Newsletter—The Mountain Chickadee

By linking the name of our Newsletter, The Mountain Chickadee, to a bird species that is characteristic of our area, we join many other Audubon chapters in recognizing our focus on birds, other wildlife, and habitat. Naming our publication after a bird is also part of a long tradition in ornithology. The first scientific description of the Mountain Chickadee also has close historical ties to Santa Fe. Download a PDF copy of the Current issue of the Mountain Chickadee here .

The Mountain Chickadee (Poecile gambeli) was discovered (by Western science) by the well-known early ornithologist William Gambel (1823-1849) in 1841. Although his name is well represented in ornithology, botany, and herpetology in the names of organisms he either discovered or that were named in his honor, he made only one trip to the Southwest. He arrived in New Mexico over the Santa Fe Trail in 1841 and spent most of June and July in Santa Fe. Read More.

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