Mouse-colored Penduline-Tit

Anthoscopus musculus

A tiny drab bird with a sharp bill. Note gray back, whitish underparts, and faintly black-speckled forehead. Generally uncommon in dry savanna and thornscrub, usually found in pairs or small flocks. Similar to Sennar and African Penduline-Tits, but grayer on the back and paler below. Can also be mistaken for Yellow-bellied or Yellow-vented Eremomelas, but has a shorter and thinner bill and no yellow on the underparts. Vocalizations include high-pitched “sit” notes and long trills. 

Taxonomy

The mouse-coloured penduline tit was formally described in 1882 by the German ornithologist Gustav Hartlaub under the binomial name Aegithalus musculus. The species is now placed in the genus Anthoscopus that was introduced in 1851 by the German ornithologist Jean Cabanis. The genus name combines the Ancient Greek anthos meaning "blossom" or "flower" with skopos meaning "searcher". The specific epithet musculus is Latin meaning "little mouse". The species is considered to be monotypic: no subspecies are recognised.

Scientific name
Anthoscopus musculus
Authority
(Hartlaub, 1882)
Order
Passeriformes
Family
Remizidae
Genus
Anthoscopus

Range and habitat

This species has an extensive range in Ethiopia, Kenya, Somalia, South Sudan, Tanzania, and Uganda, with an estimated global Extent of Occurrence of 550,000 km2. Its natural habitats are dry savannah and subtropical or tropical dry shrubland.

Migration
Resident species

Conservation

Population trend
stable

Photos

Distribution

Bird Calls

Other Birds

Chinese Fulvetta

Chinese Fulvetta

Fulvetta striaticollis

Dull brown fulvetta with pale eyes, found only in central and south-central China. Note streaky throat, dark lores, and pale, narrow wing panel. Distinctive in its blandness; no other fulvetta in the region is essentially all brown with no dark eyebrows or significant patches of warmer, brighter colors. Occurs at 2200-4300 meters, favoring areas with shrubby oak or rhododendron cover. Typically forages low down or at middle levels of forest. Not as social as the “Alcippe” fulvettas, and are often encountered singly or in pairs, though small groups do occur. Song is a simple but variable series of whistles in which the first note or two rise and the last one or two fall, sometimes with an intermediary note in between: “tsi-tsi-dih-deer-deer.” Call is a high-pitched chittery rattle.

Cassin's Vireo

Cassin's Vireo

Vireo cassinii

Fairly dull vireo, intermediate between Blue-headed and Plumbeous. Grayish-olive overall, but with yellowish flanks and greenish back. Note white spectacles contrasting with gray head and two whitish wingbars. Breeds in mixed coniferous forests, especially in mountainous areas; winters in Mexico. Often separable from Blue-headed and Plumbeous Vireos by range, but can overlap during migration and winter. Cassin's is less contrasty than Blue-headed, especially between the gray face and whitish throat, and the greenish back blends into the nape and crown. Some birds are best left unidentified.

Rufous-lored Tyrannulet

Rufous-lored Tyrannulet

Phylloscartes flaviventris

Distinctive small tyrannulet with rufous brow, black mask, olive back, and yellow underparts. Looks like a more colorful version of Rufous-browed Tyrannulet. Sexes similar. Found alone or in pairs, often in mixed-species flocks, in the canopy of forest. Occurs in humid forest and forest edges of montane regions. The typical voice has four high notes “teeup teeup teeup teeup.” No similar species in range. Endemic to the Coastal Cordillera of Venezuela.

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