Willow tit (Poecile montanus)
Willow tits are between blue and great tits in size, with no yellow, green or blue. They have a large sooty-black cap extending to the back of the neck and a small untidy black bib. It is mid-brown above, with whiter cheeks and pale buff-grey underparts. Its wings show a pale panel not found in marsh tits.
Its recent population declines make it a Red List species. The willow tit is strongly associated with wet woodland and willow carr growing in wetlands, bogs and around gravel pits. It is so similar to the marsh tit that it was not recognised as a separate species until 1897. Willow tits eat mostly insects, but will also eat berries and seeds when food is scarce in the winter. They use their small bills to excavate nest holes in decaying wood, which is unusual among the tit family. The female lays between six and eight eggs in a clutch.
How to identify
The willow tit is black, pale brown and white in colour, and is easily confused with the marsh tit. However, it has a pale panel on the wings and a sooty-black cap and bib. It has a distinctive, nasal 'zee, zee, zee' call, which is often the most reliable way to identify it. Willow tits excavate their own nest holes in standing, decaying birch and willow, and use the resulting woodchippings as the base of their nest. As time progressed, a number of ways to tell apart Marsh and Willow Tits were identified. For example, the cap of the former appears glossy compared to the duller tones of the willow, whose cap also extends further on to the nape. Similarly, the Marsh tits possess a larger bib; while the white cheeks of the Willow are often larger and more conspicuous than that of the Marsh. Additionally, Willow Tits also show a pale wing panel caused by the pale edging of the bird’s secondary wing feathers. Once a nest hole has been excavated and lined, Willow Tits can still be noisy around their breeding site, leaving them vulnerable to detection by Great Spotted Woodpeckers, which are accomplished at extracting prey from rotten wood. Willow Tits are single-brooded and if predation occurs at the chick stage, the pair is extremely unlikely to breed again that year. Numbers of Great Spotted Woodpeckers have increased dramatically in the UK (by 314% between 1970 and 2006), and
Willow Tits may have suffered a corresponding increase in predation rate.
Willow tit (Poecile montanus)
Willow tits are between blue and great tits in size, with no yellow, green or blue. They have a large sooty-black cap extending to the back of the neck and a small untidy black bib. It is mid-brown above, with whiter cheeks and pale buff-grey underparts. Its wings show a pale panel not found in marsh tits.
Its recent population declines make it a Red List species. The willow tit is strongly associated with wet woodland and willow carr growing in wetlands, bogs and around gravel pits. It is so similar to the marsh tit that it was not recognised as a separate species until 1897. Willow tits eat mostly insects, but will also eat berries and seeds when food is scarce in the winter. They use their small bills to excavate nest holes in decaying wood, which is unusual among the tit family. The female lays between six and eight eggs in a clutch.
How to identify
The willow tit is black, pale brown and white in colour, and is easily confused with the marsh tit. However, it has a pale panel on the wings and a sooty-black cap and bib. It has a distinctive, nasal 'zee, zee, zee' call, which is often the most reliable way to identify it. Willow tits excavate their own nest holes in standing, decaying birch and willow, and use the resulting woodchippings as the base of their nest. As time progressed, a number of ways to tell apart Marsh and Willow Tits were identified. For example, the cap of the former appears glossy compared to the duller tones of the willow, whose cap also extends further on to the nape. Similarly, the Marsh tits possess a larger bib; while the white cheeks of the Willow are often larger and more conspicuous than that of the Marsh. Additionally, Willow Tits also show a pale wing panel caused by the pale edging of the bird’s secondary wing feathers. Once a nest hole has been excavated and lined, Willow Tits can still be noisy around their breeding site, leaving them vulnerable to detection by Great Spotted Woodpeckers, which are accomplished at extracting prey from rotten wood. Willow Tits are single-brooded and if predation occurs at the chick stage, the pair is extremely unlikely to breed again that year. Numbers of Great Spotted Woodpeckers have increased dramatically in the UK (by 314% between 1970 and 2006), and
Willow Tits may have suffered a corresponding increase in predation rate.