Parus major? Iran, Khorasan-e Razavi, May 2022 (1 Viewer)

[Pedrambirder]

Hi all,

 

[Tote]

IMO, it lacks the build of Turkestan Tit.
The area is fine for Parus major intermedius, a taxon thought to be a hybrid between P. major and the grey Asian form P. cinereus.

 

[MJB]

IMO, it lacks the build of Turkestan Tit.
The area is fine for Parus major intermedius, a taxon thought to be a hybrid between P. major and the grey Asian form P. cinereus.

IOC 12.1 treats Parus cinereus Cinereous Tit as a full species, quoting Päckert et al 2005, Eck & Martens 2006 and Collar 2007, but also stating that Zhao et al 2012 and Song et al 2020 show that revision of taxa in this complex (Parus major, Japanese Tit P. minor, P. cinereus & Green-packed Tit P. monticolus) is needed but requires more data. The complex includes at least 40 subspecies, and so a thorough revision would need to test the validity of each ssp and then evaluate the assemblage to adduce whether it should comprise more or fewer than the current total of 4 species. This would be a major project. The taxon intermedius is currently included under P. major in IOC 12.1, as Tote mentioned.
MJB

 

[Pedrambirder]

IMO, it lacks the build of Turkestan Tit.
The area is fine for Parus major intermedius, a taxon thought to be a hybrid between P. major and the grey Asian form P. cinereus.

Thank you

 

[Pedrambirder]

IOC 12.1 treats Parus cinereus Cinereous Tit as a full species, quoting Päckert et al 2005, Eck & Martens 2006 and Collar 2007, but also stating that Zhao et al 2012 and Song et al 2020 show that revision of taxa in this complex (Parus major, Japanese Tit P. minor, P. cinereus & Green-packed Tit P. monticolus) is needed but requires more data. The complex includes at least 40 subspecies, and so a thorough revision would need to test the validity of each ssp and then evaluate the assemblage to adduce whether it should comprise more or fewer than the current total of 4 species. This would be a major project. The taxon intermedius is currently included under P. major in IOC 12.1, as Tote mentioned.
MJB

Thank you for details.

 

[THE_FERN]

IMO, it lacks the build of Turkestan Tit.
The area is fine for Parus major intermedius, a taxon thought to be a hybrid between P. major and the grey Asian form P. cinereus.

Is that because the head is large and the tail shortish? ...Just curious: not familiar with these taxa

 

[Tote]

Is that because the head is large and the tail shortish? ...Just curious: not familiar with these taxa

The Turkestan Tits in central Asia seemed somewhat slimmer than our Great Tit and relatively longer tailed, apart from the cold grey and white.
No experience with Iranian Great Tit forms, though.