Oak Titmouse

Oak Titmouse, Santa Monica Mountains, CA

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1. Description
2. Sound
3. Conservation Status
4. Other Names
5. Cool Facts
6. Full detailed species account

Formerly lumped with the Juniper Titmouse as the species known appropriately as Plain Titmouse, the Oak Titmouse is small drab bird whose small head tuft is nearly its only field mark.

Description

• Small gray bird with small tuft on head.

Sex Differences

Sexes alike.

Sound

Song a series of repeated whistled notes, with first syllable higher in pitch than the following one. Calls a scratchy "tsicka-dee-dee."

Conservation Status

Oak woodlands in California are under threat of development.

Other Names

Mésange unicolore (French)

Cool Facts

• The Oak Titmouse sleeps in cavities or in dense foliage. When roosting in foliage, the titmouse chooses a twig surrounded by dense foliage or an accumulation of dead pine needles, simulating a roost in a cavity.

• The Oak Titmouse mates for life, and pairs defend year-round territories. Most titmice find a mate in their first fall. Those that do not are excluded from territories and must live in marginal habitat until they find a vacancy.

• The Oak Titmouse, unlike other members of the family, does not form flocks in winter.

Sources used to construct this page:

Cicero, C. 2000. Oak Titmouse (Baeolophus inornatus) and Juniper Titmouse (Baeolophus ridgwayi). In The Birds of North America, No. 485 (A. Poole and F. Gill, eds.). The Birds of North America, Inc., Philadelphia, PA.