Japanese Tit Parus minor Scientific name definitions

A familiar small bird of temperate eastern Asia that often visits bird feeders, the Japanese Tit is found in city parks and a variety of woodlands and open habitats with trees; it is more confined to open forests of hilly areas in northern Thailand and neighboring countries. It is larger and slightly heavier billed than sympatric tit species of different genera (e.g., Periparus, Sittiparus, and Poecile) that share the characteristic white cheeks contrasting with dark cap and throat. The Japanese Tit joins mixed-species flocks with other species of tits, as well as other small woodland birds. The combination of olive-tinged mantle and whitish underparts is visibly different from its close relatives, i.e., Green-backed Tit (Parus monticolus), Great Tit (Parus major), and Cinereous Tit (Parus cinereus), with which it was formerly considered conspecific.