Page 350 - Complete Birds of Britain and Europe (DK - RSPB)

TITS AND ALLIES
Order Passeriformes Family Aegithalidae Species Aegithalos caudatus
Long-tailed Tit

black band back
from eye
mixed dull black dull white
and pink back head
long, slim black tail
with white sides
tiny, ball-and-
ADULT
stick shape
tiny
bill
black and
white plumage
IN FLIGHT (lacks pink) dull white
underside
JUVENILE

nique in its round-
Ubodied, long-tailed ADULT
shape and tiny size, the
Long-tailed Tit is usually encountered in groups. In summer, family
parties move noisily through bush tops or undergrowth; in winter
sometimes much larger parties tend to string out as they feed, often
crossing a gap between trees in a thin, erratic stream.Their high calls
resemble those of other tits and Goldcrests (see p.337), but have a FLIGHT: weak, quick; whirring wingbeats; often in
particularly shapeless, needle-like character, intermixed with low, groups, single file, flitting from bush to bush, tail
abrupt notes that are immediately distinctive. bouncing along behind.
VOICE High, thin, colourless seee
seee seee without emphasis or fuller
quality of Goldcrest; short, abrupt,
low trrp, longer zerrrp or tsirrup! AMAZING NEST
NESTING Unique rounded and The Long-tailed Tit’s globular
domed nest with side entrance into or bottle-shaped nest, coated
soft, springy, elastic ball of lichen, with lichen, is a remarkable
moss, cobweb, and feathers, in low, structure. It expands as the
thorny bush; 8–12 eggs; 1 brood; chicks grow.
April–June.
FEEDING Groups move about, often in single file,
picking tiny spiders and insects from twigs and foliage;
eat a few seeds; increasingly visit feeders in gardens.
OCCURRENCE
Breeding bird in all of Europe
except Iceland, present all year.
Occupies mixed or deciduous
woods with bushy undergrowth,
scrub, and tall old hedgerows;
increasingly visits gardens.
LONG AND SLIM
Seen in the UK
A Long-tailed Tit looks quite slender in summer; it is in cold winter
J F M A M JJ A S O N D
conditions that it looks like a round ball with a tail attached.
Length 14cm (5 1 ⁄2in) Wingspan 16–19cm (6 1 ⁄2 –7 1 ⁄2in) Weight 7–9g ( 1 ⁄4 – 11 ⁄32oz)
Social Flocks Lifespan 2–3 years Status Secure
348