Boreal Chickadee
Poecile hudsonicus

The Boreal Chickadee lives over most of Canada and Alaska. They are sometimes seen in the extreme northern regions of the lower 48 states of the USA. Science believes chickadees originally evolved from Eurasian tits that crossed over to North America during Pleistocene glacial periods, sometimes called the Ice Age, some 11,000 to 2.5 million years ago.
Until my epic tour of North America in 2022, the only time I met one of these birds was in the northern Yukon Territory along the Dempster Highway during my 2005 expedition through Canada to Alaska. I was between Fort McPherson and Eagle Plains after leaving Inuvik a few days earlier. A roadside rest along the Rock River produced the meeting.
The Boreal Chickadees I met in 2022 were at Macintyre Marsh outside of Whitehorse, yet still in the Yukon Territory.
Taxonomists disagree on the subspecific classification of the Boreal Chickadee. A 1986 study called out five subspecies There is considerable overlap in their ranges:
- P. h. hudsonicus lives in eastern Manitoba to Labrador and Newfoundland (Canada).
- P. h. littoralis lives in southern Quebec and the Canadian Maritime Provinces.
- P. h. farleyi lives in the prairies of Alberta, the southern Mackenzie Valley, Saskatchewan, and western Manitoba (Canada).
- P. h. evura lives in the northern the Yukon and Northwest Territories (Canada).
- P. h. columbianus lives in British Columbia and southwestern Alberta (Canada).
12 Photos

Boreal Chickadee(Poecile hudsonicus) |
Description: Dempster Highway, Rock River Area, Yukon, Canada. |
Date Taken: 2005:06:22 8:30 |
Location:
Rock River |
Camera Information: NIKON D2X, 550 mm, f/5.6, 1/60 |
File Name: JCD6022BorealChickadee |
© 2005 Jack Daynes, shadeTreeImaging.com |


Boreal Chickadee(Poecile hudsonicus) |
Description: I used my second day of clear weather to return to McIntyre Marsh, northwest of Whitehorse. I enjoyed the company of birds there. I was especially pleased to find for only my second time in 17 years, the Boreal Chickadee. |
Date Taken: 2022:06:16 12:53 |
Location:
McIntyre Marsh |
Camera Information: NIKON D850, 800 mm, f/8.0, 1/3200 |
File Name: BorealChickadee_8500762-McIntyreMarsh.YK_ |
© 2022 Jack Daynes, shadeTreeImaging.com |


Boreal Chickadee(Poecile hudsonicus) |
Description: I used my second day of clear weather to return to McIntyre Marsh, northwest of Whitehorse. I enjoyed the company of birds there. I was especially pleased to find for only my second time in 17 years, the Boreal Chickadee. |
Date Taken: 2022:06:16 13:03 |
Location:
McIntyre Marsh |
Camera Information: NIKON D850, 800 mm, f/8.0, 1/5000 |
File Name: BorealChickadee_8500788-McIntyreMarsh.YK_ |
© 2022 Jack Daynes, shadeTreeImaging.com |


Boreal Chickadee(Poecile hudsonicus) |
Description: I used my second day of clear weather to return to McIntyre Marsh, northwest of Whitehorse. I enjoyed the company of birds there. I was especially pleased to find for only my second time in 17 years, the Boreal Chickadee. |
Date Taken: 2022:06:16 13:03 |
Location:
McIntyre Marsh |
Camera Information: NIKON D850, 800 mm, f/8.0, 1/5000 |
File Name: BorealChickadee_8500791-McIntyreMarsh.YK_ |
© 2022 Jack Daynes, shadeTreeImaging.com |


Boreal Chickadee(Poecile hudsonicus) |
Description: I used my second day of clear weather to return to McIntyre Marsh, northwest of Whitehorse. I enjoyed the company of birds there. I was especially pleased to find for only my second time in 17 years, the Boreal Chickadee. |
Date Taken: 2022:06:16 13:03 |
Location:
McIntyre Marsh |
Camera Information: NIKON D850, 800 mm, f/8.0, 1/5000 |
File Name: BorealChickadee_8500796-McIntyreMarsh.YK_ |
© 2022 Jack Daynes, shadeTreeImaging.com |


