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Description |
Brief Summary
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Coal tits look a lot like great tits that have been washed in very hot water. Not only are they more pale than great tits, they are also much smaller. With their 11 centimeters, coals tits are the smallest tit species in Europe. They live mostly in coniferous forests and build their nests close to the ground in decaying trees. Their long thin beaks are perfect for prying insects out of pine cones or tree bark. In the winter, they sometimes visit well-stocked feeding tables.
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ECOLOGY
Habitat
Habitat and Ecology
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Systems
Terrestrial
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LIFE HISTORY AND BEHAVIOR
Life Expectancy
Lifespan, longevity, and ageing
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Maximum longevity: 9.5 years (wild)
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MOLECULAR BIOLOGY AND GENETICS
Molecular Biology
Barcode data: Periparus ater
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The following is a representative barcode sequence, the centroid of all available sequences for this species.
There are 17 barcode sequences available from BOLD and GenBank.
Below is a sequence of the barcode region Cytochrome oxidase subunit 1 (COI or COX1) from a member of the species.
See the BOLD taxonomy browser for more complete information about this specimen and other sequences.
CAACCCACAAAGACATTGGCACACTCTACCTAATTTTCGGCGCATGAGCCGGAATGGTAGGAACCGCCCTAAGCCTCCTCATCCGAGCAGAACTTGGCCAGCCCGGCGCCCTCCTGGGAGACGACCAGATCTACAACGTAGTCGTCACAGCCCATGCTTTCGTAATAATCTTCTTCATAGTTATACCAATTATAATCGGAGGATTCGGAAACTGACTAGTCCCTCTAATAATCGGAGCCCCCGACATAGCCTTCCCCCGAATAAACAACATAAGCTTCTGACTCCTACCCCCCTCCTTCCTTCTCCTACTAGCCTCCTCCACAGTCGAAGCAGGCGTAGGAACCGGATGAACAGTATACCCACCTCTAGCCGGCAACCTAGCCCACGCCGGAGCCTCAGTAGACCTCGCTATCTTCTCCCTACACCTAGCGGGGATCTCATCAATCCTAGGGGCAATTAACTTCATCACAACTGCAATCAACATAAAACCCCCTGCCCTATCACAATACCAAACCCCCCTATTCGTCTGATCCGTACTAATCACCGCAGTCCTTCTCCTTCTATCCCTCCCAGTTCTGGCTGCAGGCATCACCATGCTCCTTACCGACCGCAACCTCAACACCACCTTCTTCGACCCAGCAGGAGGAGGAGACCCAGTACTCTACCAACACTTATTCTGATTCTTCGGCCACCCAGAAGTCTACATCCTTATCCTCCCAGGATTTGGAATTATCTCCCACGTA
-- end --
Download FASTA File
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Statistics of barcoding coverage: Periparus ater
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Barcode of Life Data Systems (BOLDS) Stats
Public Records: 17
Specimens with Barcodes: 39
Species With Barcodes: 1
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CONSERVATION
Conservation Status
IUCN Red List Assessment
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Red List Category
LC
Least Concern
Red List Criteria
Version
3.1
Year Assessed
2014
Assessor/s
BirdLife International
Reviewer/s
Butchart, S.
Contributor/s
Justification
This species has an extremely large range, and hence does not approach the thresholds for Vulnerable under the range size criterion (Extent of Occurrence <20,000 km2 combined with a declining or fluctuating range size, habitat extent/quality, or population size and a small number of locations or severe fragmentation). The population trend appears to be fluctuating, and hence the species does not approach the thresholds for Vulnerable under the population trend criterion (>30% decline over ten years or three generations). The population size is extremely large, and hence does not approach the thresholds for Vulnerable under the population size criterion (<10,000 mature individuals with a continuing decline estimated to be >10% in ten years or three generations, or with a specified population structure). For these reasons the species is evaluated as Least Concern.
