European Penduline Tit

About the European Penduline Tit

The Eurasian penduline tit or European penduline tit (Remiz pendulinus) is a passerine bird of the genus Remiz. It is relatively widespread throughout the western Palearctic. It is migratory in the northern part of its range but resident in the southern part.

The breeding range in Western Europe experienced an expansion during the 1980s and 1990s. This was accompanied by an expansion of the species' winter range and reached as far south as northern Morocco. It builds an elaborate hanging nest, formerly used in Central Europe as children's slippers.

The Eurasian penduline tit was formally described by the Swedish naturalist Carl Linnaeus in 1758 in the tenth edition of his Systema Naturae under the binomial name Motacilla pedulinus. It is now placed in the genus Remiz that was introduced in 1819 by the Polish zoologist Feliks Paweł Jarocki. The genus name Remiz is the Polish word for the Eurasian penduline tit. The specific epithet is from Latin pendulus meaning "pendant" or "hanging down", referring to the nest.

Four subspecies are recognised: R. p. pendulinus (Linnaeus, 1758) – Europe to the Ural Mountains, Caucasus and west Turkey R. p. menzbieri (Zarudny, 1913) –... Wikipedia →