White-fronted Tit Sittiparus semilarvatus Scientific name definitions

13 cm. Medium-size, large-billed and long-tailed tit with mostly black plumage. Male nominate race has forehead and upper lores white or pale buffish, rest of head, upperparts and underparts blackish-brown, glossed deep indigo-blue above, glossed bluish only on breast below, concealed whitish nuchal patch at base of nape feathers; tail brownish-black, fringed deep blue-black, upperwing brownish-black, median and greater wing-coverts fringed indigo-bluish; axillaries and underwing-coverts whitish; iris brown to pale brown; bill and legs black. ­Female is similar to male, but buffish-white on forehead extends diffusely to cheeks, upperparts slightly duller, underparts (lacking gloss except faintly on breast) paler or more ochre-brown, longest undertail-coverts tipped white. Juvenile is as female, young male usually darker or blacker below, and with slightly paler tips of greater coverts. Racial variation slight to moderate: snowi male is on average slightly duller, less glossy, above and below, has larger nuchal patch (still concealed, except in juvenile plumage, when appears as narrow white half-collar), and whiter bases on inner webs of flight-feathers and on undertail-coverts, female slightly duller than nominate, browner on underparts, may show white spots on nape (nuchal patch not always concealed), and usually more white on tips of primary coverts on underwing; nehrkorni differs from previous in more extensive white bases on primaries and outer secondaries, axillaries more extensively white, also cheeks and ear-coverts may be whitish, juvenile similar to juvenile of previous, with dull white nuchal patch and more white on undertail-coverts.

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Editor's Note: Additional distribution information for this taxon can be found in the 'Subspecies' article above. In the future we will develop a range-wide distribution article.

Lowland and hill forest, including forest edges, secondary forest and woodlands, degraded and logged forest, also occasionally in scrubby areas; to 1150 m.

Resident.

Diet not well known, but presumed to include small invertebrates and larvae. Usually alone, in pairs or in groups of up to ten individuals, also in mixed-species foraging flocks. Shy and elusive. Forages in middle and upper levels of trees, moving from one canopy to the next; also occasionally in undergrowth. Uses fairly rapid gleaning action.

Calls include short sharp “psit” and higher-pitched rolling “tsuit” or metallic “zeeeeet”, repeated several times or combined into longer “sit-tsuit-suit-suit”; also high-pitched “tsi-tsi-tsi-tsi-tsi” or “zit-zit-zit-zit-zit”, sometimes introduced or followed by “tsre” or “tsree”, and a longer “tsee-tsi-tsi”. Song is apparently a much longer version of call notes accelerating towards end, “tsi-tsi-tsi-tsi-tsi-tsi-ts-ts-ts-ts”; also gives metallic and rising trill, “i-i-i-i-i, tji”, followed by lower “djididididiw”.

Very poorly known. Pair prospecting nest-hole in tree stump in early Feb, adult feeding fledged juvenile mid-Mar, and adult in breeding condition in May. No other information.

Not globally threatened. Currently considered Near-threatened. Restricted-range species: present in Luzon EBA and Mindanao and the Eastern Visayas EBA. Generally rare or uncommon; locally common in Sierra Madre, in N Luzon. Very few recent observations from Mindanao (race nehrkorni), where known from eight localities. Rapid and large-scale destruction of forests in recent years in Philippines has seriously reduced the amount of suitable habitat available to this little-known and generally shy and retiring species.