Stan and Keltie Masters, owners of Back to Nature Retreat B&B have recently had several rare chestnut-backed chickadees visit feeders at their facility near Water Valley.
“While out capturing the flurry of birds around our feeders, I noticed a chickadee that at first glance looked a lot like the boreal chickadee but seemed to be a bit smaller in size,” they said. “Upon looking closer at my images later that day and conferring to Chris Fisher’s Birds of Alberta book, I realized that this indeed was the chestnut-backed chickadee that is not normally seen in Alberta.”
The couple has since been asked by the Alberta Birds Record Committee to fill out a record form for Unusual Bird Sightings.
“Apparently only 17 sightings have ever been recorded in Alberta. These little guys are usually found along the west coast of British Columbia. The fact that we have three chestnut-backed chickadees is even rarer.
“We’ve actually had so many requests for people to come and see these birds, that to protect the birds we’ve had to limit the viewings to our B&B guests only.”
