Yellow-bellied Tit Periparus venustulus Scientific name definitions

10–11 cm; 9–12·5 g. Small tit with large head and short tail; black cap and bib and bright yellow underparts. Male has lores, forehead to crown (including crown side down to eye), nape and side of upper mantle black (crown glossed blue), long white nuchal patch variably extending to centre of upper mantle; cheek and ear-coverts  to neck side pure white; centre and lower sides of mantle, scapulars and back bluish-grey, rump similar or slightly paler and greyer, longest rump feathers tipped olive-green, uppertail-coverts black, central feathers tipped olive-green; tail blackish-grey, narrowly fringed pale grey and finely tipped white, all rectrices except central pair with long segment of white on outer web towards base (amount of white increasing towards outermost feather); lesser upperwing-coverts blackish-grey with thin glossy bluish fringe, median and greater coverts black, tipped white (greaters sometimes with fine dark olive-green fringes), alula white with yellowish fringe; flight-feathers dark grey to blackish, secondaries and tertials finely fringed yellowish or yellowish-olive, tertials also tipped white or off-white (secondaries and primaries also finely tipped white in fresh plumage); chin and throat  (including side of throat) to upper breast black (throat may be tipped yellowish or white in fresh plumage), rest of underparts yellow  , slightly paler on undertail-coverts, washed olive on flanks; iris dark brown; bill black to bluish-black; legs lead-grey. Female  is similar to male but generally duller , forehead and crown dull bluish-grey with darker centres (mottled appearance), side of crown also darker or greyer, sometimes a short and narrow pale line over and behind eye, nape grey with yellowish-white nuchal patch, mantle and scapulars olive-green, becoming greyish-olive on back and bluish-grey on rump, uppertail-coverts greyish, tipped bluish-grey; tail and wings as male, but lesser and median coverts edged olive-green and white tips of medians washed yellowish, edges of flight-feathers slightly more green than on male; cheek and ear-coverts off-white, narrow greyish malar stripe connecting with same colour on neck side; chin and throat white, underparts as male but slightly duller. Juvenile  is similar to female but sexes separable at early age: young male has forehead to crown, nape and upperparts olive-green, very short (and often indistinct) supercilium over eye, broad dark eyestripe and blackish nape side, pale yellow spot on centre of nape, duller or yellowish-tinged cheeks and ear-coverts, indistinct greyish malar stripe, pale yellow chin and throat, dull yellowish side of neck; juvenile female as juvenile male but has paler wings and tail, with tips of median and greater coverts tinged yellowish, cheeks and ear-coverts dingy yellowish-white, malar stripe poorly defined.

EC & E China from NE Hebei S to S Gansu, C & E Sichuan and NE Yunnan, and from W Hubei S to NW Guangxi and E to S Anhui, C Hunan, N Jiangxi and N Guangdong; non-breeding also coastal districts from Jiangsu S to S Guangdong. Periodic irruptions to Korea (1 Brazil, M. (2009). Field Guide to the Birds of East Asia: Eastern China, Taiwan, Korea, Japan and Eastern Russia. Christopher Helm, London. Close ).

Broadleaf subtropical and evergreen forests, including mixed conifer and deciduous forest with bamboo, larches (Larix), willow (Salix) groves and other scattered trees at edges of cultivation; in non-breeding season more widely dispersed and may be found in almost any sizeable patch of trees . In summer at 1200–1500 m around Beijing, 500–2500 m in S Shaanxi, 600–2700 m in Sichuan, 350–1600 m in Guizhou and to 3050 m in S Gansu; outside breeding season usually below 1000 m, including on plains and near coast in E of range.

Diet not well known, but includes small invertebrates, larvae and seeds ; known to store food, but details lacking. Usually in pairs or in small groups of up to four individuals (probably family parties); in non-breeding season gathers in higher numbers, with up to 30 recorded in single flock, and also joins mixed-species foraging flocks. Forages at middle to low levels in trees and undergrowth.

Calls include thin and fairly soft “sit-oo”, rapid and high-pitched “si-si-si-si-si”, and frequently uttered nasal 3-note “dzee dzee dzee” which also extended into more varied “sip-eeh, sip, zee-zee-zee”. Song mostly a series of single or disyllabic and rather metallic notes repeated in short phrases, “swi-swi-swi, suwi-suwi-suwi, sipu-sipu-sipu”, or occasionally interspersed with more complex phrases, e.g. “spid-i-chu-spid-i-chu…”, “wee-wa-chi, wee-wa-chi, wee-wa-chi…”, “psi-wed-i, psi-wed-i, psi-wed-i” and similar.