Silver-throated Bushtit Aegithalos glaucogularis is a Chinese endemic, with glaucogularis from Jiangsu, Shanghai, and Zhejiang to Red Basin, Sichuan and southern Shaanxi and vinaceus from northwest Yunnan, central Sichuan, and Qinghai to Liaoning and Shandong. Resident, in Yunnan to 3000 m (9,840 ft.), lower in winter. HABITAT & BEHAVIOR Broadleaved and mixed forest; also parks and gardens with trees, even in large urban areas. Gregarious; usually in busy flocks, sometimes with other species. Makes domed nest camouflaged with flakes of lichen. ID & COMPARISON Small, fluffy bushtit with tiny bill and long tail. Head and underparts buffy, grading to pinkish around vent. Broad black lateral crown-stripes separated by whitish median crown-stripe; cinnamon forehead; black bib. Mantle and rump grey (sometimes with pinkish tinge), wings black with greyish-brown tertials and secondaries; black tail edged white. Juvenile has brownish head sides and orange-pink throat and underparts tinged yellow. Adult Long-tailed Tit A. caudatus has completely white head and white underparts. BARE PARTS Bill, feet black. VOICE Tuneless, explosive chirr and high-pitched whistles. Busy flocks constantly call to one another; birds separated from flock call particularly loudly. — Craig Brelsford
THE BUSHTITS OF CHINA
shanghaibirding.com covers all 8 species of long-tailed tit in China. Click any link below:
Long-tailed Tit Aegithalos caudatus
Silver-throated Bushtit A. glaucogularis
Black-throated Bushtit A. concinnus
Rufous-fronted Bushtit A. iouschistos
Black-browed Bushtit A. bonvaloti
Sooty Bushtit A. fuliginosus
White-browed Tit-warbler Leptopoecile sophiae
Crested Tit-warbler L. elegans
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
Daniel Bengtsson served as chief ornithological consultant for Craig Brelsford’s Photographic Field Guide to the Birds of China, from which this species description is drawn.
