Meet the White-Browed Tit Warbler, the rainbow-colored bird with a very silly name
In the Boreal forests of China and Central Asia, there lives a tiny resident with some flashy eyebrows.
It’s got pretty colors, eyebrows on fleek, and a ridiculous name.
The White-Browed Tit Warbler’s quirky name comes from its identity as a “Titmouse”, a historical mishearing of “Titmase”.
The story goes that people began to think it was supposed to be “mouse” and not “mase” because, well, it’s tiny and makes cute noises so it must be “mouse” right?
The White-browed Tit Warbler is in fat, part of an entire family of rotund, tiny birds known as Bushtits.
You may want to make sure you read that name right
The Bushtits, or Aegithalidae, are typically drab-colored birds with long tails weighing less than 10 grams. They can be found in North America and Eurasia.
Named for its striking, white eyebrows, the White-Browed Tit Warbler’s scientific name is Leptopoecile sophiae. It’s one of two species in the genus Leptopoecile
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The IUCN (International Union for Conservation of Nature) lists the species under “least concern” on the red list. So at least for now, the little titmouse is safe from extinction.
Its population stability is largely in part due to having no natural predators. Feral cats would typically be a problem, but these birds reside in cold regions with high terrain elevation. Much too uncomfortable for most cats to venture into.
Like some other bird species, these birds are monogamous. The first mating partner they choose will be their partner for life, and that’s honestly really cute.
They belong to the order Passeriformes, one of the richest and most diverse modern orders of birds
Besides the White-Browed Tit Warbler, Passeriformes includes another 6,600 species. The order is named after the humble House Sparrow, whose scientific name is Passer domesticus.
This grand order of birds is in fact, the largest order of birds today! The group got its evolutionary start back in the Eocene epoch, 56 million years ago. These birds have actually been around even before elephants.
Now they number in the thousands, and their ecological role is simple : Eat seeds, sing songs.
Here’s another awesome fact about these birds : Some of them learn their songs from other members of their species, while some of them are born knowing the songs
The Passeriformes are made of two natural groups of birds, the Tyranni and Passeri. The special four-muscled voice box (syrinx) of the Passeri gives them the edge when it comes to bird songs.
The Tyranni are a mostly tropical smaller group, and they just know the songs from birth.
The White-Browed Tit-Warbler’s native habitat and range showcases how hardy and survivable birds are
From the Himalayan mountains to the near Freezing temperatures of the Artic, birds will make do with any habitat they find themselves in. They are, after all, still dinosaurs.
If they can survive an extinction-level asteroid impact, then a bit of cold shouldn’t be any trouble to them.
Birds are such important creatures that it’s easy to take them for granted when you see them everyday
The White-Browed Tit Warbler looks like your typical songbird (and in fact, songbirds is another term for Passeriforms) straight out of a Disney movie. One can imagine it singing along to a princess in the woods.
But an ecosystem without birds is like a song without a melody. Imagine walking in the woods and not hearing a single bird, or taking a morning stroll without seeing any of them in the sky. The word that comes to mind is “empty”.
We should be grateful to have birds, even if you might find one pooping on your car or snatching your chips at the beach.
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