From Opus

Includes Sichuan Tit

Photo by Askar Isabekov
Ile Alatau National Park, Kazakhstan, March 2005

Poecile songarus

[edit] Identification

13 cm

• Dark brown cap
• Black bib
• Rich brown upperparts
• White cheeks
• Cinnamon buff underparts
  

Sexes similar; juveniles are duller

[edit] Distribution

Asia: found in Turkmenistan, Kazakhstan, China, Tibet, and Inner Mongolia.

Sichuan Tit
Photo by James Eaton
Sichuan,China

[edit] Taxonomy

[edit] Subspecies

Four subspecies are recognized:^[1]

• P.s. songarus:

• Tien Shan Mountains of Kazakstan

• P.s. weigoldicus:

• Southwest China (Sichuan to eastern Tibet, south-eastern Qinghai and north-western Yunnan)

• P.s. affinis:

• North-central China (Ningxia to southern Gansu and north-eastern Qinghai)

• P.s. stotzneri:

• Northeast China (south-eastern Mongolia to Liaoning, Shaanxi and Henan)

IOC recognize P.(s.) weigoldicus as a full species "Sichuan Tit", but places the rest of these taxa into Willow Tit.

The scientific name has in the past been given as either Parus songarus or Poecile songarus.

[edit] Habitat

Deciduous mountain forests.

[edit] Behaviour

[edit] Breeding

It excavates a cup shaped nesting hole, usually in a rotten stump or in a tree. It is lined with fur, hair and wood chips, and maybe feathers. The clutch consists of 5-6 white eggs with small reddish spots or blotches.

[edit] Diet

The diet includes caterpillars, insects and seeds.

[edit] Vocalisation

[edit] References

1. Clements, JF. 2010. The Clements Checklist of Birds of the World. 6th ed., with updates to December 2010. Ithaca: Cornell Univ. Press. ISBN 978-0801445019. Spreadsheet available at http://www.birds.cornell.edu/clementschecklist/Clements%206.5.xls/view
2. Avibase
3. Wikipedia

• List of references

[edit] External Links