Black-browed Bushtit (Aegithalos bonvaloti) [XC711064]
by Ray Tsu \u8bf8\u4ec1 from Wu Wei Temple, Dali, Yunnan, China (call)
Black-browed Bushtit (Aegithalos bonvaloti) [XC437564]
by Oriental Stork from South of Zhongdian, China (call)
Subspecies
Forms a superspecies with White-throated Tit (Aegithalos niveogularis), Rufous-fronted Tit (Aegithalos iouschistos) and Burmese Tit (Aegithalos sharpei) and all sometimes treated as conspecific, but they seem to be morphologically fairly distinct from one another and, while ranges overlap only minimally or not at all, there is no evidence of intergradation or hybridization between any of them. Subspecies presumed to intergrade.
Considered by some authors to be a subspecies of Rufous-fronted Tit (Aegithalos iouschistos).
The following 2 subspecies are recognised:
obscuratus (Mayr, 1940) - North-central Sichuan (mountains Nwest of Red Basin, in region of Wenchuan), in central China. Considered by some authors to be a subspecies of Rufous-fronted Tit (Aegithalos iouschistos).
bonvaloti (Oustalet, 1892) - South-central China (western and central Sichuan south to south-eastern Xizang, north-western Yunnan and Weining region of western Guizhou) and extreme north-eastern Myanmar (east of R Irrawaddy, south to Myitkyina). Considered by some authors to be a subspecies of Rufous-fronted Tit (Aegithalos iouschistos).
BirdLife International Species Factsheet