Owston's tit
Sittiparus owstoni (Ijima, 1893)
The owston's tit (Sittiparus owstoni) is a species in the family Paridae, order Passeriformes. Recorded adults weigh about 17 g. Its IUCN Red List status is Endangered.
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Quick facts about the owston's tit
- Weight
- 17 gsrc for Weight
- Length
- Not recorded
- Lifespan
- Not recorded
- Diet
- Invertivoresrc for Diet
- Main food
- Not recorded
- Habitat
- forestsrc for Habitat
- Young per litter or clutch
- Not recorded
- Lifestyle
- Perchingsrc for Lifestyle
- Migration
- Sedentarysrc for Migration
- Conservation status
- Endangered (IUCN)src for Conservation status
- Countries on record
- Not recorded
Where does the owston's tit live?
Not recorded
What is the owston's tit?
Owston's tit (Sittiparus owstoni) is a small passerine bird in the tit family Paridae that is endemic to the southern Izu Islands south of Japan, occurring only on the islands of Miyakejima, Mikurajima and Hachijojima.
Owston's tit was formerly considered as subspecies of the varied tit but was promoted to species status based on the results of a phylogenetic study published in 2014. The species was first described by Ijima Isao in 1893, based on two females from Miyake-jima obtained by Alan Owston's collector, and named Parus owstoni in his honour. This was the first description of a bird by a zoologist from Japan.
It is larger than the varied tit, and lacks the buffish forehead and side of neck.
From the Wikipedia article “Owston's tit” (en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Owston%27s_tit&oldid=1355348911), by Wikipedia contributors, licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0 (creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0). This block is kept separate from our own text.
Is the owston's tit endangered?
The owston's tit is listed as Endangered on the IUCN Red List: it faces a very high risk of extinction in the wild.
- LCLeast Concern
- NTNear Threatened
- VUVulnerable
- ENEndangered
- CRCritically Endangered
- EWExtinct in the Wild
- EXExtinct
Category via Wikidata (CC0). Find the full assessment on the IUCN Red List. See all Endangered species. What the categories mean.
How is the owston's tit classified?
- kingdomAnimalia
- phylumChordata
- classAves
- orderPasseriformes
- familyParidae
- genusSittiparus
- SpeciesSittiparus owstoni (Ijima, 1893)
Synonyms Cyanistes varius owstoni, Parus owstoni, Parus rubidus masaakii, Parus varius owstoni, Periparus varius owstoni, Poecile varius owstoni, Sittiparus varius owstoni
Other names and names in other languages (28)
- Izu titEnglish
- Mallerenga de les IzuCatalan
- Mikura MejseDanish
- IzumeiseGerman
- Izuinseln-BuntmeiseGerman
- OwstonmeiseGerman
- izua paruoEsperanto
- Carbonero de las IzuSpanish
- Mésange d'OwstonFrench
- Mésange d’OwstonFrench
- kestenjastolica sjenicaCroatian
- cincia di OwstonItalian
- オーストンヤマガラJapanese
- Raudonskruostė margoji zylėLithuanian
- Owstons MeesDutch
- izumeisNorwegian
- sikora rdzawolicaPolish
- chapim-de-izuPortuguese
- chapim-das-izuPortuguese
- Рыжещёкая синицаRussian
- sýkorka OwstonovaSlovak
- Oustonova senicaSerbian
- izumesSwedish
- İzu BaştankarasıTurkish
- гаїчка острівнаUkrainian
- 伊豆杂色山雀Chinese
- 伊豆雜色山雀Chinese
- 日本雜色山雀Chinese
Relatives of the owston's tit
Other species in the same genus Sittiparus.
Varied tit
Sittiparus varius
White-fronted tit
Sittiparus semilarvatus
Chestnut-bellied tit
Sittiparus castaneoventris
Iriomote tit
Sittiparus olivaceus
CompareOwston's tit vs Varied titOwston's tit vs White-fronted titOwston's tit vs Chestnut-bellied titOwston's tit vs Iriomote tit
Common questions
Answered only where our data holds the answer.
How big is the owston's tit?
An adult owston's tit weighs 17 g, according to values recorded on Wikidata.
Is the owston's tit endangered?
The owston's tit is listed as Endangered on the IUCN Red List, meaning it faces a very high risk of extinction in the wild.
What kind of animal is the owston's tit?
The owston's tit (Sittiparus owstoni) belongs to the family Paridae in the order Passeriformes.
Sources and how to cite this page
Data as of 2026-11-11. How this page is put together.
- AVONET: morphological, ecological and geographical data for all birds · CC BY 4.0 · v7
Tobias, J.A. et al. (2022) AVONET: morphological, ecological and geographical data for all birds. Ecology Letters 25: 581–597. https://doi.org/10.1111/ele.13898. Data: https://doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.16586228.v7 - Catalogue of Life eXtended Release · CC BY 4.0 · 2026-10-16 XR
Catalogue of Life (2026). Catalogue of Life eXtended Release, version 2026-10-16 XR. Catalogue of Life Foundation, Amsterdam, Netherlands. https://doi.org/10.48580/dgzlf - Wikimedia Commons · per file (CC0 / public domain / CC BY green, CC BY-SA amber, anything else not displayed) · 2026-11-11
Wikimedia Commons contributors. Wikimedia Commons. https://commons.wikimedia.org (each file credited to its author under its own licence). - Wikidata · CC0 1.0 · 2026-11-11
Wikidata contributors. Wikidata. https://www.wikidata.org (data retrieved via the Wikidata Query Service). - Wikipedia (English) · CC BY-SA 4.0 · 2026-11-11
Wikipedia contributors. Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. https://en.wikipedia.org (text under CC BY-SA 4.0; each block names its article and revision).
Embed a card for this animal on your own site
Copy this code. The card shows the photo with its credit, key facts and a link back to this page.
CreatureData. (2026). Owston's tit (Sittiparus owstoni). Retrieved from https://creaturedata.com/animals/owstons-tit
“Owston's tit (Sittiparus owstoni).” CreatureData, 2026, https://creaturedata.com/animals/owstons-tit.
@misc{owstons_tit_2026,
title = {Owston's tit (Sittiparus owstoni)},
author = {{CreatureData}},
year = {2026},
url = {https://creaturedata.com/animals/owstons-tit},
note = {Data as of 2026-11-11}
}