Birch tit
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Birch tit ( Lophophanes dichrous ) |
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| Scientific name | ||||||||||||
| Lophophanes dichrous | ||||||||||||
| ( Blyth , 1845) |
The birch Meise ( Lophophanes dichrous , Syn. : Parus dichrous ), also known as gray Haubenmeise referred to, a bird art of the genus Lophophanes from the family of tits (Paridae).
Description and characteristics
It is a relatively small species of titmouse, 120 millimeters long, with a conspicuous feather hood on its head. The top, including the top of the head and the bonnet, is dull gray in color (in animals from Western China, the top is more brownish than the bonnet). A white stripe under the base of the beak forms a separate, ring-shaped pattern with a white stripe on the neck. The throat is brownish-yellow with a gray tint, the rest of the underside is light cinnamon-colored.
The species can be distinguished from other crested tit species found in the region by the inconspicuous, monochrome-looking plumage with the absence of black or yellow areas. The very similar tree tit ( Sylviparus modestus ) has a smaller hood, no white neck ring and is generally olive-brown in color. The distantly similar yellow nape yuhina ( Yuhina flavicollis ) has a striking, black beard stripe and a yellow neck stripe.
distribution
The species lives in the West Himalayas , west of the main chains, from South Kashmir in the north via Himachal Pradesh and Uttar Pradesh , Nepal , Sikkim , Bhutan , Arunachal Pradesh to the northeast of Myanmar . To the east of it, it also populates southern Tibet and a larger area in western and southwest China in Qinghai , Yunnan , Sichuan , Gansu and Shaanxi . A distribution map can be found online in the Handbook of the Birds of the World.
Habitat and way of life
The birch tit is a mountain species that is particularly common at altitudes between around 2400 and 4000 meters. Individual data in Sichuan range up to an altitude of 4750 meters. It is a type of forest that is common in a variety of deciduous and coniferous forest types. In western China they are preferred to be found in coniferous forests. The species is essentially a resident bird, but migrates somewhat from higher mountain heights into the valleys in winter. Even in winter, however, animals can be found at altitudes over 4000 meters. The species lives in pairs in breeding grounds, occasionally in small flocks, also mixed with other songbird species. It looks for food almost exclusively on branches and in tree tops, especially in winter but also in low bushes or on the ground. The breeding season in the West Himalayas is April to June. It breeds in tree hollows which it (like some related species) occasionally hollow out even in rotten tree trunks. The four to five eggs are colored white with dense red spots.
Taxonomy
Subspecies are:
- Lophophanes dichrous dichrous ( Blyth , 1845) - nominate form , Central and Eastern Himalayas
- Lophophanes dichrous kangrae Whistler , 1932 - North West Himalayas from Kashmir to Uttar Pradesh
- Lophophanes dichrous wellsi ( ECS Baker , 1917) - Northeast Burma and adjacent southwest China.
- Lophophanes dichrous dichroides Przewalski , 1876 - from northeast Tibet and northern Sichuan to Shaanxi.
Together with its sister species , the crested tit Lophophanes cristatus , the species forms the genus Lophophanes . The sister group ratio was confirmed in a current phylogenomic study by comparing homologous DNA sequences. Both species were traditionally included in the genus Parus , which is why the species is listed in most older works under the synonym Parus dichrous .
Existence and endangerment
The species colonizes a relatively large area and is quite common in the West Himalayas. The populations appear to be stable; no declines have been reported. Although an exact estimate of the population size is not available, it is therefore considered safe (least concern)
literature
- Edward Charles Stuart Baker: Mr. EC Stuart Baker described the following new subspecies of India and Siamese birds, the latter collected by Mr. EG Herbert and presented by him to the British Museum . In: Bulletin of the British Ornithologists' Club . tape 38 , 1917, p. 7-10 ( biodiversitylibrary.org [accessed May 14, 2015]).
- Hugh Whistler: Mr. Hugh Whistler forwarded the description of a new subspecies of Crested Tit from Western Himalayas . In: Bulletin of the British Ornithologists' Club . tape 53 , 1932, pp. 20–21 ( biodiversitylibrary.org [accessed May 14, 2015]).
- BH Hodgson: On the Leiotrichane Birds of the Subhemalyas. With some additions and annotations, -a Synopsis of Indian Pari, - and of the Indian Fringillidae. In: Edward Blyth (Ed.): The Journal of the Asiatic Society of Bengal . tape 13 , part 2, no. 156 , 1844, pp. 933-963 ( biodiversitylibrary.org [accessed May 14, 2015]).
- Nikolai Michailowitsch Prschewalski: Lophophanes dichroides . In: Монголия и страна Тангутов: трехлетнее путешествие в восточной нагорной Азии [Mongolii ︠ a ︡ i strana tangutov; trekhletnee puteshestvie v vostochnoĭ nagornoĭ Azii] . tape 2 , 1876, Chapter II: птицы , p. 54 (Russian, Text Archive - Internet Archive ).
Individual evidence
- ↑ a b c Simon Harrap: Tits, Nuthatches and Treecreepers. (Helm Identification Guides), Christopher Helm Publishers, 1995, ISBN 978-0-7136-3964-3 . Pp. 320-321, plate 20 pp. 74-75.
- ^ Gray-crested tit at HBW
- ↑ IOC World Bird List Waxwings and Their allies, tits tits & penduline
- ^ Edward Blyth, p. 943.
- ^ Hugh Whistler, p. 20.
- ^ Edward Charles Stuart Baker, p. 8.
- ↑ Nikolai Michailowitsch Prschewalski, p. 54.
- ↑ Ulf S. Johansson, Jan Ekman, Rauri CK Bowie, Peter Halvarsson, Jan I. Ohlson, Trevor D. Price, Per GP Ericson: A complete multilocus species phylogeny of the tits and chickadees (Aves: Paridae) . In: Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution . tape 69 , no. 3 , December 1, 2013, p. 852-860 , doi : 10.1016 / j.ympev.2013.06.019 .
- ↑ BirdLife International: Species Factsheet - Gray-crested Tit ( Parus dichrous )
