Chestnut-backed Chickadee (Poecile rufescens) [XC157563]
by from Alder Island, Haida Gwaii, British Columbia, Canada (call)
Chestnut-backed Chickadee (Poecile rufescens) [XC159214]
by Ian Cruickshank from Rocky Point Bird Observatory, Metchosin, Vancouver Island, BC, Canada (call, agitation calls)
Subspecies
Until recently present genus normally subsumed into a broad Parus, and many authors still prefer that treatment. Genus normally treated as feminine, but no evidence in original description or elsewhere justifies this, so genus is masculine by default. Forms a superspecies, and has been considered conspecific, with Siberian Tit (Poecile cinctus) and Boreal Chickadee (Poecile hudsonicus). Nominate subspecies and neglectus intergrade widely in area formerly occupied solely by the latter, which considered possibly now swamped by nominate. Further research is required.
The following 3 subspecies are recognised:
rufescens (Townsend, 1837) - Alaska, south-western Canada and western USA (south to coastal California).
neglectus (Ridgway, 1879) - Coastal central California.
barlowi (Grinnell, 1900) - Coast of south-western California (southern from San Francisco Bay).
BirdLife International Species Factsheet