Do tits eat other birds. A nest of a tit in a hollow of a tree. Feeding titmouse from late autumn to early spring
The passerine bird is quite common, and almost everyone knows about it. But today, we will tell you more about life tits starting with its characteristics.
Description of the great tit
Actually, tit size no more than a sparrow, with a body length of 13-17 cm, a wingspan of 22-26 cm and a body weight of only 14-20 grams. As we know, great tit has a rather bright plumage: a bright yellow belly with a tie, where a dark stripe runs from the tail to the chest. The bird's head is painted blue-black, which looks metallic in the light. There is a white-yellow spot on the back of the head, white cheeks, a black stripe around the neck. The neck and chest give off a bluish tint, the back is usually gray-blue or yellow-green with olive shoulders, a bluish tail and wings. On the wings you can also see a transverse white line.
What is most interesting, initially, males do not differ from females at all, and only later their color becomes noticeably dimmer. Apart from big tits, there are about 30 species of tits that differ in color, plumage and behavior.
HABITAT AND LIFESTYLE OF THE GREAT TITS
Great tit habitat
The great tit lives throughout Europe, in areas of North Africa, the Middle East, North and Central Asia. The bird prefers to settle in various forests in more open places, like the edge, the banks of reservoirs. Most often, mixed and deciduous forests are suitable. As tit not a migratory bird, it is in the same place both in winter and summer, except perhaps when changing nests, but if a harsh winter is coming, the great tit is forced to migrate. And to this day, great tit considered one of the most common bird species in Russia.
Great tit lifestyle
Did you know that big tit has rich voice repertoire? Scientists managed to fix that during his singing, the bird makes more than 40 sounds! Despite the fact that it is simultaneously capable of alternating from three to five different rhythms. Most often, birds sing when excited or communicating with a couple.
By the way, tits can be both monogamous and polygamous, many individuals keep a couple for several years, but certainly not for life. Reproduction begins in the period from January to September, where the main factor for the couple is the presence of a nest in which they lay their eggs and food. For subsistence various seeds, bread, small insects, caterpillars are suitable. For the nest tit most often chooses a tree hollow, but they also settle well on trees, especially on high branches. While the female is incubating the eggs, the male becomes a real breadwinner in the truest sense of the word - he feeds himself and brings food to the female. In one clutch there can be from 5 to 12 eggs, resembling quail eggs in appearance, but not with dark spots, but with reddish ones. The female sits tightly on the eggs for about 12-14 days, as the cubs begin to hatch, mom and dad together take turns feeding them, bringing 6-7 grams each. food daily for each chick. The chicks stay in the nest for 16-20 days, after which they learn to fly and leave the parental nest. Lifespan of a great tit averages 15 years.
VIDEO: ABOUT TITTS
IN THIS VIDEO YOU WILL LEARN A LOT OF INTERESTING AND UNUSUAL ABOUT TITTS
Who is not familiar with such an interesting and beautiful bird as tit? Probably, such people simply do not exist because this is exactly the feathered one that is everywhere and everywhere.
Tits in the sky one of the first notify us that winter is retreating and spring is coming to replace it. The original sounds, which are especially audible at this time, last long and intrusive.
They are not much different from the sounds of an anvil. Not everyone knows what this peculiar singing means. It turns out that this male is filled with songs in the hope of meeting his betrothed.
Many people are used to the fact that these birds are constantly next to them and in front of their eyes. Virtually no one experiences big tits interest, but in vain. In fact, this is a rather original and interesting feathered one.
These birds with white cheeks, a yellow breast with a black stripe divided in the middle, appear in the vicinity of cities and villages with the arrival of the first autumn frosts. They never lead a reclusive life.
They need to be everywhere and know everything. This very curious creature scurries around, screaming between the trees. By their behavior, titmouse resemble children. They are very attentive.
Their sight and hearing capture literally everything. Their sonorous voice can be heard from afar. They feel in advance what winter will be like. The more titmouse arrive in autumn, the more cold you should expect.
great tit so called because it is one of the largest birds in Europe. The length of her body does not exceed 180 mm. And the bird weighs about 25 g. The birds have a strong, albeit inconspicuous, cone-shaped beak.
Her plumage even tit photo unrealistically colorful and beautiful. The abdomen is painted yellow, and in the middle it has a black tie. The head also has an unusually beautiful black plumage with a blue tint.
The cheeks of the tit are white. The back of the head is decorated with a yellow-white speck. The color of the back is dominated by olive, green, gray, blue. Thanks to such a bright and rich color scheme, the titmouse stands out very strongly against the white winter landscape.
