White-winged Tit

Taxobox
name = White-winged Tit


image_caption = Foraging in a toothbrush tree ("Salvadora persica")
status = VU
status_system = iucn3.1
status_ref = IUCN2006|assessors=BirdLife International|year=2004|id=16385|title=Parus nuchalis|downloaded=09 May 2006]
trend = down
regnum = Animalia
phylum = Chordata
classis = Aves
ordo = Passeriformes
familia = Paridae
genus = "Parus"
species = "P. nuchalis"
binomial = "Parus nuchalis"
binomial_authority = Jerdon, 1845
range_

The White-winged Tit "Parus nuchalis", also known as the White-naped Tit, is a passerine bird in the tit family Paridae. It is endemic to India.

This species underwent a rapid population decline in the recent past.Fact|date=September 2008 Its small, severely fragmented population continues to decline, although at a reduced rate, as a result of the loss, degradation and fragmentation of its tropical thorn-scrub habitat. It therefore qualifies as Vulnerable. Current RedDataBook Status is: Vulnerable A1c; C1; C2a [ [http://www.birdlife.org/datazone/species/index.html?action=SpcHTMDetails.asp&sid=7053&m=0 BirdLife Species Factsheet] ]

The species is distributed in scrub forest in the Kutch region of Gujarat in western India and also in small areas in southern India, especially in the Kaveri river valley. [ [http://www.rdb.or.id/viewadd.php?id=298 Red Data Book Species Sighting Data] ] [Lott, E. J., & C. Lott. 1999. On the occurrence of White-naped Tit "Parus nuchalis" in S. India. Forktail 15:93-94. [http://orientalbirdclub.org/publications/forktail/15pdfs/Lott-Tit.pdf] ] It uses old woodpeckers nest holes for nesting and roosting.Rasmussen, P.C. and Anderton, J.C. (2005) Birds of South Asia. The Ripley Guide. Smithsonian Institution and Lynx Edicions.]

It breeds after the monsoons from May to August.

References