Panthera pardus, Queen of the Savanna
Marie Toorians
Category: Vertebrates
A Tale of Two Cities
Rory Macklin
Award winner
Chestnut-backed Chickadees (Poecile rufescens) live very different lives in Vancouver than they do in Victoria, on Vancouver Island. This individual was photographed in Stanley Park, one of the few large parks where they persist in Vancouver. However, in Victoria they roam across the entire city – even the heavily urbanized downtown core. We use eBird data and observational work to assess whether the presence of Black-capped Chickadee (Poecile atricapillus) in Vancouver, and its absence on Vancouver Island, may cause this pattern. Further, we ask this same question of the effect of sympatry between these species across the entire west coast.