On small, barely noticeable nostrils, bristle-like feathers are observed. The paws of the birds are small. But it only at first glance seems that they are fragile and weak. They have rather strong fingers, sharp, curved claws.
With the help of paws, the titmouse can easily stay on the tree even with strong gusts of wind. The wings of the tit have a short length, they are rounded at the ends. It is interesting to know that with the age of titmouse, their plumage becomes even brighter. There are no significant differences between the male and female.
Many people often ask the question - migratory bird titmouse or not? And despite the fact that she is most often next to us, not everyone knows the correct answer.
In fact, the tit leads a sedentary lifestyle. Only need, the onset of severe cold weather and hunger force this feathered bird to change its place of residence. This is only for self-preservation purposes.
great tit
Since February, as soon as the first heralds of spring begin to be felt, titmouse notify us with their wonderful mood. tit singing, when compared with something, it most of all resembles the sound of bells.
It is gentle, long and joyful because another fierce winter is behind us. With the advent of warmth, the songs of the tit subside somewhat and are lost in the plurality of all the other summer sounds.
Character and lifestyle
It is very difficult for this naughty woman to sit in one place. She is in constant motion. Tits are unpretentious creatures. This is a flock of birds that does not know what loneliness is.
In dexterity and curiosity they do not hold. They are able to do what is absolutely beyond the power of their brothers. For example, their well-known somersaults on some surface. Such a trick is obtained by a tit with the help of its strong and tenacious paws.
These paws help her survive if her nest is far away. The titmouse simply attaches itself to the branch with its claws and falls asleep. At such moments, she resembles a small fluffy ball. This ability saves the feathered from severe cold.
Each kind tits only their characteristic peculiarities. But all of them are united by beautiful plumage, mischievous behavior and exciting singing. It is a pity that under difficult weather conditions, not all birds manage to survive until spring and notify us first of this. Some of them do not withstand severe frosts.
Tits are the real orderlies of nature. They destroy harmful insects and thus save green spaces. For example, one family of tits cleans more than 40 trees from pests in order to feed their offspring.
Not always the tit is good-natured and cheerful. During the breeding season, they become evil, soulless and cruel creatures when it comes to their offspring. They defend their territories with zeal and fearlessness.
Moulting in birds occurs once a year. In order to build a nest for themselves, tits find depressions in trees or abandoned hollows of other birds or animals. Most often they settle in the abandoned dwellings of woodpeckers. Not all, but there are types of tits who are not lazy and with their labors hollow out a recess for the nest.
The couple is engaged in warming the home together. Only their responsibilities are slightly separated. Usually, the female brings light feathers or wool to the new nest, and the male brings heavier building material - moss or lichen.
Nutrition
The main diet of tits are insects. In view of their unpretentiousness, they do not refuse plant foods. Favorite delicacy - spruce and pine cones.
There are types of tits that are happy to hollow out the bark of a tree and pull out larvae and others from under it. Often, looking at such a picture, you might think that this is a woodpecker who has changed his image.
They love birds, bedbugs, caterpillars, eggs. Those who live near people do not refuse cottage cheese, bread crumbs, cereals, meat pieces, fat, berries and fruits. They don't stock food. But with great pleasure they can rob their fellows.
Muscovites, puffs, and nuthatches are often attacked by them. In the winter season, tits linger longer in those places where there is enough provisions. They can visit the feeder throughout the winter and do not fly anywhere far from it.
tit chick
Why is it so useful to create bird feeders in the winter. This saves many tits, which in turn save green spaces. There are suggestions that an adult titmouse in one day eats as many insects as it weighs itself.
Reproduction and lifespan
In flocks of birds, pairs of tits are formed, which, after building a nest, begin to think about offspring. During this period, they turn from merry fellows into serious and aggressive birds.
Mother tit is waiting for the chicks to appear
They now need to take care not only of themselves, but also of their future offspring. Usually there are about 15 spotted eggs in a clutch. Tits eggs are also easy to distinguish from the eggs of others. They are sprinkled with red dots, which form a kind of ring at the blunt end of the egg.
Egg laying occurs twice a year. The first time is at the end of April, the second is closer to the middle of summer. The eggs take 13 days to incubate. Only the female deals with this issue. Her partner at this time to take care that she does not starve.
After the birth of completely helpless chicks, the female does not leave the nest for another couple of days, warming her babies. All this time, the male selflessly takes care of his family, brings them food and protects them from enemies.
