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Information about Chickadees

Tits and Chickadees
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Great Tit

Scientific classification
Kingdom:Animalia
Phylum:Chordata
Class:Aves
Order:Passeriformes
Family:Paridae
Vigors, 1825
Genera


5-10, see text.
Synonyms


see text


The tits, chickadees, and titmice comprise Paridae, a large family of small passerine birds which occur in the northern hemisphere and Africa. Most were formerly in the genus Parus.

These birds are called "chickadees" (onomatopoeic, derived from their distinctive "chick-a dee dee dee" alarm call) or "titmice" in North America, and just "tits" in the rest of the English speaking world. The name titmouse is attested from the 14th century, composed of the Old English name for the bird, mase (Proto-Germanic *maison) and tit, denoting something small. The spelling was influenced by mouse in the 16th century.

These birds are mainly small stocky woodland species with short stout bills. Some have crests. They are adaptable birds, with a mixed diet including seeds and insects. Many species will live around human habitation and come readily to bird feeders for nuts or seed, and learn to take other foods. In Britain, Great Tits and Blue Tits famously learned to break open the foil caps sealing bottles of milk that had been delivered to homes to get at the cream floating on top.

These are hole-nesting birds laying speckled white eggs.

Systematics

More recently, the large Parus group has been gradually split into several genera (as indicated below), which has been pioneered by North American ornithological authorities and to a more limited degree (as of now) elsewhere. Whereas in the mid-1990s, only Pseudopodoces, Baeolophus, Melanochlora and Sylviparus were considered well-supported by the available data as distinct from Parus (Harrap & Quinn 1996). Today, this arrangement is considered paraphyletic as indicated by mtDNA cytochrome b sequence analysis and Parus is best restricted to the Parus major - Parus fasciiventer clade, and even the latter species' closest relatives might be considered a distinct genus (Gill et al. 2005).

In the Sibley-Ahlquist taxonomy, the Paridae family is much enlarged to include related groups such as the Penduline tits and Long-tailed tits, but while the former are quite close to the titmice indeed and could conceivably included in that family together with the stenostirid "warblers", the long-tailed tits are not. Indeed, the Yellow-browed Tit and the Sultan Tit are possibly more distant to the titmice than are the penduline tits (Gill et al. 2005 and Jønsson & Fjeldsa 2006). If the two current families are lumped into the Paridae, the titmice would be a subfamily Parinae.

Alternatively, all tits - save the 2 monotypic genera discussed in the preceding section and possibly Cyanistes, but including Hume's Ground Tit - could be lumped in Parus. In any case, 4 major clades of "typical" tits can be recognized: the dark-capped chickadees and their relatives (Poecile including Sittiparus), the long-crested Baeolophus and Lophophanes species, the usually tufted, white-cheeked Periparus (including Pardaliparus) with more subdued coloration and finally Parus sensu stricto (including Melaniparus and Macholophus). Still, the interrelationship of these as well as the relationships of many species within the clades are not well resolved at all; analysis of morphology and biogeography probably gives more a robust picture than the available molecular data (Gill et al., 2005).

Titmice have settled North America twice, probably at some time during the Early-Mid Pliocene. The first were the ancestors of Baeolophus; chickadees arrived somewhat later (Gill et al., 2005).

Species in taxonomic order

might be included here
These two monotypic genera are possibly less close to titmice than are the penduline tits.

References

1. ^ James, H. F. et al. (2003). Pseudopodoces humilis, a misclassified terrestrial tit (Paridae) of the Tibetan Plateau: evolutionary consequences of shifting adaptive zones. Ibis 145: 185–202.pdf file
  • Gill, Frank B.; Slikas, Beth & Sheldon, Frederick H. (2005): Phylogeny of titmice (Paridae): II. Species relationships based on sequences of the mitochondrial cytochrome-b gene. Auk 122: 121-143. DOI: 10.1642/0004-8038(2005)122[0121:POTPIS]2.0.CO;2 HTML abstract
  • Harrap, Simon & Quinn, David (1996): Tits, Nuthatches & Treecreepers. Christopher Helm, London. ISBN 0-7136-3964-4
  • Jønsson, Knud A. & Fjeldså, Jon (2006): Determining biogeographical patterns of dispersal and diversification in oscine passerine birds in Australia, Southeast Asia and Africa. J. Biogeogr. 33(7): 1155–1165. doi:10.1111/j.1365-2699.2006.01507.x (HTML abstract)
  • Slikas, Beth; Sheldon, Frederick H.; Gill, Frank B. (1996): Phylogeny of titmice (Paridae): I. Estimate of relationships among subgenera based on DNA-DNA hybridization. Journal of Avian Biology 27: 70-82.

