Marsh Tit
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| Poecile palustris (Linnaeus, 1758) |
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Parus palustris |
The Marsh Tit, Poecile palustris, is a passerine bird in the tit family Paridae. It is a widespread and common resident breeder throughout temperate Europe and northern Asia. It does not breed in Spain, Ireland or the colder northern countries. It is resident, and most birds do not migrate.
The head and neck are glossy blue-black; the chin and upper throat are black, the feathers of the latter edged with white. The cheeks are white, the back is sandy brown with an olive tinge, and the rump browner. The absence of the nape spot distinguishes it at once from the Coal Tit.
The wings and tail are greyish, and there is a clear bar on the former, a further distinction from the Coal Tit. The underparts are greyish white, shading into buff on the flanks. As a rule the upper and under surfaces are more sharply defined than in the Willow Tit, its probable sister species. The bill is black, the legs lead-coloured, and the irides very dark brown.
It can be told from the Willow Tit by its glossy blue-black head and squarer tail; the black bib under the biill is smaller, and the wings are uniformly brown without a conspicuous lighter area towards the tips when at rest. The sexes are alike and seasonal changes are not striking; the young are duller. Length is 11.5 cm, and wing range from 60-70 mm.
"Marsh Tit" is a misleading rather than incorrect name, for though the bird is found in damp and marshy places, it is as common in dry woods and hedgerows and even occurs in gardens. In mixed winter tit flocks, seldom more than one or two Marsh Tits are present, and parties of this species alone are infrequent. Its performances in the bushes and branches are just as neat and agile as those of other tits; it often hangs upside down by one leg. Like the others it has a large range of vocal utterances ; it has a quick, metallic and shrill call sip, sip, a loud alarm note tay, tay, tay, and a subdued song sis, sis, ris, see.
The food is animal or vegetable; caterpillars and other insects, and spiders are eaten, and seeds of various kinds, including those of the thistle. Unlike most other tits, this bird has been observed to store the food for the winter, by hiding seeds behind tree bark or in similar semi-hidden places.
The nest is occasionally in a hole in the ground, but the bird is more of a tree species than some of its relatives. It selects a hole in a rotten willow or other trunk or stump for choice, and though it never starts a hole, it undoubtedly enlarges the hollow, carrying the chips to a distance before dropping them. The hole may be within a foot or two of the ground or high up in a tall tree. Wool, hair, fur and moss are felted together, and occasionally willowdown is added, but the quantity of material used is variable.
Five to nine eggs of the usual tit type are laid late in April or in May, and second broods are recorded. The bird sits closely.
[edit] Systematics
Most authorities retain Poecile as a subgenus within the genus Parus, but the American Ornithologists' Union treats it as a distinct genus. This is supported by mtDNA cytochrome b sequence analysis; within Poecile, the Marsh Tit is part of a group of Eurasian "typical chickadees" that includes also the Willow Tit, Père David's Tit, and in all probability also the Songar Tit.(Gill et al., 2005)
The subspecies hypermelaena is sometimes considered a distinct species, the Black-bibbed Tit[citation needed].
[edit] References
- BirdLife International (2004). Parus palustris. 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
- Gill, Frank B.; Slikas, Beth & Sheldon, Frederick H. (2005): Phylogeny of titmice (Paridae): II. Species relationships based on sequences of the mitochondrial cytochrome-b gene. Auk 122: 121-143. DOI: 10.1642/0004-8038(2005)122[0121:POTPIS]2.0.CO;2 HTML abstract