It takes 16 days for the chicks to fully fledge, fly and prepare for independent life. And by 10 months, the chicks are ready to reproduce offspring themselves. Tits live for about 15 years.
I think everyone knows what the Great Tit or Great Tit, the Latin name for Parus major, looks like. Along with the dove, sparrow, jackdaw and crow, tits are the most frequent feathered inhabitants of cities and other populated areas. This is the largest bird from the tit family, it belongs to the order of passerines, the genus Titmouse and forms a separate species.
Habitats of the Great Tit
This is a sedentary bird, only in severe frosts, when there is an acute shortage of food, it can change its habitat. As a rule, migration is a movement closer to human habitation. Widespread throughout Europe except for the far north and Iceland, found in North Africa and the Middle East. In Southeast Asia, it lives in Japan and throughout Indochina up to the island of Java and the island of Borneo. You will not meet the great tit in the north of Siberia, among continuous coniferous forests and in the highlands. The great tit is not afraid of people, actively settles in city squares and parks, happily flies to feeders and even pecks food from a human hand.
Appearance of the Great Tit
This is the largest bird of all tits found in Russia. A little bigger and much bigger or Gaichki. Its length is from 13 to 17 centimeters, weight is about 20 grams, and the wingspan is 22 - 26 centimeters, the tail is long. In other words, the Great Tit is about the size of a sparrow, but it is impossible to confuse them because of the bright plumage of tits.
The Great Tit has a bright yellow or lemon belly with a black longitudinal stripe in the middle, called a tie. The tie on the abdomen in males expands to the bottom, while in females it narrows. This is one of the few differences between males and females of the Great Tit, besides this, females are more faded in color. There is a blue-black cap with a metallic sheen on the head, and a yellowish-white spot on the back of the head. The cheeks are white, there is a black ring around the neck. The throat and chest are black with a slight bluish tint. The back is yellowish green, fading to bluish gray on the loins and rump, with a slight olive sheen on the shoulders. The wings and tail are bluish, with a thin white stripe on the wings. The tail is long.
Songs of the Great Tit
Great tits are songbirds. Males who conquer a pair sing more variedly than females and do this almost all year, except for the winter months. There are about 40 different sounds made by tits. Voiced ones stand out especially: “qi-qi-qi-pi”, “ying-chi-ying-chi”, cry - “pin-pin-chrrrzh”. In spring, the song is more monotonous “zin-zi-ver”, “zin-zin”. Great tits sing especially intensively during the breeding season: from March to the second half of May and from the second half of June to the end of July. Autumn singing begins in August, intensifies in mid-September and stops in the first ten days of October. In addition to actually singing, tits perform the so-called subsong - a melodic quiet chirping, “purring”, which sounds most often in February or March.
Lifestyle
The great tit prefers deciduous and mixed forests. Lives in open areas along rivers and along the shores of lakes, on the edges and in light forests. In Siberia, it does not settle further than 10-15 kilometers from a human dwelling. It prefers to feed on the branches of trees and shrubs, it descends reluctantly to the ground. In winter, tits massively migrate closer to humans.
In cities, parks, squares and gardens are perfect for her. The destruction of large tracts of forest by man and the increase in light forests has led to an increase in the number of these birds.
Usually Great Tits live in flocks, breaking into pairs only for the period of nesting and breeding. These are usually monogamous birds, cases of polygamy are rare. Pairs remain for several years
The nesting period of the Great Tit depends on the area where it lives. In the south of Russia, males begin their courtship at the end of February, and in the center of the country about two weeks later. The breeding season lasts until the end of September. During the period of pair formation and nesting, males become aggressive towards competitors.
The nest of Great Tits is built in hollows of trees at a height of 2-5 meters from the ground. They can also capture other people's nests, if there is not enough space on the trees, they use any shelter, titmouses, birdhouses, mouse holes and cracks in the rocks. Near human habitation, the great tit can arrange nests in the most unexpected places. The nests of these birds were found in drainpipes, in street lighting poles, in hollow metal pipes of fences, in mailboxes, behind the wall cladding of buildings and even in the muzzle of a cannon, most importantly in an enclosed space. Cases when Great Tits equip open nests are extremely rare.
The females build the nest, the males do not participate in the process. The size of the nest depends on the place of its construction, but its internal structure is always the same. Inside the recess, the female makes a small tray, 5-6 cm in circumference. Its depth can be 4-5 cm. The tray is lined with small twigs, leaves, moss, cobwebs, fluff and animal hair.