History
2013
Least Concern (LC)
2012
Least Concern (LC)
Least Concern (LC)
Not Recognized (NR)
Not Recognized (NR)
Not Recognized (NR)
Not Recognized (NR)
Not Recognized (NR)
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Trends
Population
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Population
In Europe, the breeding population is estimated to number 12000000-29000000 breeding pairs, equating to 36000000-87000000 individuals (BirdLife International 2004). Europe forms 25-49% of the global range, so a very preliminary estimate of the global population size is 73500000-348000000 individuals, although further validation of this estimate is needed.
Population Trend
Stable
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Wikipedia
Coal tit
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The coal tit (Periparus ater) is a passerine bird in the tit family Paridae. It is a widespread and common resident breeder throughout temperate to subtropical Eurasia and northern Africa. The black-crested tit is now usually included in this species.
Contents
1 Taxonomy and systematics
1.1 Subspecies
2 Description
3 Behaviour and ecology
4 See also
5 Footnotes
6 References
7 External links
Taxonomy and systematics[edit]
This species was first described by Linnaeus in his 1758 edition of Systema Naturae. Linnaeus primary reference was his earlier Fauna Svecica, whose cumbersome pre-binomial name Parus capite nigro: vertice albo, dorso cinereo, pectore albo ("black-headed tit with white nape, ash-grey back, white breast") became the much simpler yet no less unequivocal Parus ater. This name – meaning "dusky-black tit" – was simply adopted from older ornithological textbooks, ultimately going back to Conrad Gessners 1555 Historiae animalium. Linnaeus description was essentially the slightly rephrased species name from Fauna Svecica: P[arus] capite nigro, dorso cinereo, occipite pectoreque albo. – "a black-headed tit, with ash-grey back, and white back of the head and breast." He gave no type locality except "Europe", but his original description refers to the population inhabiting Sweden (which is consequently included in the nominate subspecies today).[1]
The colorful great tit (Parus major) with its bold wing-stripe. Before binomial nomenclature, naturalists found the folk taxonomy of this species and the coal tit quite confusing.
Gessner also notes that the coal tit was known as Kohlmeiß in German – the literal equivalent of its English name, though in its modern orthography Kohlmeise it refers to the great tit (Parus major). That bird was in Gessners day usually called Spiegelmeiß ("multicolored tit"[2]), Brandtmeiß ("burnt tit") or grosse Meiß ("great tit") in German. Kölmeyß was attested for P. major by William Turner, but Turner does not list P. ater at all, while Gessner notes that his hunters always used Kohlmeiß for the present species. However, this has since changed, and the modern German name of P. ater is Tannenmeise ("fir tit"), after a typical habitat. This name is attested (as Tannen-Maise) by Johann Leonhard Frisch in the early 18th century already, who furthermore records that P. ater was also called Kleine Kohl-Maise ("small coal tit") whereas Kohl-Maise referred unequivocally to P. major. Frisch collected his data in the Berlin region, where the German dialect was quite different from that spoken by Gessners Alemannic sources 200 years earlier, and heavily influenced by Middle Low German – the language of the northern German sources of Turner. Regarding that, Tanne is derived from the Old Saxon danna, and thus had spread through the German dialect continuum from north to south. [3]
Most authorities still treat the coal tit in the subgenus Periparus, but the American Ornithologists Union considers Periparus a distinct genus. This is supported by mtDNA cytochrome b sequence analysis; Periparus seems to be closer to the Poecile tits and chickadees than to the great tit and its relatives. Thus, it belongs to the more advanced Paridae, in which the bright plumage of the more basal lineages is dulled down apomorphically.[4]
Illustration of Parus ater cypriotes by John Gerrard Keulemans
