Cinereous Tit

About the Cinereous Tit

The cinereous tit or Asian tit (Parus cinereus) is a species of bird in the tit family Paridae. This species is made up of several populations that were earlier treated as subspecies of the great tit (Parus major). These birds are grey backed with white undersides. The great tit in the new sense is distinguishable by the greenish-back and yellowish underside. The distribution of this species extends from parts of West Asia across South Asia and into Southeast Asia. The Japanese tit was formerly treated as a separate species but is now grouped together with the cinereous tit.

The cinereous tit was formally described in 1818 by the French ornithologist Louis Vieillot under the binomial name Parus cinereus. He specified the type location as Batavia, now Jakarta, on the Indonesian island of Java. The cinereous tit was formerly considered as conspecific with the great tit (Parus major).

Twenty subspecies are recognised: P. c. decolorans Koelz, 1939 – northeast Afghanistan and northwest Pakistan P. c. ziaratensis Whistler, 1929 – central, south Afghanistan and west Pakistan P. c. caschmirensis Hartert, EJO, 1905 – northeast Afghanistan, north Pakistan and northwest India

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