Reproduction of the Great Tit
Usually Great Tits lay two clutches: in late April and in mid-summer. In the first clutch there are up to 15 white, slightly shiny eggs, but more often 8 - 12. All over the surface of the eggs are covered with reddish-brown spots and speckles, forming a corolla on the blunt side. The second clutch is usually 2 eggs smaller. The tit incubates eggs for 12-14 days. During this time, the male provides food for the female. The tit takes off from the nest only when danger approaches. For the first two or three days, the hatched chicks are covered with grayish fluff, so the female does not leave the nest, heating them with her warmth. The male at this time acts as a breadwinner. When the chicks begin to become covered with feathers, the couple nurses the offspring, bringing an average of 6-7 g of food per chick per day to the nest.
The chicks leave the nest about 22 days after birth. After emergence, they stay in a flock near the nest, and their parents continue to feed them for one or two weeks. If the female starts the second clutch, the first brood is led by the male.
In summer, Great Tits feed mainly on insects; midges, flies, mosquitoes, spiders, caterpillars, and crickets are eaten. Chicks are fed the most high-calorie of insects, namely caterpillars. With the onset of winter cold, tits switch to plant foods. They feed mainly on seeds and cereals. These birds do not stock up for the winter, and if they find food hidden by other bird species, they eat it with pleasure. Do not disdain tits and carrion.
The tit is the closest relative of the well-known sparrow to all of us, it is very similar to it in appearance and habits, from a distance they can even be confused, but only from a distance, look at the photo, however, the children of the tit are a very beautiful bird. A bright yellow belly with a black “tie”, a black and blue hat on the head, a black scarf on the neck, white cheeks, a yellow-green back, gray wings and a tail with blue. You're asking, where is the blue color in this description of the bird, Why is the bird called a titmouse.
The name of this bird, the titmouse, did not come from plumage, but from sonorous singing; And yet among the tits there are those who wear a blue cap and yellow and blue plumage, this is the blue titmouse. Her photo is at the bottom of this page. It is slightly smaller than the common tit, but in terms of the beauty of its plumage it is not inferior to parrots, and why do we compare the tit with a sparrow, the fact is that they are from the same family of passerines, and also jump on the ground when feeding, like sparrows. At the same time, the plumage of the female common tit is duller than that of the male, and from afar they are easy to confuse.
But flying like a titmouse would be worth learning for all birds, as if flying, it rarely flaps its wings, saving strength, which a sparrow cannot do at all. And also tit like a sparrow eats furry caterpillars which other birds do not eat. Gardeners consider tits to be the best protectors of gardens.
One pair of tits living in a garden can protect up to 40 fruit trees, and the garden does not need any harmful chemicals. Per day the tit is able to clear the garden of 360 caterpillars, that is how many times she returns to the nest with chicks, the tit eats with pleasure slugs and various bugs, as well as their larvae.
In order for tit birds to settle in the garden, hang titmouse in the garden. Sinichnik is a round house, like a tree trunk, like a birdhouse, only the inlet is smaller.
However, the shape of the house for tits can be any, as long as the birds like it. Titmouse in the forest live in hollows made in trunks by woodpeckers, they themselves do not know how to make them, just remember children, titmouses need to be cleaned from old nests every year, tits do not settle in houses with old nests.
Tit, wintering bird or migratory.
Tit and sparrow in the winter at the feeder
tit bird settled, not migratory, living in the forest, at the end of autumn they move closer to people, to gardens and parks, where it is warmer and you can find food, by the way, so does the sparrow. In Russia, there is even such a sign, tits flew in, wait for the onset of cold weather, and the day on which tits flew into the city was called Titmouse Day, before it was even celebrated on November 12th.
Therefore, children in the winter of titmouse must be fed. What to feed titmouse?
Titmouse can be fed:
- sunflower seeds;
- pork fat - titmouse peck it with pleasure;
- boiled rice, buckwheat or barley groats;
- potatoes.
You can also feed with bread, only white bread and rolls of tits cannot be fed, because of the yeast contained in excess in white bread, they can die.
And the children of the tit are gullible, really they can be taught to take food from the palms? Of course you can, you just need to be patient. At the same time, the titmouse, having taken food from you, can take it to its friend, female or male, or to its adult children, which no other bird does. Surprisingly, the titmouse bird eats food very carefully, not when, without swallowing it whole, as, for example, a titmouse, taking a seed, presses it with its paw to a branch, pierces it with its beak and pecks out the flesh, gently pinching off pieces from the kernel.
