• Summary
• Text account
• Data table and detailed info
• Distribution map
• Reference and further resources

Taxonomic note
Poecile montanus has been split into Willow Tit P. montanus and Sichuan Tit P. weigoldicus following evidence of strong differentiation from molecular work (Tritsch et al. 2017), reinforcing the morphological differences noted by Eck and Martens (2006). All evidence points to the distinctiveness of P. weigoldicus and, with the proviso that the case will continue to be studied, the form is accepted as taking species rank.
 
Previously this treatment was not followed owing to the apparent overlap in morphological characters between weigoldicus and parapatric P. m. affinis, and because it was not possible to find adequate recordings to meaningfully analyse vocal differences. Hence P. weigoldicus was considered a subspecies of P. montanus (del Hoyo et al. 2016).

Taxonomic source(s)
Eck, S. and Martens, J. 2006. Systematic notes on Asian birds. 49. A preliminary review of the Aegithalidae, Remizidae and Paridae. Zoologische Mededelingen 80-5(1): 1-63.
Handbook of the Birds of the World and BirdLife International. 2019. Handbook of the Birds of the World and BirdLife International digital checklist of the birds of the world. Version 4. Available at: https://datazone.birdlife.org/userfiles/file/Species/Taxonomy/HBW-BirdLife_Checklist_v4_Dec19.zip.
Tritsch, C., Martens, J., Sun, Y. H., Heim, W., Strutzenberger, P., & Päckert, M. 2017. Improved sampling at the subspecies level solves a taxonomic dilemma–a case study of two enigmatic Chinese tit species (Aves, Passeriformes, Paridae, Poecile). Molecular phylogenetics and evolution 107: 538-550.

Red List criteria met

Critically Endangered	Endangered	Vulnerable
-	-	-

Red List history

Year	Category	Criteria
2019	Least Concern
2016	Not Recognised
2012	Not Recognised
2008	Not Recognised
2004	Not Recognised
2000	Not Recognised
1994	Not Recognised
1988	Not Recognised

Migratory status	altitudinal migrant	Forest dependency	medium
Land-mass type		Average mass	-

	Estimate	Data quality
Extent of Occurrence (breeding/resident)	33,800,000 km2
Severely fragmented?	no	-

	Estimate	Data quality	Derivation	Year of estimate
Population size	175000000-253000000 mature individuals	poor	estimated	2012
Population trend	decreasing	-	suspected	-
Generation length	4.6 years	-	-	-

Population justification: In Europe, the breeding population is estimated to number 30.5-44.2 million pairs, which equates to 61-88.4 million mature individuals (BirdLife International 2015). Europe forms c.35% of the global range, so a very preliminary estimate of the global population size is 175-253 million mature individuals, although further validation of this estimate is needed. National population estimates include 10,000-110,000 breeding pairs in China, 100-100,000 breeding pairs in Japan and 10,000-100,000 breeding pairs in Russia (Brazil 2009).

Trend justification: Both increases and decreases in regional populations have been noted in the second half of the 20^th century (del Hoyo et al. 2007). In Europe, trends since 1980 show that populations have undergone a moderate decline (EBCC 2018). Precautionarily the species is assessed as being in decline.

Country/Territory	Presence	Origin	Resident	Breeding visitor	Non-breeding visitor	Passage migrant
Albania	extant	native		yes
Austria	extant	native	yes
Belarus	extant	native	yes
Belgium	extant	native	yes
Bosnia and Herzegovina	extant	native		yes
Bulgaria	extant	native	yes
China (mainland)	extant	native		yes
Croatia	extant	native	yes
Czechia	extant	native	yes
Denmark	extant	native	yes			yes
Estonia	extant	native	yes
Finland	extant	native	yes			yes
France	extant	native	yes
Germany	extant	native	yes
Greece	extant	native	yes
Hungary	extant	native	yes
Italy	extant	native	yes
Japan	extant	native		yes
Kazakhstan	extant	native		yes
Kyrgyzstan	extant	native	yes
Latvia	extant	native	yes
Liechtenstein	extant	native	yes
Lithuania	extant	native	yes
Luxembourg	extant	native	yes
Moldova	extant	native		yes
Mongolia	extant	native		yes
Montenegro	extant	native		yes
Netherlands	extant	native	yes
North Korea	extant	native		yes
North Macedonia	extant	native	yes
Norway	extant	native		yes
Poland	extant	native		yes
Romania	extant	native	yes
Russia	extant	native	yes	yes
Russia (Asian)	extant	native		yes
Russia (Central Asian)	extant	native	yes
Russia (European)	extant	native	yes
Serbia	extant	native		yes
Slovakia	extant	native	yes
Slovenia	extant	native	yes
South Korea	extant	uncertain		yes
Spain	extant	uncertain			yes
Sweden	extant	native	yes
Switzerland	extant	native	yes
Ukraine	extant	native	yes
United Kingdom	extant	native	yes

Country/Territory	IBA Name

Habitat (level 1)	Habitat (level 2)	Importance	Occurrence
Artificial/Terrestrial	Rural Gardens	suitable	resident
Forest	Boreal	suitable	resident
Forest	Temperate	suitable	resident
Shrubland	Temperate	suitable	resident
Wetlands (inland)	Bogs, Marshes, Swamps, Fens, Peatlands	suitable	resident
Wetlands (inland)	Permanent Freshwater Lakes (over 8ha)	suitable	resident
Wetlands (inland)	Permanent Rivers/Streams/Creeks (includes waterfalls)	suitable	resident
Wetlands (inland)	Shrub Dominated Wetlands	suitable	resident
Altitude	0 - 4275 m	Occasional altitudinal limits

Threat (level 1)	Threat (level 2)	Impact and Stresses
Biological resource use	Logging & wood harvesting - Unintentional effects: (large scale) [harvest]	Timing		Scope		Severity		Impact
		Ongoing		Minority (<50%)		Slow, Significant Declines		Low Impact: 5
		Stresses Ecosystem degradation, Ecosystem conversion
Climate change & severe weather	Other impacts	Timing		Scope		Severity		Impact
		Ongoing		Whole (>90%)		Unknown		Unknown
		Stresses Indirect ecosystem effects
Invasive and other problematic species, genes & diseases	Problematic native species/diseases - Dendrocopos major	Timing		Scope		Severity		Impact
		Ongoing		Minority (<50%)		Negligible declines		Low Impact: 4
		Stresses Competition, Reduced reproductive success
Invasive and other problematic species, genes & diseases	Problematic native species/diseases - Named species	Timing		Scope		Severity		Impact
		Ongoing		Minority (<50%)		Negligible declines		Low Impact: 4
		Stresses Competition, Reduced reproductive success

Purpose	Scale
Pets/display animals, horticulture	subsistence, national

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Recommended citation
BirdLife International (2024) Species factsheet: Willow Tit Poecile montanus. Downloaded from https://datazone.birdlife.org/species/factsheet/willow-tit-poecile-montanus on 22/11/2024.
Recommended citation for factsheets for more than one species: BirdLife International (2024) IUCN Red List for birds. Downloaded from https://datazone.birdlife.org/species/search on 22/11/2024.