White-backed Black Tit

Melaniparus leuconotus - Mésange à dos blanc

Mésange à dos blanc
adult
Systematics
  • Order 
    :

    Passeriformes

  • Family
    :

    Paridés

  • Genus
    :

    Melaniparus

  • Species
    :

    leuconotus

Descriptor

Guérin-Méneville, 1843

Biometrics
  • Size
    : 14 cm
  • Wingspan
    : -
  • Weight
    : 16 à 17 g
Geographic range

Distribution

Identification

Mésange à dos blanc
adult
Mésange à dos blanc
adult

The White-backed Black Tit is a little known species. Although quite common in its habitat, it has not been the subject of extensive study. When it entered The Bird of the World in 2020, no nesting sites had been studied and documented yet. This small tit is easily identifiable, being a glossy black in good light and, as its name suggests, with a white back more specifically the mantle since the back itself is black. The lower neck has an angular spot of the same color. There is no sexual dimorphism. In some individuals, the under-tail coverts and some upper wing coverts are white. Secondary and tertiary remiges have white fringes. The tail is black with the outer rectrices bordered and white-tipped. The iris is brown, the bill is black and shiny, the legs are grey to dark grey. The juvenile is duller, more brown-black than deep black.

Subspecific information monotypic species

Foreign names

  • Mésange à dos blanc,
  • Carbonero dorsiblanco,
  • chapim-de-dorso-branco,
  • Weißmantel-Rußmeise,
  • fehérhátú cinege,
  • Witrugmees,
  • Cincia dorsobianco,
  • vitryggig mes,
  • Hvitryggmeis,
  • sýkorka bielochrbtá,
  • sýkora etiopská,
  • Etiopisk Mejse,
  • etiopiantiainen,
  • mallerenga negra de dors blanc,
  • sikora jasnogrzbieta,
  • Белоспинная синица,
  • セジロクロガラ,
  • 白背黑山雀,
  • vitryggig mes,
  • 白背山雀,

Voice song and cries

Mésange à dos blanc
adult

The White-backed Black Tit is a vocal species with a varied repertoire of both soft and loud cries. Rarely among tits, the species has a song which is a fairly melodic babbling of full and liquid notes similar to a bulbul. It is common for couples to sing together for a long time. Cries are diverse and can evoke those of more well-known species. Thus they will make tsi si si si si... sounds of a Blue Tit, and a sé dé dé dé dé ending that reminds of a Marsh Tit. There are also psi dut...psi du dut from a Great Tit, as well as isolated or intercalated notes of a sparrow. Certain sounds resemble those of other tits with which this species seems to have genetic affinities, such as the Southern Black Tit, Western Black Tit, and Grey-headed Black Tit, two species of southern Africa. The juvenile is also quite loud, emitting high-pitched cries when begging for food.

Habitat

Mésange à dos blanc
adult

The White-backed Black Tit resides permanently in the high mountain ranges of the Ethiopian Highlands and mainly in thicket and woodland habitats between 1,800 and 3,500 metres altitude in Ethiopia, and between 2,000 and 2,600 metres in Eritrea.

Two British ornithologists, David Quinn, an avian illustrator, and Simon Harrap, have, however, reported their presence below 1,400 metres in Ethiopia, in the Oromia Region. The White-backed Black Tit appreciates thick vegetation and thrives in Junipers, Hagenia, endemic Abyssinian trees, as well as alpine bamboo and giant heather forests at higher altitudes. It can also be found in bushier environments such as Knapweed and Euphorbia scrub and mixed boulder valley scrub. It is still found in forest gardens in Addis Ababa, as long as there is a water source available. In Eritrea, it has also been spotted on the steep slopes of the mountains and in the gorges.

Behaviour character trait

Mésange à dos blanc
adult

The White-backed Black Tit is not unnoticeable for those who are familiar with its vocalisations. It is a sociable bird.

Mésange à dos blanc
adult
It moves in couples or small, active groups. The lack of other species of tits in a large part of its range would explain the lack of typical flocks for the family. As acrobatic as our Blue Tit, it actively searches for its food on tree trunks, sometimes hanging by its feet from branches and twigs, where it unearths the invertebrates hidden beneath the lichens and mosses as well as in bushes and shrubs. For breeding, territoriality would be weak and couples would tolerate or even seek proximity to other couples.

Flight

Mésange à dos blanc

The flight of the White-backed Black Tit is rather slow and wavy, with rapid wing beats. The distances it covers are usually short.

Dietfeeding habits

Mésange à dos blanc
adult

The White-backed Black Tit feeds on small invertebrates, particularly in the larval stage, and seeds of all kinds. Where it is the only tit, it would be omnivorous.

Reproduction nesting

Mésange à dos blanc

Observations of youngsters show that breeding of the White-backed Black Tit appears to take place all year round in Ethiopia. In Eritrea, it would coincide with the rainy season. However, one can only assume that it nests in a cavity, as is the case with Parids, as no data is available in this regard. The details of the breeding are still to be documented today.

Geographic range

Distribution
Mésange à dos blanc
adult

The White-backed Black Tit is endemic to Ethiopia and Eritrea.

Threats - protection

Mésange à dos blanc
adult
IUCN conservation status
Extinct
Threatened
Least
concern
Extinc
in the Wild
Near
threatened
Not
evaluated
EX EW CR EN VU NT LC NE

The population of White-backed Black Tit present in the highland tropical forests of Ethiopia appears to be stable and the species remains common to fairly common. Individuals were rediscovered in Eritrea since 2008 after 50 years of data absence probably due more to the conflicts of the region than to an absence of the species. The recent deforestation in Eritrea certainly has a negative impact on the population of tits. In 2016, it was classified as "of minor concern" by Birdlife International.

Sources of information

Other sources of interest

QRcode Mésange à dos blancSpecification sheet created on 18/07/2023 by
Translation by AI Oiseaux.net
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