Great Tit
South Staffordshire Railway Walk (Himley)
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The Great Tit (Parus major) is a widespread, common, and adaptable songbird known for its bright plumage, distinctive calls, and bold behavior in gardens, parks, and woodlands across Europe, Asia, and North Africa.
Identification
Great tits are the largest members of the tit family in their range and are easily recognizable.
Plumage:
They have a striking glossy black head and bib, prominent white cheeks, an olive-green back, and yellow underparts with a bold black stripe running down the center of the breast and belly.
Sexual Dimorphism:
Males have a broader and more prominent black stripe down the belly than females, a feature used by females to assess a mate's quality.
Juveniles:
Young birds have a similar pattern to adults but with duller, more subdued colors and yellowish-white cheeks.
Habitat and Behavior:
Originally woodland birds, great tits have successfully adapted to human-modified environments like parks, gardens, and urban areas. They are common garden visitors and readily use garden nest boxes.
Vocalization:
They have a large and varied repertoire of calls, the most familiar being a high-pitched, two-syllable "teacher-teacher" or "tsee-dee" song, often heard in the spring.
Diet:
They are opportunistic omnivores. In spring and summer, their diet primarily consists of protein-rich insects and spiders, especially caterpillars for their young. In autumn and winter, they switch to seeds, nuts (like beechmast and hazelnuts), and berries, and are frequent visitors to bird feeders for suet, peanuts, and sunflower seeds.
Intelligence:
Great tits are known for their problem-solving abilities and intelligence. Historically, they learned to break the foil caps of milk bottles to get the cream, and in lab settings, they can figure out how to get food from puzzles. In rare instances, they have been recorded preying on hibernating bats in winter when food is scarce.
Nesting
Great tits are monogamous during the breeding season. They are cavity nesters, building a cup-shaped nest of moss, grass, and hair in tree holes, rock crevices, or nest boxes. The female incubates a clutch of 5-12 eggs alone, but both parents feed the chicks, which fledge after 16–22 days.
Great Tit
South Staffordshire Railway Walk (Himley)
What3Words
///panels.goals.cards
The Great Tit (Parus major) is a widespread, common, and adaptable songbird known for its bright plumage, distinctive calls, and bold behavior in gardens, parks, and woodlands across Europe, Asia, and North Africa.
Identification
Great tits are the largest members of the tit family in their range and are easily recognizable.
Plumage:
They have a striking glossy black head and bib, prominent white cheeks, an olive-green back, and yellow underparts with a bold black stripe running down the center of the breast and belly.
Sexual Dimorphism:
Males have a broader and more prominent black stripe down the belly than females, a feature used by females to assess a mate's quality.
Juveniles:
Young birds have a similar pattern to adults but with duller, more subdued colors and yellowish-white cheeks.
Habitat and Behavior:
Originally woodland birds, great tits have successfully adapted to human-modified environments like parks, gardens, and urban areas. They are common garden visitors and readily use garden nest boxes.
Vocalization:
They have a large and varied repertoire of calls, the most familiar being a high-pitched, two-syllable "teacher-teacher" or "tsee-dee" song, often heard in the spring.
Diet:
They are opportunistic omnivores. In spring and summer, their diet primarily consists of protein-rich insects and spiders, especially caterpillars for their young. In autumn and winter, they switch to seeds, nuts (like beechmast and hazelnuts), and berries, and are frequent visitors to bird feeders for suet, peanuts, and sunflower seeds.
Intelligence:
Great tits are known for their problem-solving abilities and intelligence. Historically, they learned to break the foil caps of milk bottles to get the cream, and in lab settings, they can figure out how to get food from puzzles. In rare instances, they have been recorded preying on hibernating bats in winter when food is scarce.
Nesting
Great tits are monogamous during the breeding season. They are cavity nesters, building a cup-shaped nest of moss, grass, and hair in tree holes, rock crevices, or nest boxes. The female incubates a clutch of 5-12 eggs alone, but both parents feed the chicks, which fledge after 16–22 days.