In addition, the same data suggest that this species is paraphyletic in regard to the closely related and parapatric spot-winged tit (P. melanolophus) from South Asia, which looks like a slightly crested, darker version of P. ater. Consequently, the spot-winged tit might have to be included in P. ater, or some coal tits could be considered a distinct species. As occasional hybridization has been recorded between the two, mtDNA alone (which is inherited only from the mother) is insufficient to determine whether hybrid gene flow or another trivial cause (such as incomplete lineage sorting) obfuscates the actual relationships, or whether taxonomic rearrangement is indeed required. With the range of these titmice encircling the Himalayas, without further study it cannot even be excluded that they constitute a ring species – with gene flow occurring in Nepal but not in Afghanistan –, as has been shown for other passerines in the same region.[4]
Subspecies[edit]
Adult continental coal tit, P. a. ater (note blue-grey back)
A number of coal tit subspecies are distinguished. The differences in coloration are quite pronounced in some of them, while their differences in size are more subtle. Coal tits from Asia follow Bergmanns rule, being larger in colder regions; those from further west, however, do not, as the birds from the uplands around the Mediterranean are larger than those from northern Europe. Across its range, tail length in relation to body length increases along a cline running from southwest to northeast.[5]
The British race P. a. britannicus has an olive hue to its brownish-grey back plumage, distinguishing it from the continental European nominate subspecies P. a. ater and P. a. abietum[verification needed] in which the back is bluish grey without a hint of green or brown. The Irish race P. a. hibernicus is distinguished from britannicus by the pale sulphur-yellow cheeks, breast and belly. It also has a paler rump (due to light fringes of the uppertail coverts) and a larger bill than its relatives from Britain and the Continent.[6]
The North African race P. a. ledouci has yellow underparts and cheeks, and the Cypriot P. a. cypriotes has a buff tinge to its upperparts, and deep buff underparts. Asian subspecies are generally rather dusky brownish except for the black-and-white head;[5] they include among others P. a. michalowskii of the Caucasus, P. a. phaeonotus of Iran, or the Himalayan coal tit[7] P. a. aemodius of southwestern China.
Description[edit]
File:Coal tit (Periparus ater).webmPlay media
Periparus ater filmed in Tokyo, Japan
The coal tit is 10–11.5 cm in length, and has a distinctive large white nape spot on its black head. The head, throat and neck of the adult are glossy blue-black, setting off the off-white sides of the face (tinged grey to yellow depending on subspecies) and the brilliant white nape; the white tips of the wing coverts appear as two wingbars. The underparts are whitish shading through buff to rufous on the flanks. The bill is black, the legs lead-coloured, and irides dark brown.
The young birds are duller than the adults, lacking gloss on the black head, and with the white of nape and cheeks tinged with yellow.
While searching for food, coal tit flocks keep contact with incessant short dee or see-see calls. The species song – if "song" it can be called – is a strident if-he, if-he, if-he, heard most frequently from January to June, but also in autumn. One variant of this song ends with a sharp ichi. North African birds also have a currr call similar to that of the European crested tit (Lophophanes cristatus) which is not found in Africa.
Adult, presumably Irish coal tit, P. a. hibernicus (note yellowish cheeks and breast)
Behaviour and ecology[edit]
Eggs, Collection Museum Wiesbaden
It is typically a bird of temperate humid conifer forest, but apart from that shows little habitat specificity. In Bhutan for example coal tits are fairly common residents above the subtropical zone, at about 3,000-3,800 m ASL, and are found in forests dominated by Bhutan Fir (Abies densa) as well as in those characterized by Himalayan Hemlock (Tsuga dumosa) and rhododendrons.[8]
The coal tit is an all-year resident throughout almost all range, making only local movements in response to particularly severe weather; only the Siberian birds have a more regular migration. Very rarely, vagrants may cross longer distances; for example the nominate subspecies of continental Europe was recorded in Ireland once in 1960 and once before that, but apparently not since then.
Coal tits will form small flocks in winter with other tits. This species resembles other tits in acrobatic skill and restless activity, though it more frequently pitches on a trunk, and in little hops resembles a treecreeper (Certhia). Its food is similar to that of the others; it is keen on beechmast, picks out the seeds from fir (Abies) and larch (Larix) cones, and joins Carduelis redpolls and siskins in alders (Alnus) and birches (Betula). It will also visit gardens to feed on a variety of foods put out, particularly sunflower seeds.
