From Opus

Male by Glen Tepke.
Garrapata State Park, Monterey County, California, August 2003

Psaltriparus minimus

[edit] Identification

One of North America's smallest birds, other than hummingbirds: 4.5 inches (11 cm) in length, nearly half of which is the long, narrow tail. Weight is only 5.3 g
Eyes are dark in the male, but cream to yellowish in the female.
Coastal birds have brown crowns; interior birds are more gray overall with brown cheeks. Birds from southern Texas southward sometimes sport black masks.

Male "Black-eared Bushtit"
Photo by gatafrancesca
San Cristóbal de Las Casas, Chiapas, Mexico, November 2006

[edit] Distribution

Southern British Columbia and far western USA through Mexico to Guatemala.

[edit] Taxonomy

[edit] Subspecies

The Bushtit has 11-12 subspecies depending on authority^[1]:

The forms with black mask (subspecies including at least melanotis and personatus) was formely considered a distinct species, the Black-eared Bushtit (P. melanotis). There is a complex transition zone between this and the northern forms.

Female
Photo by jvhigbee
Nisqually National Wildlife Refuge, Washington, USA, February 2005

Minimus Group (Pacific)

• P. m. saturatus':Southern British Columbia, Puget Sound lowlands and Whidbey Island
• P. m. minimus: Pacific coast west of the Cascades (northern Oregon to southern California)
• P. m. melanurus: Coastal southern California (northern San Diego County) to northern Baja
• P. m. grindae: Mountains southern Baja California (Sierra de la Laguna)
  

Plumbeus Group (Interior)

• P. m. plumbeus: Eastern Oregon to Idaho, Wyoming, Arizona, New Mexico, western Texas
• P. m. californicus: Interior southern Oregon to southern California (Kern County)
• P. m. sociabilis: Southern California (Little San Bernardino and Eagle mountains)
  

Melanotis Group (Black-eared)

• P. m. dimorphicus: Mountains of north-western Mexico (Sonora to Sinaloa and northern Coahuila)
• P. m. iulus: Mountains of western Mexico (Durango to southern Jalisco and western Tamaulipas)
• P. m. personatus: Mountains of central Mexico (Michoacán to western Veracruz and Puebla)
• P. m. melanotis: Mountains of southern Mexico (Guerrero, Oaxaca and Chiapas) to Guatemala

A study shows genetic divisions within this species possibly indicating a future split.

[edit] Habitat

Two populations differ in using scrub along the coast, and mainly Oak-Pine woodlands in the mountains. Especially southern populations are limited to mountains.

[edit] Behaviour

These birds roam in flocks, flowing from one tree to the next, keeping the group together with a constant chatter of calls. They are non-migratory, but may move to lower elevations in the colder months. Gregarious except when breeding. Groups are often seen huddled together on nightly roosts to conserve body heat.

[edit] Diet

Food is mostly insects and spiders with some small seeds, galls, and other vegetable matter mixed in. Food is usually caught by gleaning, and the majority of time is spent gleaning from leaves with the rest being on small twigs near the tip of a branch. Type of preferred tree differs regionally and with the time of year; sometimes the birds prefer flowering trees due to the insects attracted to the flowers.

[edit] Breeding

Nest is a hanging sack constructed of spider's web and vegetable matters. One to two clutches per year, usually reusing the same nest. Litter size is 4-10, usually smaller in south than in north part of the range; when applicable, second clutch is laid while the young of the first clutch is still dependent on the parents. Some pairs get help to bring up the young from other birds, which can be of either sex and adults or young.

[edit] Vocalisation

Bushtits don’t have a song in the usual sense, but they do make a lot of contact calls, typically tsit or spit, which vary in loudness and frequency, depending on the situation. For instance, soft calls are made in foraging flocks to help individuals know where their flockmates are. Louder calls are heard in nest building activity and during mobbing behavior.

If an individual is separated from the flock, it will give a high-pitched, bell-like call which carries a long distance.

Soft twittering calls can occasionally be heard when several Bushtits huddle together.

[edit] References

1. Clements, JF. 2011. The Clements Checklist of Birds of the World. 6th ed., with updates to August 2011. Ithaca: Cornell Univ. Press. ISBN 978-0801445019. Spreadsheet available at http://www.birds.cornell.edu/clementschecklist/downloadable-clements-checklist
2. Paper describing genetic findings with this species
3. Birds of North America Online account for Bushtit

• List of references

[edit] External Links