Bushtit, Psaltriparus minimus

Bushtit, Psaltriparus minimus plumbeus. Photograph taken within a residential community in Hereford, Arizona, April 2011. Photograph and identification courtesy of Bob Behrstock, Sierra Vista, Arizona (naturewideimages.com).

Bushtit, Psaltriparus minimus plumbeus. Photograph taken within the Reserva Monte Mojino, Alamos, Sonora, May 2018. Photograph and identification courtesy of David F Smith, Alamos, Sonora.

Bushtit, Psaltriparus minimus minimus. Photographs taken in the greater Santa Barbara area, Santa Barbara, California, September 2021. Photographs courtesy of Dr. Tom Bartol, Carlsbad, California.

The Bushtit, Psaltriparus minimus plumbeus and Psalatriparus minimus minimus are two subspecies of Bushtit, seven of which are found in Mexico, and is a member of the Aegithalidae Family of Long-tailed Tits. This is the only global member of the Psaltriparus Genus. They are known in Mexico as sastrecito común.

The Bushtit is a very small drab bird with short wings and a long tail. The sexes are similar in appearance and the plumages but can be differentiated by the color of their eyes with the females having lighter iris; the females develop a brood patch while breeding. They are a uniform plain gray color that is lighter ventrally but vary in appearance with some birds having black ear coverts and others do not. Their bill is small, decurved and relatively deep and black in color, and their legs are long and black.

The Bushtit is non-migratory and often found in flocks of three to forty conspecific or in mixed species flocks. They are found in mid-elevations within pine-oak woodlands in mountainous and shrub vegetation in coastal areas and arid environments at elevations up to 3,505 m (11,500 feet). They are known to move to higher elevations during nonbreeding season. They are very tame and fearless of humans and quickly adapt to suburban areas.
They forage on insects and spiders gleaned from foliage, often upside down similar to chickadees. They are known to have outside visitors as inhabitants for their nests that are male or female, juvenile or adult. Some of the outside males mate with the resident females and some of the outside females mate with the resident males making them polygynous, polyandrous and polygynandrous. They have life spans of up to nine years.

The Bushtit is found throughout Mexico including Baja California, Baja California Sur, Chiapas, Chihuahua, Coahuila, Durango, Guerrero, Hidalgo, Jalisco, Michoacán, Oaxaca, Querétaro, Puebla, San Luis Potosí, Sonora, Tamaulipas and Veracruz. The minimus subspecies is found in the western United States. The plumbeus subspecies is found in northern Sonora and northwest Chihuahua.

The Bushtit is similar in stature to the Verdin, Auriparus flaviceps (long sharp bill, yellow head).

From a conservation perspective the Bushtit is currently considered to be of Least Concern with stable, widely distributed populations. They are scientifically interesting due to their unusual social systems.