They prefer to sit high up in the canopy mixing well with other birds in large flocks!

A large songbird that is unlike any other, with a sharply upswept very unique yellow mohawk that sets it apart from all the rest.

Meet the Sultan Tit

The sultan tit (Melanochlora sultanea), is a large songbird (about 17 cm long). The male’s head is capped off with a swept-back canary yellow crest, which he can raise for display. His belly asides are the same bright yellow, while the side of the head, neck, chin, throat, and breast are a glossy, black green sheen. The outermost tail feathers are tipped with white.

Photo Courtesy of Dibyendu Ash / CC BY-SA 4.0

Yellow parts on the female a duller, with her upper plumage and sides more of a dark green-brown. Her chin and throat are a glossy dark olive green, while her tail is a dull black.

Juveniles resemble the female more so than the male.

Photo Courtesy of Koshy Koshy / CC BY-SA 2.0

Four subspecies of sultanea are spread in different locations from Central Nepal through the eastern Himalayas into Myanmar, northern Thailand, and Southern China. More populations are found on the Malay Peninsula and Haina, as well as Laos, Vietnam, and India.

These highly social birds live in lowland forests, and as mentioned are quite unlike any other tit, both in size and coloration. They prefer to stick to the canopy, mixing well with other bird species. They are often quite vocal singing in squeaky, shrill calls.

The Sultan tit likes to feed on caterpillars, but will also sometimes eat small berries.

Breeding season for these birds is from April through to July when a clutch of up to seven eggs is laid in a nest usually in the cavity of a tree.

Due to the bird’s wide range and healthy population the Sultan Tit is evaluated as of  Least Concern on the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species.

Photo Courtesy of Jason Thompson / CC BY-SA 2.0

Watch a video of this stunning bird right here below: