White-naped Tit

Machlolophus nuchalis (Jerdon, 1845)

White-naped Tit, Machlolophus nuchalis, is a tit in the family Paridae that breeds in central and southern India. It lives in dry thorn scrub forest, with separate populations in western India and in the south. Its name refers to the nape. It is a distinctive bird with bold black and white patterning, and it can be told from the partly overlapping Cinereous Tit by the lack of grey on the wing coverts and back. Its range is very uneven, and its habitat is being reduced by acacia loss and the spread of Neltuma chilensis and Lantana camara.

Order

Passeriformes

Family

Paridae — Tits, Chickadees

Breeding range

Oriental Region: c, s India