It is a trait of many birders, indeed most of us at some point in our birding lives, to get very focussed on the next "lifer" without focussing upon the beauty and interesting behaviour of birds that we have already seen. Of course, it is always nice to see new birds but it is also good to slow down and appreciate other aspects of birding, including the variety of different subspecies that some birds occur in and there is perhaps no better way of illustrating this than with Azure Tit, Cyanistis cyanus.
This cute little bird is found across a wide range from Eastern Europe to Far Eastern China and through most of this range it appears in one of the white-bellied "cyanus" subspecies; a striking blue and snowy white plumage of contrasts that give this bird a ghostly appearance and makes it stand out in the landscapes it occurs in. However, in the southern part of the range of Azure Tit it appears as one of several subspecies in the "flavipectus" group that have yellow breasts (as the Latin denotes) and have an attractiveness of their own.
While these two birds are currently considered different subspecies of the same species there is no doubt that if you were to ignore one because you had already seen the other and were only interested in the next "lifer", you would be missing a treat indeed.
I have been lucky enough to see and photograph both of these forms of Azure Tit; the white breasted form in Kazakhstan and the yellow breasted form in Uzbekistan. Indeed, while observing both of these lovely birds was great, visiting both of these interesting countries was equally as thrilling. If you would like to see these Azure Tits and visit these countries I would be very happy indeed for you to join me on my nest tour to the region - https://calidrisbirdingtours.com/central-asia-birding-tour/
The white breasted form of Azure Tit, in my opinion, holds the biggest draw for birders. I can remember looking through the field guide for Central Asia and seeing this bird and thinking "I want to see that one". There is something special about its simple colour palette arranged in such an attractive way and the good news for me was that it was not difficult to find. In fact in multiple locations in Kazakhstan it is fairly easy to connect with. However, I also got a thrill when I turned up to my lovely hotel in the mountains at Chimgan, Uzbekistan, to be greeted by the yellow breasted form of Azure Tit calling in the car park. This form of Azure Tit proved to be one of the commonest birds in that scenic part of Uzbekistan.
So let Azure Tit, in its different guises, remind us birders that we do not always need new birds to enjoy birds.