Sultan Tit

The Sultan Tit, Melanochlora sultanea, is a large songbird with a yellow crest, dark bill, black upperparts plumage and yellow underparts. The sexes are similar. The female has greenish black upperparts and yellowish throat. The young bird is duller than the adult and has a shorter crest.

The Sultan Tit is classified as Least Concern. Does not qualify for a more at risk category. Widespread and abundant taxa are included in this category.

The Sultan Tit, Melanochlora sultanea, is a large songbird (about 17 cm long) with a yellow crest, dark bill, black upperparts plumage and yellow underparts. The sexes are similar. The female has greenish black upperparts and yellowish throat. The young bird is duller than the adult and has a shorter crest. It is the only member of the monotypic genus Melanochlora, which is fairly distinct from the Parus tits with the nearest relative being the monotypic Sylviparus. More

Sultan Tit (Melanochlora sultanea) is a local resident in eastern Himalayas, north-east and central India. More

Asia, such as the sultan tit, which occurs from the Himalayas to Indochina, and the black-lored tit, which occurs from the Himalayas to southern India. While some of the European species also occur in the far northwest of Africa, the truly African species all have sub-Saharan distributions and are endemic. The majority have relatively restricted distributions with only the white-shouldered tit (Parus guineensis) having a cross-continent range from coastal Senegal east to Ethiopia. More

Sultan Tit, although it’s such a striking bird that it certainly could not be overlooked! 178. Black-throated Tit Aegithalos concinnus Fast-moving flocks, typically of 30 birds or more, were seen at Neora Valley, Lava and Sandakphu. 179. Plain Martin Riparia paludicola Seen near the river at Gorumara only. 180. Three old nests were seen inside a shop doorway in Lava village. 181. More

(1996), the sultan tit Melanochlora sultanea has a body length of 20.5 cm and a weight of 34-49 g. And according to Madge & Burn's Crows and Jays (1994)*, Pseudopodoces humilis has a body length of 19 cm and a weight of 42-48 g. * Written when Pseudopodoces was still thought to be a corvid. So, while it's a close call, it seems that the sultan tit may reach a larger maximum size and is thus - still - the largest tit. More