White-browed Tit-Warbler

Leptopoecile sophiae (Severtsov, 1873)

2012-06-10 Zailiyskiy Alatau, Almaty region	©

Description

Male Tit-Warbler in breeding plumage have rusty-chestnut violet tinged crown. Forehead and supercilliums are pale-white. Head-flanks and neck-flanks are brownish-grey violet tinged. Mantle is brownish-grey; rump and uppertail are bright violet-blue. Throat, breast, flanks and undertail are reddish-brown with heavy violet tinge. Belly is pale-buffy. Flight feathers and upperwing coverts are dark-brown with narrow grey-blue edges of outer webs of primaries and rusty edges of outer secondaries. Tail brownish-black with bluish- violet edges; exclude two outer pairs which are slightly paler than other and have off-white outer webs. Eyes are red, bill and claws are black, legs are black-brown. Female is dimmer than male; it has rusty crown; forehead and supercilliums are even slightly pale than background parts. On rump and uppertail the violet-blue color is less, brown on back is more intensive than in male. Underparts are buffy-grey; violet-rusty tones are kept on flanks only; undertail is rusty. Tail and flight feathers don't have bluish edges. In fresh autumn plumage male's upperparts have sandy tone, underparts are purple. Autumn females are slightly dimmer than in spring. Juveniles are colored as adults but some dimmer. Gender dimorphism on juveniles is well expressed too. Sizes: wing 48-53 mm. Weight: 6.3 - 8.3 gr.

Distribution

Tit-Warber breeds in Kirgizskiy Alatau (Kurtybay, Chungursay, vicinity of Merke settle), in Zailiyskiy Alatau (Aksay, Bolshaya and Malaya Almatinka, Talgar, Issyk, Turgen), in Kungey Alatau (Tauchilik), and also in places in Dzhungarskiy Alatau (near Dzharkent and in upper current of Aksu river). On dispersal and in winter it descends to foothills, sometimes reaches Ile valley (near Iliysk) and Sorbulak lake, where one bird recorded in man-made forest at November 20 2004.

Biology

White-browed Tit-Warbler is rare resident. It inhabits juniper thickets and upper spruce belt with juniper and honeysuckle bushes at 2150-3000m; on dispersal it visits riparian forest and bush thickets on plains and in foothills. It breeds in separate pairs at 150-600 m from each other. Ball-shaped nest is built in juniper or in spruce, at 0.3-15 (usually 1-4) meters above ground. Nest is from moss, vegetation fluff, hair, dry grass and bush bast; and is lined with plenty of feathers. Both parents build nest for one-two weeks. Clutches of 5-8 eggs founded from early May to late June, usually in end of May. Both parents incubate for 14-17 days, and feed juveniles, which fledge at 18-23 days old, from early June to early August. Autumn-winter dispersal begins in October, in pairs or in small group of a dozen birds. In Ile valley White-browed Tit-Warbler were recorded in December and January, but majority of birds winter in breeding area.

Subspecies

References

"Птицы Казахстана" том 4. "Наука". Алма-Ата, 1972. Э.И.Гаврилов. "Фауна и распространение птиц Казахстана". Алматы, 1999. Gavrilov E. I., Gavrilov A. E. "The Birds of Kazakhstan". Almaty, 2005.