From Opus

Photo by Adey Baker
Burbage Wood, Leicestershire, UK.

Poecile palustris

Parus palustris

[edit] Identification

Large shiny black cap, small black bib. grey brown upperparts, dull buff underneath. Often has pale spot on upper mandible at base of bill as opposed to just pale edges as seen on Willow Tit. Cheek may have clear 'rusty looking' demarkation nearing the nape. Usually neat and dapper looking as opposed to the scruffy looking Willow Tit.

showing colour change to cheek patch and pale spot on upper mandible
Photo by James Thomas
Redhouse, North Yorkshire 22 Jan 2011

[edit] Similar Species

Very similar to Willow Tit.

[edit] Distribution

Europe and Asia:

[edit] Taxonomy

Until recently, all Tit species were believed to belong to the same genus, Parus. Since then, research results appeared which made it more likely that the correct treatment was to divide the Tit/Chickadee species into several genera; Marsh Tit thereby became a member of the genus Poecile. Black-bibbed Marsh Tit (Poecile hypermelaena) is a recent split from the regular Marsh Tit.

[edit] Subspecies

Photo by Digiscoper321
West Sweden, February 2012

There are 8 subspecies^[1]:

• P. p. palustris:

• British Isles, southern Scandinavia and central Europe to Pyrenes and the Balkans

• P. p. stagnatilis:

• Western Russia to northern Turkey, eastern Yugoslavia and Bulgaria

• P. p. kabardensis:

• Caucasus Mountains

• P. p. italicus:

• French Alps and Italy

• P. p. brevirostris:

• Siberia to Mongolia, north-eastern China and Korea

• P. p. ernsti:

• Sakhalin

• P. p. hensoni:

• Northern Japan (southern Kuril Islands and Hokkaido)

• P. p. hellmayri:

• Southern and eastern China (Sichuan to Liaoning) and southern Korea

[edit] Habitat

Prefers deciduous woodland.

[edit] Behaviour

[edit] Breeding

Moss and grass cup in existing hole either in tree or wall.

[edit] Diet

It eats mainly insects in summer, seeds and berries in autumn and winter. Will use feeders.

[edit] Vocalisation

Its voice is a most distinctive sneezing sound.

[edit] References

1. Clements, J. F., T. S. Schulenberg, M. J. Iliff, B.L. Sullivan, C. L. Wood, and D. Roberson. 2012. The eBird/Clements Checklist of Birds of the World. 6th ed., with updates to October 2012. Ithaca: Cornell Univ. Press. ISBN 978-0801445019. Spreadsheet available at http://www.birds.cornell.edu/clementschecklist/downloadable-clements-checklist

• List of references

[edit] External Links