Chestnut-backed Chickadee in August

August feels like summer but the year has turned. Southbound migration is quietly underway, many adults are molting into fresh plumage, and family groups are breaking up. Late nesters are still feeding young in the North while southern birds are already drifting toward wintering grounds.

For the Chestnut-backed Chickadee specifically, August is a summer month of relative routine, with the species settled into its seasonal pattern across its range. Across the 7 states and provinces where chestnut-backed chickadees occur, what the bird is doing this month depends heavily on latitude — the details below break it down by band.

Southern states

absent

Mid-latitudes

year-round resident

Northern states & Canada

absent

In August, chestnut-backed chickadees are absent in the South, year-round resident across the mid-latitudes, and absent in the northern states and Canada. That north–south split is the defining feature of this month: where you live changes which version of this bird you're looking at.

Chestnut-backed chickadees are not nesting in August. The season runs April–June at mid-latitudes.

That makes August a useful month for nest-box work: cleaning out old nesting material, checking mounts and predator guards, and making repairs while boxes are empty. A box that's ready early gets claimed early.

Chestnut-backed Chickadee nest box dimensions and mounting →

• Caterpillars and aphids

A bird of wet Pacific conifer forest; forages high in Douglas fir and hemlock.

Molting birds look scruffy and often skulk — don't be surprised if familiar visitors briefly vanish. Keep water fresh in the heat.

Full Chestnut-backed Chickadee diet guide → · Best feeder for chestnut-backed chickadees →

Chestnut-backed chickadees are settled and predictable in August, which makes this a good month to learn the bird's routine — same feeders, same perches, same times of day.

If you have a Chestnut-backed Chickadee box up, this is the month to make sure it's clean, secure and ready — the box guide below has the exact hole size and mounting height this species needs.

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