Bridled Titmouse, Baeolophus wollweberi

Bridled Titmouse, Baeolophus wollweberi phillipsi. Photograph taken within a residential community in Hereford, Arizona, February 2007. Photograph and identification courtesy of Bob Behrstock, Sierra Vista, Arizona (naturewideimages.com).

The Bridled Titmouse, Baeolophus wollweberi phillipsi, is one of four subspecies of Bridled Titmouse, three of which are found in Mexico. They are a member of the Paridae Family of Tits, Chickadees and Titmice, which has sixty-three members placed in thirteen genera, and is one of five global species of the Baeolophus Genus. They are named for their striking facial pattern. They are also known in Mexico as herrerillo embridado.

The Bridled Titmouse is small in stature with a head crest. The sexes are visually identical. The back of their head is black, and the sides are white with black bridled markings. Their back and tail are gray, and the underparts are light gray to white. Their bill is black, the gape is pink, their iris is dark brown, and their legs are bluish gray.

The Bridled Titmouse is found over a wide geographic area within a broad range of habitats favoring oak and oak-pine woodlands. They are unusual in that they are smaller and more acrobatic than other titmice and act more like a chickadee than a titmouse. During the nonbreeding season the Bridle Titmouse is found in large flocks of other insectivores, including chickadees, creeps, kinglets, nuthatches, tanagers, vireos, warblers, and vireos. They are believed to be a nuclear species controlling the assemblage and moves of the mixed flock. Their diets include insects, both adults and larvae, and acorns during the winter. They have life spans of less than four years. They are unusual among parids in having a helper to assist in some of their breeding activities. They have been poorly studied and very little about their biology and behavioral behaviors has been documented.

The Bridled Titmouse is a year-round resident of Mexico with fragmented populations. They are found throughout the Sierra Madre Occidental mountains from northeast Sonora and northwest Chihuahua south through eastern Sinaloa, western Durango and eastern Nayarit to northern Michoacán above 2,000 m (6,560 feet). In the Sierra Madre Oriental, they are found from central Nuevo León and western Tamaulipas south through northern Puebla to west-central Veracruz above 2,000 m (6,560 feet). In the Sierra Volcánica Transversal of central Mexico they are found from northern Michoacán east through Morelos and Puebla to west-central Veracruz, usually above 2,000 m (6,560 feet). In Sierra Madre del Sur they are found from western Guerrero to central Oaxaca, west of Isthmus of Tehuantepec, at elevations above 1,900 m (6,230 feet). The phillipsi subspecies is found in southeastern Arizona, south of the Gila River, south to western Chihuahua and southern Sonora. In northern Mexico some birds move to lower elevations and riparian areas during the winter.

The Bridled Titmouse is a straightforward identification as it is the only North American Titmouse with facial markings.

From a conservation perspective the Bridled Titmouse is currently considered to be of Least Concern with stable, widely distributed populations. Southern populations are being depleted by the transformation of oak woodlands into croplands. Central Mexican populations have been adversely affected by the removal of oak woodlands.