If you are lucky and the tit sits on your hand, make a wish, if the pichuga chirps - everything that you have made will come true - this is a folk sign.
Can children consider a tit as a songbird.
This is a blue titmouse, she wears a blue hat.
Yes, she sings wonderfully. Specialists in the song of the tit distinguish up to 40 different variants of melodies. At the same time, the same titmouse can simultaneously alternate several versions of its song - knees, different in timbre and rhythm, pitch of sounds and the number of syllables in the song. The male bird sings better than the female, almost the whole year, except for the cold weather, when the birds are not up to songs.
Personally, I have a very touching story connected with the singing of a titmouse. The titmouse settled in our gutter, under the very roof in early spring. How beautifully she sang, you can’t describe in words, waking up early in the morning, I ran outside to listen to her trills, and I must say that my grandfather heard the singing of a titmouse four times already and even was late for work. Only one fine morning she disappeared, and on the asphalt in the yard the wind drove blue-yellow feathers.
Apparently mine was the culprit. And now, for many years now, I have not been able to get titmouse in the garden, which I just don’t do, the titmouse family bypasses my garden. The most interesting thing is that in childhood my father told me about the same story, only he was much younger than I am today, and at that time I was not even in the project.
Here's my advice kids - look at the photo of the tit bird and memorize well its description. Take care of the titmouse, they will repay you to the best of their ability, protect the garden, and will delight you with beautiful songs, and also give hope for the fulfillment of desires.
Tits are a large group of small birds from the order Passerines, including representatives of the families Tit, Long-tailed and Thick-billed tits. Despite the similarity in names, it is customary to consider only representatives of the first family to be real tits, while the rest of the species are related to them by distant kinship. In total, there are about 100 species of these birds in the world.
Crested Tit, or Grenadier (Lophophanes cristatus).
Tits are distinguished by a dense physique. Their body length is 10-16 cm, their weight ranges from 8 to 20 g. The beak is straight, somewhat shortened, in thick-billed tits it is thickened and acquires a conical shape. The wings are short and rounded, the paws, although thin, are very tenacious. The tail, as a rule, is longer than the average length; in long-tailed tits, its size can be equal to the length of the body. The plumage is smooth, adjacent, in some species there may be a small crest on the head. In the coloration of these birds, gray, white and brown tones are usually present; in the brightest species, yellow and blue colors appear in the plumage color. True tits are characterized by the presence of a black cap and (or) a bridle passing through the eye. In long-tailed and thick-billed tits, the color of the head most often matches the color of the abdomen. Sexual dimorphism is either not expressed or is reduced to minor differences in the pattern. In the latter case, males are colored brighter than females, and the color saturation directly depends on the level of sex hormones.
The Taiwan Tit (Parus holsti) is the most striking species of these birds.
Tits live exclusively in the Northern Hemisphere, they reach the greatest species diversity in the vast expanses of Eurasia, several species are found in North America and Africa. In the north, their range reaches the forest-tundra zone, in the south - to the tugai forests in the Central Asian deserts, the jungles of India, and the forests of the Himalayas. In the mountains, they are found up to a height of 2000-3000 m. Without exception, all tits gravitate towards thickets of woody vegetation, but each species has its own preferences. For example, great tits and blue tit inhabit mixed and deciduous forests, Muscovites - exclusively coniferous, whiskered tits and different types of sutors - reed and tree thickets along river banks. These birds lead a sedentary lifestyle, but many species of the temperate zone make migrations in winter. In the Muscovite tit, migrations are so large-scale that they resemble real flights.
Whiskers (Panurus biarmicus): the male sits lower, the female sits higher.
Being very mobile, tits spend most of their lives in active search. They fly alone in summer, and in winter in flocks of 10-50 individuals; when searching for food, they often show curiosity, courage, and quick wit. In order to better protect against enemies and increase search efficiency, they are often combined with other types of birds: nuthatches, pikas, kinglets, small woodpeckers. However, their friendliness is limited to selfish goals. When it comes to fighting for food or a comfortable nesting site, large species of tits are aggressive and can even kill small birds with a blow from their strong beak.
Great tits (Parus major) feed on sunflower inflorescences.
Between themselves, tits communicate with various variations of squeak, some species make chirping sounds. By the way, the sonorous “blue-blue-blue” emitted by blue tit in spring, in combination with their bluish color, was the reason that these birds are called tits.