The 2025 field season has flown by!

The 2025 summer field season has flown by with the last chickadee nests at the Mountain Research Station of the season scheduled to be banded on July 12. Folks have been busy collecting data for their individual projects along with our annual Boulder Chickadee Study data. Check out updates from the field team below!

Sam: since discovering the legs growths I'm studying are actually caused by scaly leg mites and not avian pox virus, I've been doing a lot of reading. I've also spending plenty of time in the field checking boxes, learning how to band, and taking samples!

Jenna: the field season at the MRS is going great so far, with 27 active nests and 4 hatched Mountain Chickadee nests. Nestling and adult banding is set to start this week.

Sara: the 2025 field season is off to a strong start! I’ve been busy helping with adult banding, nest box checks, and mite sampling, while also helping train the newest members of the Boulder Chickadee Study team.

Eva: this season, I’ve been working in the field doing observational studies to compare black-capped and mountain chickadees in the Boulder area as they feed and care for their young. Tracking the behaviors of these birds across a wide range of elevations has been fascinating, and I look forward to transforming the patterns I find into an honors thesis in the coming semesters!

Nate: this field season I have been collecting data about how long different mountain and black-capped chickadee females are spending incubating their eggs using temperature loggers placed in the nest. I have also been collecting those nests when the nestlings leave, as well as helping out other people with their own projects within the Boulder Chickadee Study.