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  Profile

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  In flight

Songbirds

Oak Titmouse

Baeolophus inornatus

• rare
• 55 km/h
• Least Concern

Plain gray, plain crest, plain song — and California is fiercely proud of it. Delivers without flair.

Population

~840,000 mature individuals globally (2010 est.; ~710,000 in the USA/Canada), slowly declining due to habitat loss

Habitat

Warm, dry open oak and oak-pine woodlands at low-to-mid elevations (favoring coast live oak and valley oak); also pinyon-juniper, river woods, shade trees, parks, and well-oaked suburban/urban areas

Fun fact

The Oak Titmouse was only recognized as its own species in 1996, when the AOU split the former "Plain Titmouse" into the Oak Titmouse and the Juniper Titmouse based on differences in voice, habitat, and genetics.

Range

Non-migratory, year-round resident of the Pacific Slope: from southern Oregon through California (west of the Sierra Nevada, largely avoiding the central San Joaquin Valley) south to northern Baja California, Mexico

Diet

Insects and spiders (caterpillars, beetles, true bugs, leafhoppers, aphids, scale insects), plus acorns, seeds, and berries; caches acorns and readily visits feeders for sunflower seed, suet, and peanut butter

Size

0.13 m

Wingspan

0.2 m

Lifespan

9 years