Blue tit

These little birds are acrobats.  They frequuently hang upside-down in their search for food. 

 

 

What they eat are all sorts of seeds and insects.  Like so many garden birds they originally lived in woodlands so at Filnore they are always around.

Things to look out for are the yellow tummy with a black streak down the middle, the green back, and of course the blue wings, tail and beret. 

 

The face is also distinctive with white cheeks, a black eye-stripe and a little-hitler moustache. They can be quite fierce.

 

 

In shape, they don't seem to have any neck at all, and when they are excited the crest feathers on top of their heads rise a bit and make them look a bit pointy-headed.

 

They have a variety of chattery calls especially the scolding churr when a predator is about.  As well as Brett Westwood's birdsong recordings (see 'helpful links') there are thirteen recordings on the following website http://ibc.lynxeds.com.  Enter 'blue tit' in the 'species search' box and you will find videos, photos and sounds.

 

 

A pair of blue tits produce more eggs in a clutch than any other British species.  The female sits on the eggs for a couple of weeks, fed by her mate, but once they have hatched, the nestlings are fed by both parent birds, and take about three weeks to reach flying-away age. A pair of blue tits feeding their nestlings can get rid of up to 700 caterpillars in a day.  Whether the baby birds survive depends on weather and predators.  If they hatch before the caterpillars are available they will starve, despite the best efforts of mum and dad.  Jays sometimes pick them off as they emerge from the nest hole, and woodpeckers and squirrels will get them out of the nest if they can.  The biggest predator of both chicks and adults is the sparrowhawk.

 

 

If you put out peanuts, which they love, make sure they are in a wire or plastic container so that the adult birds can't get a whole nut and choke their chicks on  it.