Things You Need to Know About Great Tits – Parus Major – Bird
In 2021 the great tit came in at 8th place for the UKs big garden bird watch and there are thought to be around 2 million of them living here. Throughout the autumn and winter they live in small flocks, often with other small bird species but are easily recognised by their striking black caps and white cheek patches. They also have green shoulders with a bright yellow chest which has a dark line running down its centre. This line is the easiest way to sperate the sexes, in males it is thicker and runs all the way down the stomach whereas in females it is less pronounced and might fade out as it runs down the body. They have a wingspan of 25 cm and grow to a maximum weight of 22grams. Although great tits are found all across northern Europe, those in the UK have longer beaks than their continental cousins. Scientists believe that these rapidly evolved in order to reach the food inside garden bird feeders.
Great tits are one of the most common species to visit these garden feeders where they seem to enjoy peanuts, sunflower hearts and fat balls. During the spring and summer when invertebrates are in high supply, this is their food of choice, particularly spiders and other small insects which they pick from the undersides of leaves and from crevices amongst the bark. Where these insects are out of reach, great tits have been known to use pine needles to extract them. During the colder months, alongside the food that people provide, they will also eat fruits and berries.
Great tits begin to claim nesting sites and territories from as early as January but usually nesting doesn’t begin until late march or April. They naturally nest in holes or cavities and quite often make use of man made nest boxes. The nest is a deep cup shaped structure of moss, twigs and grass, lined with feathers and down and once its completed the female will lay around twelve eggs that are cream in colour specked with brown. She will incubate these eggs alone for 13 days until they hatch at which point both parents take on the feeding duties. With so many mouths to feed they are constantly in and out of the nest carrying beakfulls of caterpillars and insects. With this high protein diet the chicks grow fast and can be ready to fledge the nest from as little as 16 days. After this the parents continue to feed them for another 2 weeks until they are fully independent. Each pair usually two batches of young in a season but in good years they may nest for a third time.
Great tits have an amazing repertoire of calls and have been known to mimic other species. The most common song they produce is a repetitive teecha teecha……. But I was once told if you hear a bird noise you don’t recognise, its most likely a great tit. The average life span for a great tit is around 3 years but the longest on record made it to a whopping 13 years and 11 months of age.
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