The White Naped Tit, Male (Vulnerable Species)
- Try Viewing it Zooming in
@ Nakhatrana, Bhuj Dist
Gujarat, India
28 Sep 2022
Helped and Guided by – Vikramsinh Sodha
Description Credit – Birds of the World (The Cornnel Lab), Oiseaux-birds & Wiki
The Vulnerable White Naped Tit is a small sparrow sized 12 to 14 cm bird endemic to India. It has two separate populations. One is found in the thorn forests of Gujarat and Rajasthan and the other in the states of Karnataka, Kerala & Tamil Nadu.
Its specific name nuchalis means ‘of the nuchal, nape’. This species is hard to mistake with its contrasting black and white patterns without the grey wing coverts and back. Medium sized, strongly patterned, pied tit. Male has forehead and upper lores to crown, nape and most of upperparts, including all wing-coverts, glossy bluish-black ; large or prominent white patch on lower nape and upper mantle; central tail feathers black, narrowly tipped white, outer two pairs (and outer web and tip of next inner) white; flight-feathers black, but tertials largely white (only centres at base black), innermost secondary edged and tipped white, rest of secondaries broadly white at bases, white increasing in extent onto primaries, all secondaries and primaries tipped white (narrowly on primaries); cheek, ear-coverts and side of neck white or creamy white; chin, throat (narrowly onto throat side) and breast black or glossy bluish-black, broad blackish ventral line extending to lower belly, rest of underparts creamy, or slightly whiter on lower flanks; axillaries and underwing-coverts whitish; iris dark brown; bill black; legs slate-grey. Female differs from Male in having slightly duller and less glossy upperparts, nuchal patch smaller, less white on tertials and bases of flight-feathers and white tips restricted to inner feathers, with cheeks and ear-coverts duller, chin yellowish-white, bib and ventral line sooty brown, rest of underparts yellowish. Juvenile is similar to adult, but head and upperparts sooty black and lacking gloss, nuchal patch pale creamy yellow, white on outer tail feathers duller or washed brownish, usually lacks white tips on inner rectrices (all tail feathers more pointed than adult’s), has white tips on some (mostly inner) greater coverts, white otherwise restricted to edges of tertials and bases of flight-feathers (usually less on juvenile female), only inner primaries narrowly tipped white; chin to bib and ventral line sooty brown.
Most frequent contact call a short series of thin whistles, usually introduced by slightly higher-pitched note, “ti, pee-pee-pee, ti-pee-pee-pee-pee” or “teep, whee-whee-whee-whee” or “whew-whew-whew-whew-whew”; also a soft “tip-it” and single mellow notes, including “pit” or “chit”, and a sharper “tink”. Its Song is a thin, high-pitched “tiu-sut-sut-sut” and short ringing trill.
The White Naped Tit has declined considerably in both range and numbers over last century; distribution has probably always been patchy, but local declines and extinctions have exacerbated this tendency; overall numbers now reckoned to be very low and is now declared Vulnerable. This species is very patchily distributed and has been considered to be vulnerable to extinction especially because of the scarcity of suitable habitats particularly nest cavities made by woodpeckers. Cutting tropical thorn-scrub forest for fuelwood and illegal charcoal making, clearance for agricultural land and settlement construction, and over-grazing are principal causes of habitat loss in Kutch. The White Naped Tit nests in cavities in old trees, many of which are now felled, leading to nesting failure.