Southern black tit facts for kids
Quick facts for kids Southern black tit |
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| Conservation status | |
| Scientific classification | |
| Genus: |
Melaniparus
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| Species: |
niger
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| resident range | |
| Synonyms | |
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Parus niger |
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The southern black tit (Melaniparus niger) is a small bird that lives in southern Africa. It belongs to the tit family, Paridae. These birds are known for living in woodlands.
Contents
Different Types of Southern Black Tits
Scientists have found three slightly different types, or subspecies, of the southern black tit:
- Melaniparus niger niger – You can find this type from southern Mozambique to Eswatini, KwaZulu-Natal, and the Eastern Cape in South Africa.
- Melaniparus niger xanthostomus – This type lives from southern Angola to northern Namibia, northern Botswana, northwestern Zimbabwe, southern Zambia, and southern Tanzania.
- Melaniparus niger ravidus – This type is found in eastern Zambia, Malawi, Zimbabwe, Mozambique, eastern Botswana, and northern South Africa.
Where They Live
Southern black tits mainly live in warm, dry woodlands called savannas. They are found in a wide arc from Angola all the way to the Eastern Cape in South Africa. They especially like woodlands with broad-leaved trees. Some of their favorite trees are miombo trees, Combretum species, and Burkea africana. You can find many of these birds in the woodlands of western Zimbabwe.
What They Look Like
The southern black tit is different from many other tit birds because it's mostly one color. It's about 16 centimetres (6 in) long, including its tail. The male and female birds look a bit different. The female is usually grayish, while the male is a clear blue-black color. You can tell them apart from other similar tits because they don't have a white edge on their tail feathers.
What They Eat
Like most tit birds, the southern black tit mainly eats insects. They are very good at eating wasps, especially in their favorite woodland homes. But these birds are also a bit unusual for tits because they have been seen drinking nectar from flowers and eating figs.
Reproduction and Life Cycle
Southern black tits usually breed during the wet summer season. How many baby birds they raise depends on how much rain there is. The way these birds raise their young has been studied a lot. It shows how breeding strategies can be different in warm places with unpredictable rain compared to cold places with harsh winters.
For example, a pair of great tits or blue tits in colder regions can raise up to 25 chicks a year by themselves. But a southern black tit pair, living where food might be harder to find, can rarely raise even one chick on their own in a breeding season. Because of this, many male southern black tits stay with their parents for several years. They become helpers and assist in raising the new chicks. A female southern black tit is very protective of her nest. While she sits on her eggs for about 15 days, her mate and helpers bring her food. If she feels danger, she will even imitate a venomous snake to scare away predators and protect her nest!
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