Boreal Chickadee(Poecile hudsonicus) |
Description: I used my second day of clear weather to return to McIntyre Marsh, northwest of Whitehorse. I enjoyed the company of birds there. I was especially pleased to find for only my second time in 17 years, the Boreal Chickadee. |
Date Taken: 2022:06:16 13:03 |
Location:
McIntyre Marsh |
Camera Information: NIKON D850, 800 mm, f/8.0, 1/5000 |
File Name: BorealChickadee_8500802-McIntyreMarsh.YK_ |
© 2022 Jack Daynes, shadeTreeImaging.com |


Boreal Chickadee(Poecile hudsonicus) |
Description: I used my second day of clear weather to return to McIntyre Marsh, northwest of Whitehorse. I enjoyed the company of birds there. I was especially pleased to find for only my second time in 17 years, the Boreal Chickadee. |
Date Taken: 2022:06:16 13:07 |
Location:
McIntyre Marsh |
Camera Information: NIKON D850, 800 mm, f/8.0, 1/3200 |
File Name: BorealChickadee_8500817-McIntyreMarsh.YK_ |
© 2022 Jack Daynes, shadeTreeImaging.com |


Boreal Chickadee(Poecile hudsonicus) |
Description: I followed up my afternoon visit to McIntyre Marsh, northwest of Whitehorse, with a second visit the next morning. At last, I was able to meet another Boreal Chickadee, a bird I only met once before on the Dempster Highway. |
Date Taken: 2022:06:17 9:22 |
Location:
McIntyre Marsh |
Camera Information: NIKON D850, 800 mm, f/8.0, 1/8000 |
File Name: BorealChickadee_8501075-McIntyreMarsh.YK_ |
(C)Jack Daynes |


Boreal Chickadee(Poecile hudsonicus) |
Description: I followed up my afternoon visit to McIntyre Marsh, northwest of Whitehorse, with a second visit the next morning. At last, I was able to meet another Boreal Chickadee, a bird I only met once before on the Dempster Highway. |
Date Taken: 2022:06:17 9:20 |
Location:
McIntyre Marsh |
Camera Information: NIKON D850, 800 mm, f/8.0, 1/8000 |
File Name: BorealChickadee_8501064-McIntyreMarsh.YK_ |
(C)Jack Daynes |


Boreal Chickadee(Poecile hudsonicus) |
Description: I followed up my afternoon visit to McIntyre Marsh, northwest of Whitehorse, with a second visit the next morning. At last, I was able to meet another Boreal Chickadee, a bird I only met once before on the Dempster Highway. |
Date Taken: 2022:06:17 9:20 |
Location:
McIntyre Marsh |
Camera Information: NIKON D850, 800 mm, f/8.0, 1/5000 |
File Name: BorealChickadee_8501053-McIntyreMarsh.YK_ |
(C)Jack Daynes |


Boreal Chickadee(Poecile hudsonicus) |
Description: I followed up my afternoon visit to McIntyre Marsh, northwest of Whitehorse, with a second visit the next morning. At last, I was able to meet another Boreal Chickadee, a bird I only met once before on the Dempster Highway. |
Date Taken: 2022:06:17 9:19 |
Location:
McIntyre Marsh |
Camera Information: NIKON D850, 800 mm, f/8.0, 1/6400 |
File Name: BorealChickadee_8501039-McIntyreMarsh.YK_ |
(C)Jack Daynes |


Boreal Chickadee(Poecile hudsonicus) |
Description: I followed up my afternoon visit to McIntyre Marsh, northwest of Whitehorse, with a second visit the next morning. At last, I was able to meet another Boreal Chickadee, a bird I only met once before on the Dempster Highway. |
Date Taken: 2022:06:17 9:19 |
Location:
McIntyre Marsh |
Camera Information: NIKON D850, 800 mm, f/8.0, 1/4000 |
File Name: BorealChickadee_8501027-McIntyreMarsh.YK_ |
(C)Jack Daynes |

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