Perception Channels: visual ; tactile ; acoustic ; chemical
The Bushtit, with few natural predators, flourishes in its natural habitat and has no need for extensive preservation. (Fisher, 2000)
US Federal List: no special status
CITES: no special status
IUCN Red List of Threatened Species: least concern
As a song bird, the Bushtit is favored on the west coast of the North American continent for its enjoyable song. Since their diet includes insects, they eat certain insects that could be pests to humans. (eNature.com, 2000)
The Bushtit feeds on insects and spiders that live in surrounding shrubs and trees in its habitat. It also feeds on small seeds from fruits.(Fisher,2000)
The Bushtit lives throughout the western coast of the North American continent. It ranges from southern Canada to Central America.(Harwood,1982)
Biogeographic Regions: nearctic (Native )
These birds live from woodland to drier areas in the Arizona region. Bushtits are normally found in pinyon-juniper habitats and near wooded riverbeds. This bird is also found in tree-lined riverbanks, hillside aspen groves, sagebrush, and mountain-mahogany forests. (Fisher, 2000)
Terrestrial Biomes: savanna or grassland ; mountains
Average lifespan
Status: wild: 101 months.
The Bushtit is a small grayish bird with a long tail. Depending on where you see these birds, their facial colors and features differ. Most have brown caps. In the Rocky Mountain area it has a gray cap and brown cheeks. (Harwood, 1982)
Average mass: 5.5 g.
Other Physical Features: endothermic ; bilateral symmetry
Average mass: 5.5 g.
Average basal metabolic rate: 0.122375 W.
The nest of the Bushtit is made from wool, lichens, roots and twigs. The nest hangs from a tree or bush. Within the nest are two to seven white eggs. The incubation period for the eggs is about twelve days. (Fisher, 2000)
Key Reproductive Features: iteroparous ; gonochoric/gonochoristic/dioecious (sexes separate); sexual ; oviparous
Average time to hatching: 12 days.
Average eggs per season: 6.
The bushtit (Psaltriparus minimus) is a small bird that belongs to the order Passeriformes and is native to Western North America from southwestern British Columbia to Mexico, making its range extremely large. Although it is an uncommon visitor in the Eastern United States, its common range extends as far as western Texas. This is considered its year long range because it does not migrate; although during the winter, the bushtit moves from high to low altitudes and goes back to high altitudes in the summer. The bushtit is the only New World representative of the long-tailed tits (Aegithalidae) family (Sloane 2001). Although it primarily inhabits wetlands, pastures, and shrubbed areas, its habitat can vary from coniferous and deciduous forests to suburban areas with parks (Seattle Audubon 2016).
Adult bushtits are 70-80 mm long, black-beaked, with a gradient gray body and a brown-capped head that varies in coloration by region (Sloane 2001).Males are slightly larger than females and the sexes are easily distinguishable from one another because females have yellow irises while the males are brown. The females’ irises develop from gray when first born and can be differentiated from male after about 30-46 days. Based on location, juvenile male bushtits occasionally have bands of black around their eyes that form a mask. Besides this feature, juveniles are similar in appearance to adults.
P. minimus has a weak flight and can fly only short distances, reaching 200 m at most (Sloane, 2001). They hop when foraging and their diet consists mainly of small insects such as leaf and tree hoppers, beetles, and ants, although they will sometimes eat berries or seeds. Being very agile and active, they often hang from branches to reach food sources. The bushtit is diurnal and is highly social, living in stable flocks of around 10 to 40 individuals. They huddle together with other bushtits during resting periods and cold nights. Due to their social behavior, they are not particularly territorial, and while they become more secluded from the flock during breeding season, they are never isolated (Kaufman 2018).
The courtship of bushtits consists of males pursuing females. When chasing the females, males utter soft contact calls and peck near the female’s tail base to get their attention. Bushtits have a unique nesting process in which members of the flock, mainly adult males, help as nest supernumeraries to build nests that are not their own (Sloane 2001). They have a distinctive hanging nest with an oval pouch which is made of spider webs, branches, lichens, and other foliage, with a small entrance hole at the top (All About Birds 2018; Kaufmann 2018). Clutch size averages 6.3, but this is notoriously difficult to monitor due to the elaborate nest. Both males and females incubate the eggs for about 12 days, with 2 broods per year, and the young leave the nest at about 18 days of age. Hatching, life expectancy, and reproductive success is under-reported because of the difficult access to the nest. However, it has been noted that bushtits regain their social behaviors after becoming more solitary during primary breeding and nesting stages and collaboratively raise juveniles. Predation is the main cause of mortality. Bushtit fledglings are targeted by snakes, climbing mammals, and more aggressive birds during breeding seasons (Sloane 2001).
The bushtit population is categorized as of “least concern” by the IUCN, with the population noted as stable (IUCN 2018). P. minimus has adapted well to living in suburban areas, so their population has not been significantly impacted by human development, but their populations and density do fluctuate locally (Sloane 2001). Reported threats include weather changes affecting nesting behaviors, predation, and insect availability.
The American bushtit or simply bushtit (Psaltriparus minimus) is the only species placed in the genus Psaltriparus and the only species in the family Aegithalidae that is found in the New World.
The American bushtit was formally described by the American naturalist John Kirk Townsend in 1837 and given the binomial name Parus minimus. Townsend noted that the species inhabited the forests of the Columbia River.[2][3] It is now the only species placed in the genus Psaltriparus that was introduced in 1850 by the French naturalist Charles Lucien Bonaparte.[4][5] The genus name Psaltriparus combines the genus Psaltria that was introduced by Coenraad Temminck in 1836 for the pygmy bushtit with Parus that was introduced by Carl Linnaeus in 1758 for the tits.[6]
Ten subspecies are recognised:[5]
The subspecies P. m. melanotis was formerly considered a separate species, the "black-eared bushtit".[7]
The American bushtit inhabits mixed open woodlands, often containing oaks and a scrubby chaparral understory; it also inhabits parks and gardens. It is a year-round resident of the western United States and highland parts of Mexico, ranging from Vancouver through the Great Basin and the lowlands and foothills of California to southern Mexico and Guatemala.
The American bushtit is one of the smallest passerines in North America, at 11 cm (4.3 in) in length and 5–6 g (0.18–0.21 oz) in weight. It is gray-brown overall, with a large head, a short neck, a long tail, and a short stubby bill. Bushtits are sexually dimorphic. The male has dark brown to black eyes and the adult female yellow eyes. Coastal forms have a brown "cap" while those in the interior have a brown "mask."
The subspecies (P. m. melanotis) can be identified by its dark ear patch (the auricular). This polymorphism does not occur in the northern part of the American bushtits' range, but is first noted near the Mexican border, primarily in Texas. Most individuals with the black ear patch in that area are juvenile males, and none are adult females – some have only one or two dark lines on the face instead of a complete patch. The black-eared form becomes more common southward in the northeastern (but not the northwestern) highlands of Mexico until from central Mexico south, all males have a complete black ear patch and even adult females have a black arc over the eye and usually a black line through the eye.[8]
The American bushtit is active and gregarious, foraging for small insects and spiders in mixed-species feeding flocks containing species such as chickadees and warblers, of 10 to over 40 individuals. Members of the group constantly make contact calls to each other that can be described as a short spit.
This species produces an elaborate pendant nest of moss and lichen assembled with spider silk and lined with feathers.
Nest
Nest
_Nest.JPG)
Nest
Pleasanton, California
The American bushtit or simply bushtit (Psaltriparus minimus) is the only species placed in the genus Psaltriparus and the only species in the family Aegithalidae that is found in the New World.
