Bushtit
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| Psaltriparus minimus (Townsend, 1837) |
The Bushtit (Psaltriparus minimus) is a long-tailed tit found in North America. It is the only species in the family found in the New World, and the only member of the genus Psaltriparus.
Bushtits inhabit mixed open woodlands, often containing oaks and a scrubby understory. They are year-round residents of the western United States and highland parts of Mexico, ranging from Vancouver through the Great Basin and the lowlands and foothills of California, to southern Mexico and Guatemala.
The Bushtit is one of the smallest passerines in North America, at 11 cm in length and 5.3 g in weight. It is gray-brown overall, with a large head, a short neck, a long tail, and a short stubby bill. It has dark eyes, except that adult females have yellow eyes.
"Black-eared" Bushtits also have a dark ear patch (the auriculars). This morph was formerly considered a separate species (P. melanotis). It doesn't occur in the northern part of the range; as one moves south its first noted near the Mexican border, mostly in Texas. Here most individuals with the black ear patch are juvenile males, and none are adult females. Some birds have only one or two dark lines on the face instead of a complete patch. Black-eared birds become more common southward in the northeastern (but not the northwestern) highlands of Mexico until from central Mexico south, all males have a complete black ear patch and even adult females have a black arc over the eye and usually a black line through the eye.
Bushtits are active and gregarious, foraging in cohesive groups of 10 to over 40 for small insects and spiders. Members of the group constantly make contact calls to each other that can be described as a short tsit.
As "plain" Bushtits lack major identifying markings, they are often identified by their shape, calls, and behaviors. Bushtits are the only species of small bird inhabiting the western United States that regularly hang upside-down for extended periods.
[edit] References
- BirdLife International (2004). Psaltriparus minimus. 2006 IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. IUCN 2006. Retrieved on 12 May 2006. Database entry includes justification for why this species is of least concern
- Howell, Steve N. G., and Sophie Webb (1994). A Guide to the Birds of Mexico and Northern Central America. Oxford University Press. ISBN 0-19-854012-4.
- Sibley, David (2000). The Sibley Guide to Birds. Knopf. ISBN 0-679-45122-6.
