Rufous-fronted bushtit

Rufous-fronted bushtit
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Aves
Order: Passeriformes
Family: Aegithalidae
Genus: Aegithalos
Species: A. iouschistos
Binomial name
Aegithalos iouschistos
(Blyth, 1845)

The rufous-fronted bushtit or rufous-fronted tit (Aegithalos iouschistos) is a small passerine bird of the eastern and central Himalayas belonging to the long-tailed tit family, Aegithalidae. It forms a superspecies with the black-browed bushtit (A. bonvaloti) of China and northern Burma and the white-throated bushtit (A. niveogularis) of the western Himalayas. They have sometimes been regarded as a single species but are now often treated as separate. The ranges of the rufous-fronted and black-browed bushtits overlap slightly in China with no evidence of hybridization.

It is 11 cm long. The adult has grey upperparts and reddish-brown underparts. The head is reddish-buff with a black mask and a silver bib with black streaks and a black edge. Juveniles are paler and duller than the adults. The black-browed bushtit is similar but has a white forehead and belly and a white edge to its bib. The white-throated bushtit has a white forehead and bib and a dark breastband.

It is found in the eastern and central Himalayas in China, India, Nepal and Bhutan. It occurs in montane forests, both broad-leaved and coniferous, up to 3,600 m above sea-level. It typically feeds in flocks.

References

External links

This article is issued from Wikipedia - version of the Tuesday, August 12, 2014. The text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share Alike but additional terms may apply for the media files.