Ground Tit

About the Ground Tit

The ground tit, Tibetan ground tit, or Hume's ground tit (Pseudopodoces humilis) is a bird of the Tibetan plateau north of the Himalayas. The peculiar appearance confused ornithologists who in the past variously called it Hume's groundpecker, Hume's ground jay or Tibetan ground jay on the assumption it belonged to the family Corvidae that includes the crows and jays. Although morphologically confusing, the species has since been identified using molecular sequence comparisons as being a member of the tit family (Paridae), and is now treated as the only species in the genus Pseudopodoces. It is found in the Tibetan Plateau of China, India, Nepal & Bhutan.

Pseudopodoces is somewhat similar in appearance to the unrelated ground jays (Podoces), but much smaller, about the size of a house sparrow (Passer domesticus), and lacks any conspicuous markings. More distinctly however, it resembles a wheatear (Oenanthe) in habitus, but lacks black feathers, and has a strong and slightly downcurved bill resembling that of a chough (Pyrrhocorax) in shape (though not in colour). Its soft, lax body plumage is extremely cryptic in its natural habitat. The underside is a greyish-fawn... Wikipedia →