External links

P. major

Binomial name
Parus major
Linnaeus, 1758

The Great Tit, Parus major, is a passerine bird in the tit family Paridae.
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Scientific classification or biological classification is a method by which biologists group and categorize species of organisms. Scientific classification also can be called scientific taxonomy, but should be distinguished from folk taxonomy, which lacks scientific basis.
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Chordata
Bateson, 1885

Typical Classes

See below

Chordates (phylum Chordata) are a group of animals that includes the vertebrates, together with several closely related invertebrates.
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Aves
Linnaeus, 1758

Orders

About two dozen - see section below

Birds (class Aves) are bipedal, warm-blooded, egg-laying vertebrate animals.
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Passeriformes
Linnaeus, 1758

Suborders
  • Acanthisitti
  • Tyranni
  • Passeri


A passerine is a bird of the giant order Passeriformes. More than half of all species of bird are passerines.
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Nicholas Aylward Vigors (1785 – October 26, 1840) was an Irish zoologist and politician.

Vigors was born at Old Leighlin, County Carlow. He studied at Trinity College, Oxford. He served in the army during the Peninsular War from 1809 to 1811.
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18th century - 19th century - 20th century
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genus (plural: genera) is part of the Latinized name for an organism. It is a name which reflects the classification of the organism by grouping it with other closely similar organisms.
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In scientific nomenclature, synonyms are different scientific names used for a single taxon. Usage and terminology are different for zoology and botany.

Zoology

In zoological nomenclature, synonyms are different scientific names that pertain to the same taxon, for example
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Passeriformes
Linnaeus, 1758

Suborders
  • Acanthisitti
  • Tyranni
  • Passeri


A passerine is a bird of the giant order Passeriformes. More than half of all species of bird are passerines.
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Aves
Linnaeus, 1758

Orders

About two dozen - see section below

Birds (class Aves) are bipedal, warm-blooded, egg-laying vertebrate animals.
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Northern Hemisphere or northern hemisphere[1] is the half of a planet that is north of the equator—the word hemisphere literally means 'half ball'. It is also that half of the celestial sphere north of the celestial equator.
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Africa is the world's second-largest and second most-populous continent, after Asia. At about 30,221,532 km² (11,668,545 sq mi) including adjacent islands, it covers 6% of the Earth's total surface area, and 20.4% of the total land area.
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For the supervillain, see .


Onomatopoeia (occasionally spelled onomatopœia) is a word or a grouping of words that imitates the sound it is describing, suggesting its source object, such as "click," "buzz," or "bluuuh," or animal noises
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Format 3 CDs
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Length 3:03 (radio edit)
4:21 (album version)
Label One Little Indian
Writer(s) Björk
Producer(s)
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English}}} 
Writing system: Latin (English variant) 
Official status
Official language of: 53 countries
Regulated by: no official regulation
Language codes
ISO 639-1: en
ISO 639-2: eng
ISO 639-3: eng  
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14th century was that century which lasted from 1301 to 1400.

Events

  • The transition from the Medieval Warm Period to the Little Ice Age
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Old English/Anglo-Saxon}}}
Language codes
ISO 639-1: none
ISO 639-2: ang
ISO 639-3: ang Old English (also called Anglo-Saxon[1], Englisc
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Proto-Germanic}}} 
Writing system: Elder Futhark
Language codes
ISO 639-1: none
ISO 639-2: gem
ISO 639-3: —

Proto-Germanic (or Common Germanic
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MOUSE was founded in 1997 by entrepreneur Andrew Rasiej and Founding Executive Director Sarah Holloway. Along with leaders from the "high tech" community in New York City, MOUSE spearheaded the process of wiring public schools for Internet access in New York City.
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As a means of recording the passage of time, the 16th century was that century which lasted from 1501 through 1600.

See also: 16th century in literature

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1500s

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species is one of the basic units of biological classification. A species is often defined as a group of organisms capable of interbreeding and producing fertile offspring.
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The beak, bill or rostrum is an external anatomical structure of birds which, in addition to eating, is used for grooming, manipulating objects, killing prey, probing for food, courtship, and feeding their young.
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Insecta
Linnaeus, 1758

Orders
Subclass Apterygota
* Archaeognatha (bristletails)
* Thysanura (silverfish)
Subclass Pterygota
* Infraclass Paleoptera (Probably paraphyletic)

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P. major

Binomial name
Parus major
Linnaeus, 1758

The Great Tit, Parus major, is a passerine bird in the tit family Paridae.
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C. caeruleus

Binomial name
Cyanistes caeruleus
(Linnaeus, 1758)

Synonyms
Parus caeruleus

The Blue Tit, Cyanistes caeruleus (often still Parus caeruleus
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Milk is an opaque white liquid produced by the mammary glands of female mammals (including monotremes). Mammary glands are highly specialized sweat glands. The female ability to produce milk is one of the defining characteristics of mammals.
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Cream (from Greek chrisma) is a dairy product that is composed of the higher-butterfat layer skimmed from the top of milk before homogenization. In un-homogenized milk, over time, the lighter fat rises to the top.
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In most birds and reptiles, an egg (Latin ovum) is the zygote, resulting from fertilization of the ovum. To enable incubation the egg is usually kept within a favourable temperature range as it nourishes and protects the growing embryo.
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