|
The Bushtit is the only species of the family Aegithalidae in North America and the
monotypic member of the Genus Psaltriparus
Taxonomy:
Kingdom:
Animalia
Phylum:
Chordata
Class:
Aves
Order:
Passeriformes
Family:
Aegithalidae
Genus:
Psaltriparus
Species:
P. mimimus
Common Name:
American Bushtit
Conservation Status:
LC
Subspecies:
Description
Length:
4 1/2 inches
Wingspan:
inches
Small, mostly gray-brown with a paler underside. Tail is long and forked. The beak, eyes and legs are black. The eye may have a darker patch, even black in the southern areas of its range. The head is slightly browner in the coastal areas.
Female:
Females are paler with pale eyes.
Habitat:
From backyards to foothills, the American bushtit inhabits and forages in mixed open woodlands, often containing oaks, scrubby chaparral under story, underbrush and shrubs; it also inhabits parks, gardens and will flock to suet feeders.
Range:
Year-round:
It is a year-round resident of the western United States, including Texas, New Mexico, Arizona, Colorado, Utah, Nevada, California, Oregon, western Washington and southern Idaho.
Wintering:
The Bushtit ranges from Vancouver through the Great Basin and the lowlands and foothills of California and southward to southern Mexico and Guatemala.
These photos were taken in coastal Washington during a January snow storm.
| 
