Long-tailed Tit (Aegithalos caudatus) [XC809346]
by Paul Driver from Killadeas, Fermanagh and Omagh, Northern Ireland, United Kingdom (call)
Long-tailed Tit (Aegithalos caudatus) [XC42563]
by Matthias Feuersenger from Kr\u00e5ks skjutf\u00e4lt, Karlsborg, V\u00e4sterg\u00f6tland, Sweden (call)
Nest
A dome of moss, lichen and feathers, with a side entrance, usually in a thorny bush.
Eggs (Guide)
8 - 12; white, unmarked or with minute reddish speckles.
Subspecies
Subspecies fall into four groups: "nominate group" in northern Europe and Asia, "europaeus group" (including also rosaceus, aremoricus, taiti, macedonicus, tauricus) in southern and western Europe, "alpinus group" (including also irbii, italiae, siculus, tephronotus, major, passekii) in Mediterranean Europe and south-western Asia, and "trivirgatus group" (incorporating kiusiuensis, magnus) in southern Korea and Japan ("europaeus group" and "trivirgatus group" are morphologically similar and usually combined, but marked geographical separation strongly suggests different origins). Where groups meet there are extensive areas occupied by variable populations of apparent hybrids, these areas of hybridization considered to be zones of secondary intergradation (where populations have met relatively recently).
Nominate subspecies intergrades with europaeus in Denmark, eastern Germany, southern Poland, southern Ukraine and northern Romania, and with magnus in Korea; aremoricus intergrades with taiti in west-central France; taiti intergrades with irbii in central Spain and Portugal; and europeaus intergrades with aremoricus in western France, with taiti in south-western France, with italiae on southern slopes of Alps, and with macedonicus in south of former Yugoslavia and southern Bulgaria. Birds of this species breeding in Iraq and Syria of uncertain racial identity, provisionally included in tephronotus.
Other proposed subspecies are sibiricus (central Siberia), kamtschaticus (Kamchatka, in eastern Russia) and japonicus (northern Japan), all poorly differentiated and thus synonymized with nominate; and pallidolumbo (Shikoku, in southern Japan) and tarihoae (Cheju I, off southern Korea), both merged with trivirgatus.
The following 17 subspecies are recognised:
caudatus (Linnaeus, 1758) - Breeds from Fennoscandia (N
to c. 70° northern in Norway, locally to 66° northern in Finland) and NE
Europe (Poland) eastern in broad band through Siberia to eastern Russia
(Kamchatka), Sakhalin I, southern Kuril Is and northern Japan (Hokkaido, Rebun-to
and Rishiri-to), extending south to northern Kazakhstan, northern Mongolia, north-eastern China
and northern Korea. Non-breeding also south to eastern China (Hebei) and central Japan (SC
Honshu).
rosaceus Mathews, 1938 - Britain and Ireland.
aremoricus Whistler, 1929 - North-western France (east to Centre, southern to
Poitou area), I d’Yeu and Channel Is.
taiti Ingram, W, 1913 - South-western and southern France (including I
d’Oléron) south to central Spain and Portugal (south to Tejo valley),
also Mallorca.
europaeus (Hermann, 1804) - North-eastern France east to Germany, southern to
northern Italy, Serbia, western Romania, Bulgaria and north-western Turkey (northern Thrace).
irbii (Sharpe & Dresser, 1871) - Southern Portugal (southern of
Tejo valley), southern Spain and Corsica.
italiae Jourdain, 1910 - Mainland Italy and south-western Slovenia.
siculus (Whitaker, 1901) - Sicily.
tephronotus (Gunther, 1865) - Lesbos and Samos (E
Greece), western and central Turkey (including extreme eastern Thrace), also Syria
and extreme northern Iraq.
major (Radde, 1884) - Caucasus (from northern foothills of
Great Caucasus), north-eastern Turkey (eastern at least from Sebinkarahisar), Georgia,
Armenia and northern and central Azerbaijan.
alpinus (Hablizl, 1783) - South-eastern Azerbaijan (Talis Mts and
Lenkoran lowlands), northern Iran (east through Elburz and southern Caspian districts
to about Gorgan) and south-western Turkmenistan (Kopet Dag).
passekii (Zarudny, 1904) - Extreme south-eastern Turkey and western Iran
(Zagros Mts south to Fars).
magnus (Clark, AH, 1907) - Central and southern Korea and
Tsushima I.
trivirgatus (Temminck & Schlegel, 1848) - Central Japan
(Honshu, Awa-shima, Sado and Oki) and Cheju I (off southern Korea).
kiusiuensis Kuroda, Nagamichi, 1923 - Southern Japan (Shikoku,
Kyushu and Yakushima).
The Reader's Digest Book of British Birds 1980, 3rd Edition, Drive Publications Ltd ISBN 0 340 25308 8
Birds in Colour Campbell, B., 1960, Penguin Books Ltd
The Pocket Guide to Nest and Eggs Fitter, R.S.R., 1954, Collins
RSPB Handbook of British Birds Holden, P., Cleeves, T., 2002, A & C Black ISBN 0 7136 5713 8
Birds of Britain and Europe Sterry, P., et al., 2001, AA Publishing ISBN 0 7495 3068 5
The Popular Handbook of British Birds Hollom, P.A.D., 1973, H.F. & G. Witherby Ltd ISBN 0 85493 002 7
BirdLife International Species Factsheet