Marsh Tit

The Marsh Tit Poecile palustris is a passerine bird in the tit family Paridae and genus Poecile, closely related to the Willow, Père David's and Songar Tits. It is small (around 12 cm long and weighing 12 g) with a black crown and nape, pale cheeks, brown back and greyish-brown wings and tail. Between 8 and 11 subspecies are recognised. This bird's close resemblance to the Willow Tit can cause identification problems, especially in the United Kingdom where the local subspecies of the two are very similar (there, they were not recognised as separate species until 1897).