A favourite nesting site is a hole in a rotting tree-stump, often low down, and the nest is deep within the hole; holes in the ground, burrows of mice or rabbits, chinks between the stones in walls, old nests of Pica magpies or other large birds, and squirrel dreys are also occupied. The materials, moss, hair and grass, are closely felted together, and rabbit fur or feathers added for lining. Seven to eleven red-spotted white eggs of the usual tit type are laid, usually in May; this species breeds usually once per year.
Being common and widespread, the coal tit is not considered a threatened species by the IUCN.[9]
See also[edit]
Common treecreeper and Hodgsons treecreeper
Greenish warbler
Footnotes[edit]
^ Gessner (1555): pp.616, Linnaeus (1746, 1758)
^ Literally "mirror tit" (though its feathers are not iridescent), perhaps rather "wing-stripe tit", as in German ornithology Spiegel means a wing-stripe or -patch. The interpretation referring to its colorful plumage, though somewhat unusual, is the one given by Gesner however: a colorum pulchritudine quibus distinguitur – "for the beauty of its colors, which distinguish it"
^ Turner (1544a,b), Gessner (1555): pp.615-616, Frisch (1720[verification needed]), Linnaeus (1758)
^ a b Gill et al. (2005)
^ a b Snow (1954)
^ BI [2009]
^ Bangs (1932)
^ Inskipp et al. (2000)
^ BLI (2009)
References[edit]
Wikimedia Commons has media related to Parus ater.
Bangs, Outram (1932): Birds of western China obtained by the Kelley-Roosevelts expedition. Field Mus. Nat. Hist. Zool. Ser. 18(11): 343-379. Fulltext at the Internet Archive
BirdsIreland.com (BI) [2009]: Irish subspecies – Coal Tit. Retrieved 2009-MAY-17.
BirdLife International (BLI) (2008). Parus ater. In: IUCN 2008. IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. Retrieved 17 May 2009.
Frisch, Johann Leonhard (1720[verification needed]): Der II.ten Hauptart I.te Abtheilung von den Maisen – I.te Platte ["First division of the second primary species, the titmice – Plate 1"]. In: Vorstellung der Vögel in Teutschland, und beyläuffig auch einiger fremden, mit ihren natürlichen Farben, etc. (vol. 2): plate 13 [German with Latin and French captions]. F.H.Frisch, Berlin ("Berolinum"). Digitized version
Gessner, Conrad (1555): Historiae animalium (vol. 3) [Latin book]. Christoph Froschauer, Zürich ("Tigurium"). Digitized version
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
Inskipp, Carol; Inskipp, Tim & Sherub (2000): The ornithological importance of Thrumshingla National Park, Bhutan. Forktail 14: 147-162. PDF fulltext
Linnaeus, Carl (1746): 241. Parus capite nigro: vertice albo, dorso cinereo, pectore albo. In: Fauna Svecica Sistens Animalia Sveciæ Regni, etc. (1st ed.): 89 [Latin book]. Conrad & Georg Jacob Wishoff, Leiden ("Lugdunum Batavorum"). Digitized version
Linnaeus, Carl (1758): 100.5. Parus ater. In: Systema naturae per regna tria naturae, secundum classes, ordines, genera, species, cum characteribus, differentiis, synonymis, locis (10th ed., vol. 1): 190 [Latin book]. Lars Salvius, Stockholm ("Holmius"). Digitized version
Snow, D.W. (1954): Trends in geographical variation in Palearctic members of the genus Parus. Evolution 8(1): 19-28. First page image
Turner, William (1544a): De paris ["Of the titmice"]. In: Avium praecipuarum, quarum apud Plinium et Aristotelem mentio est, brevis et succincta historia, etc.: 94-95 [Latin book]. Johann Gymnich, Cologne ("Colonia"). Digitized version
Turner, William (1544b): [List of German bird names]. In: van Langerack, Gijsbert: Dialogus de avibus, et earum nominibus Graecis, Latinis, et Germanicis, etc.: 95-97 [Latin book]. Johann Gymnich, Cologne ("Colonia"). Digitized version |
