rarity, Black-capped Chickadee.

Let's see ... The official Texas list may well have Mountain Chickadee, but it is probably just as rare as Black-capped in the area of Brazos Bend SP. It also shows, apparently, an arch to the border between black and white behind the eye, which this bird does not. The distinctive supercilium, unfortunately, sometimes wears off (it's just the tips of the feathers that are white) and July is a good time to find a bird worn in this way. Another aspect of the Mountain's face that I just noticed in some old photos is that the malar region is often white, with the upper part of the black bib being more constricted than on Black-capped. Unfortunately, that appears to be the same white tips on black feathers as the supercilium.

Regarding Carolina vs. Black-capped, this is always a tough call. I don't think the pale edgings on the secondaries or the rear scapulars look white enough for atricapillus -- they don't contrast enough with the gray back, and are clearly darker than the white undersides. Another thing that seems suggestive is that the white on the cheek doesn't seem to go far enough back before it vanishes into gray -- Carolinas show a pale gray nape blending into the white cheek, and while this bird doesn't clearly show that, it does seem that the white simply isn't extensive enough for Black-capped. The date also argues against Black-capped -- July 2 is breeding season, and Black-cappeds are normally found south of their normal range in the winter.

Bottomline, without some indication of voice, actually reporting this bird as a Black-capped would be awfully bold.

Let me be the contrarian, John...

My office-mate[1] and I sat and discussed this for quite a while this afternoon and he came up with Mexican Chickadee. After looking at many, many pictures on "the Google," I agree. As Larry says, it isn't a Mountain as it has no eyebrow. It could be a Carolina, Black-capped, or Mexican. The only species whose range covers Houston is the Carolina, but...

The Black Capped and Carolina both have a very cotton-ball-on-cotton-ball head and body. This bird has a longer head with a flatter crown. As I look at pictures of the Mexican Chickadee, many of those pictures show the same longer head shape. In addition, the other two tend toward a whiter breast; this bird, in common with the Mexican, seems grayer. So I'm with my office mate on an out-of-range Mexican Chickadee.

All that being said, I'd want a DNA analysis or at least a song before I'd put money on this, as all three are EXTREMELY similar in appearance!

[1] Who is a far more experienced "birder" than I and also a poster here, but I forget his handle.

Carolina Chickadee atypical appearance for two reasons photo taken at distance, bird is juvenile and in process of molting. Note mantle. Wait a few months for feather wear before photographing Chickadees.

I hadn't thought of juvenile plumage here -- that would explain the fresh edging on the coverts. I'm not sure that the plumage on the back indicates molt -- chickadees are naturally fluffy, even adults in winter, and I'm not sure how you would tell when a bird was actively molting without handling it.

Mexican Chickadee is a neat idea -- but it doesn't fit this bird. First, what you can see of the breast is the brightest part of the bird. Some of that may be the photo, but Mexican should be bright white on the face and distinctly gray on the breast. Second, Mexican has a very extensive bib that extends onto the upper breast. This bird doesn't appear to, although the photo doesn't help much. Third, Mexican should have the same very white nape as Black-capped (this is a hard thing to judge for sure with this photo). And fourth, Mexican Chickadee shows white curling partway around the eye, intruding into the black cap. This bird shows a straight edge between the two. (Actually, Sibley's only shows the white in front of the eye -- I have a photo from the Chiricauhuas showing a bit behind the eye as well.)

Mexican would be pretty remarkable -- to my knowledge there are no solidly documented U.S. records of Mexican outside of the two mountain ranges they regularly occur in. I know two birders who claim to have recorded one on the Mogollon Rim in 2005, but I don't know what's come of that.