The Gray-headed Chickadee is part of the app. 50 Parus species with a dominance in the Old World, ranging from Scandinavia (Norway, Sweden Finland) all across Russia and even into the New World, namely Alaska and Yukon/Canada (Hailman and Haftron 1995). This species is often found in pine-dominated lichen stands of the subarctic region.

In the last years some studies reported dramatic declines, e.g. in the southern regions of Norway and northern Finland (Krams et al. 2010, Dale and Andreassen 2016). Here I focus on some aspects of the reported and local species loss, namely man-made global warming due to CO2 and old-growth forest loss. A recent study about Alaska by Booms et al. (2020) gets emphasized  which reported only three detections for this species during 2010-2017 (formerly, over 150 locations had reports reaching back til 1864, with many consistent sightings over the last 20 years, e.g. done by bird watchers). Alaska has not reported a single Gray-headed Chickadee nest in recent years.

While solid songbird population trend data are few for the subarctic, this species might already indicate serious problems for the Anthropocene, e.g. Huettmann (2012) and Krupnik (2018). 

Photo credit: Wikipedia

Further readings

Booms, T.L., L. H. DeCicco, C.P. Barger and J. A. Johnson (2020) Current Knowledge and Conservation Status of the Gray-Headed Chickadee in North America. Journal of Fish and Wildlife Management 11: 654–664. doi: https://doi.org/10.3996/082019-JFWM-072

Dale, S and E. Andreassen (2016) Population decline of the Siberian Tit (Poecile cinctus) in southern Norway and an assessment of possible causes. Ornis Fennica 93: 77-87.

Hailman J.P. and S. Haftorn (1995) Gray-headed chickadee (Poecile cinctus). In Poole AF, Gill FB, editors. The birds of North America ( Poole AF, Gill FB editors). Ithaca, New York: Cornell Lab of Ornithology. https://doi.org/10.2173/bna.196Huettmann 3 Pole Protection

Huettmann, F. (2012) Yet Another, But This Time Realistic, Polar Synthesis, Meta-Analysis, and Outlook: Protecting Ice, Snow, People, Species, Habitats, and Global Temperatures for Good? in F.Huettmann (ed) Protection of the Three Poles, Springer Tokyo, Japan, pp. 265-330

Krams, K., D. Cīrule, T. Krama, M. Hukkanen, S. Rytkönen, M. Orell, T. Iezhova, M. J. Rantala, and L.Tummeleht (2010) Effects of Forest Management on Haematological Parameters, Blood Parasites, and Reproductive Success of the Siberian Tit (Poecile cinctus) in Northern Finland. Annales Zoologici Fennici 47: 335-346. https://doi.org/10.5735/086.047.0504

Krupnik, I. (2018) 'Arctic Crashes:’ Revisiting the Human-Animal Disequilibrium Model in a Time of Rapid Change. Hum Ecol 46: 685–700. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10745-018-9990-1

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