A Birder's Quest

“A Birder’s Quest”

Every winter we normally see 3 of the 4 Chickadees, the Black-capped, the Boreal and the Mountain Chickadee at our feeders.  A few winters ago, while out photographing them in our front yard, I noticed one little guy that wasn’t quite like the other three.  Upon consulting my bird book, my suspicions were right, as it turned out to be the colorful “Chestnut-backed Chickadee” from the west coast of British Columbia!  We’ve been told that in the history of birding in Alberta, there had only ever been 17 single sightings – that winter we had 3 for over 3 months!  We were told by some birders that seeing all 4 different chickadees at the same time is a “Birder’s Quest” – something we got to enjoy everyday for many weeks! Unfortunately, they never returned the following year, but oh what a memory they created!  When you see these images, may you hear their familiar “Chickadee-dee-dee” song and enjoy these 4 little birds as much as I did photographing them!            

-   Stan Masters

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