Long-tailed Tit Aegithalos caudatus is most widespread bushtit, ranging Ireland to Kamchatka Peninsula and Japan. In China, caudatus resident northeast Inner Mongolia, Heilongjiang, and Jilin, with some wintering south to Beijing. HABITAT & BEHAVIOR Broadleaved and mixed forest; also parks and gardens with trees, even in urban areas. Gregarious; usually in family flocks of up to a dozen, often huddling together for warmth. Makes domed nest camouflaged with flakes of lichen. ID & COMPARISON Small, fluffy tit with a white head, tiny black bill, and long tail that makes up about half the total length of the bird. Head, throat, and underparts white with pinkish tinge on belly and flanks. Mantle, wings black, fringed white on secondaries and tertials, with dull pink and white area on scapulars and sides of mantle. Black tail edged white, rectrices becoming gradually much shorter from central to outer tail. Juvenile shorter-tailed, with dark head sides and pale red orbital ring; no pink shoulders. Adult Silver-throated Bushtit A. glaucogularis has black lateral crown-stripes and a black bib. BARE PARTS Bill, feet black. Peppercorn eye with yellow orbital ring. VOICE Very vocal; busy flocks constantly make contact calls. Tuneless, explosive chirr and high-pitched whistles. — Craig Brelsford
THE BUSHTITS OF CHINA
shanghaibirding.com covers all 8 species of long-tailed tit in China. Click any link:
Long-tailed Tit Aegithalos caudatus
Silver-throated Bushtit A. glaucogularis
Black-throated Bushtit A. concinnus
Rufous-fronted Bushtit A. iouschistos
Black-browed Bushtit A. bonvaloti
Sooty Bushtit A. fuliginosus
White-browed Tit-warbler Leptopoecile sophiae
Crested Tit-warbler L. elegans
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
Daniel Bengtsson served as chief ornithological consultant for Craig Brelsford’s Photographic Field Guide to the Birds of China, from which this species description is drawn.
