Family Tits and Chickadees (Paridae)
Least Concern
Willow Tit (Poecile montanus)
Taxonomy
French: Mésange boréale German: Weidenmeise Spanish: Carbonero montano
Taxonomy:
Parus cinereus montanus
Conrad
, 1827,mountain forests of Graubünden, Switzerland
.
Subspecies and Distribution
P. m. kleinschmidti
(Hellmayr, 1900) – Britain.
P. m. rhenanus
(O. Kleinschmidt, 1900) – W Europe from NW France E to W Germany and S to extreme N Italy.
P. m. montanus
(Conrad, 1827) – Willow Tit – SE France (Jura) E to Slovakia, Romania, Bulgaria and N & C Greece. Also disjunct population in C Italy (C Apennines).
P. m. salicarius
(C. L. Brehm, 1831) – Germany and W Poland S to NE Switzerland and Austria.
P. m. borealis
(Sélys-Longchamps, 1843) – Fennoscandia, Baltic Republics and European Russia S to W Ukraine.
P. m. uralensis
(Grote, 1927) – SE European Russia, W Siberia and N Kazakhstan.
P. m. baicalensis
Swinhoe, 1871 – E Russia (Yenisey Basin and Altai E to W coast of Sea of Okhotsk), N Mongolia, NW & NE China (NW Xinjiang; N Inner Mongolia, Heilongjiang, Jilin and E Liaoning) and N Korea.
P. m. anadyrensis
(Belopolski, 1932) – extreme NE Siberia S to N Okhotsk coast.
P. m. kamtschatkensis
Bonaparte, 1850 – Kamchatka.
P. m. sachalinensis
(Lönnberg, 1908) – Sakhalin.
P. m. restrictus
(Hellmayr, 1900) – Japan.
P. m. songarus
(Severtsov, 1873) – Songar Tit – Tien Shan in SE Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan (C & E Tien Shan) E to NW China (W Xinjiang).
P. m. affinis
Przevalski, 1876 – NC China (NE Qinghai, S Gansu, N Sichuan, Ningxia and SW Shaanxi).
P. m. stoetzneri
(O. Kleinschmidt, 1921) – NE China (SE Inner Mongolia and Shanxi E to Hebei and N Henan).
P. m. weigoldicus
(O. Kleinschmidt, 1921) – Sichuan Tit – SC China (E Xizang, SE Qinghai, W & C Sichuan and NW Yunnan).
Descriptive notes
11–12 cm; 8–15 g. Medium-sized, broad-headed tit with pale panel on closed wing. Nominate race has forehead to side of crown (down to lower edge of eye), nape and... read more
Voice
Generally less vocal than P. palustris, and with fairly restricted vocal repertoire.... read more
Habitat
Lowland, submontane and montane forests and woodlands, principally coniferous forests of pine (... read more
Food and feeding
Mostly invertebrates and larvae, also vegetable matter. In breeding season includes flies (Diptera), lacewings (Neuroptera), mayflies (... read more
Breeding
Season Apr–Jul; one brood. Monogamous; lifelong pair-bond. Territorial; partners remain together within or close to territory (within... read more
Movements
Mainly resident; race songarus a short-distance altitudinal migrant, and N populations... read more
Status and conservation
Not globally threatened. Common in N parts of range, and the commonest tit in Siberia (abundant along R Yenisey) and Mongolia (but population largely dependent on seed crop... read more
Has hybridized with P. palustris, P. cinctus, Sittiparus varius, Periparus ater and Parus major. Races songarus, affinis, weigoldicus and stoetzneri sometimes treated as a separate species. Genetic#R and geographical#R evidence suggests weigoldicus alone may be a separate species, but greater clarity needed over parapatry with and differentiation from race affinis. Geographical variation largely clinal; species sometimes considered possibly monotypic, with much variation within populations. Further research required, particularly of relationship between baicalensis and stoetzneri. Other proposed races include colletti (W Norway) and lonnbergi (N Scandinavia and NW Russia), synonymized with borealis; transsylvanicus (Carpathians and Transylvanian Alps, SE Europe) and rhodopeus (SE Macedonia, Greece and Bulgaria), merged with nominate; shulpini (Ussuriland), which differs only clinally from baicalensis; and suschkini (E Tarbagatai Mts), probably of hybrid origin, but provisionally included in songarus. Fifteen subspecies recognized.