Great tit, or grasshopper tit - Parus major: description and images of the bird, its nest, eggs and voice recordings. Tit birds - their varieties

The tit is the closest relative of the well-known sparrow, 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 titmouse is a very beautiful bird. Bright yellow belly with a black “tie”, a black and blue cap on the head, a black scarf on the neck, white cheeks, yellow-green back, gray and blue wings and tail. Are you asking Where is the blue coloring in this description of the bird?, Why was the bird called titmouse?.

The name of this bird, tit, comes not from its plumage, but from its sonorous singing, which is like the ringing of a bell, jin-xin-qi-qi. And yet among the tits there are those who wear a blue cap and yellow and blue plumage, this is the blue tit. Her photo is at the bottom of this page. It is slightly smaller than the common tit, but the beauty of its plumage is not inferior to parrots, and why we compare the tit with a sparrow, the fact is that they are from the same passerine family, and they 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 all birds should learn to fly like a tit; it rarely flaps its wings when flying, saving strength, which a sparrow cannot do at all. And also tit, like the 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 a tit can clear a garden of 360 caterpillars, this 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.

To encourage tit birds to settle in the garden, hang titmice in the garden. Titmouse is a round house, like a tree trunk, like a birdhouse, only the entrance hole is smaller.

However, the shape of a house for tits can be any shape, as long as the birds like it. Titmouse in the forest live in hollows made in the trunks by woodpeckers, they themselves do not know how to make them, just remember children, titmouses need to be cleaned of old nests every year, tits do not live in houses with old nests.

Tit, wintering or migratory bird.

Tit and sparrow at the feeder in winter

tit bird sedentary, 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 they can find food; by the way, the sparrow does the same. In Rus' there is even such a sign: the tits have flown in, wait for the onset of cold weather, and the day on which the tits flew into the city was called Titmouse Day, previously it was even celebrated on November 12th.

Therefore, children must feed tits in winter. What to feed titmouses?

Tits can be fed:

• sunflower seeds;
• pork lard - tits peck at it with pleasure;
• boiled rice, buckwheat or pearl barley;
• potatoes.

You can feed them with bread, but you can’t feed tits with white bread or buns; due to the yeast contained in excess in white bread, they can die.

And tit children are also distinguished by their gullibility, is it really possible? they can be trained to take food from their palms? Of course you can, you just need to be patient. At the same time, a 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 tit bird eats food very carefully, never swallowing it whole, as for example, a tit, taking a seed, presses it with its paw to a branch, punches it with its beak and pecks out the pulp, carefully pinching off pieces from the kernel.

If you are lucky and a tit sits on your hand, make a wish; if the bird chirps, everything you wish for will come true - this is a folk sign.

Can children consider a tit a songbird?

This is a blue tit, she wears a blue cap.

Yes, she sings wonderfully. Experts in tit song distinguish up to 40 different 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 tit sings better than the female, almost all year, except for cold weather, when birds have no time for songs.

Personally, I have one very touching story connected with the singing of the titmouse. A titmouse settled in our gutter, right under the roof, in early spring. How beautifully she sang, words cannot describe, waking up early in the morning, I ran outside to listen to her trills, and I must note that my grandfather had already heard the titmouse sing four times and was even late for work. Only one fine morning she disappeared, and the wind blew blue and yellow feathers on the asphalt in the yard.

The culprit seemed to be mine. And now for many years now, I have not been able to get titmice in the garden, no matter what I do, the tit family avoids my garden. The most interesting thing is that as a child, my father told me about the same story, only he was much younger than me today, and at that time I was not even in the project.

Here's my advice for you guys - look at the photo of the tit bird and remember its description well. Take care of the tits, they will repay you for this to the best of their ability, protect the garden, and will delight you with beautiful songs, and will also give you hope that your wishes will come true.

Great tit(lat. Parus major) is the largest and most numerous of all species of the tit family found in Russia.

Description

A lively, active bird, the largest of our tits; body length 140 mm, wing - 72-77 mm, tail about 65-67 mm, metatarsus about 20-23 mm. In adult birds, the upper side of the head (“cap”), throat, sides of the neck, and crop are shiny black with a blue metallic tint; the frenulum, cheeks and ear coverts are pure white, on the back of the neck there is a whitish-yellow spot; the back is yellowish-green, turning into bluish-gray on the loin and rump; wing coverts of the same grayish color; the whitish tips of the greater wing coverts form a whitish stripe across the wing; the flight feathers are dark brown with white tips of the outer webs of the primary flight feathers (except the first and second) and with a whitish border at the base of the inner webs of the same feathers; the main halves of the outer primaries are greyish; secondary flight feathers with wide light edges of outer webs; the middle tail ones are bluish-gray, the rest are blackish with bluish-gray edges of the outer webs; on the outer pair the outer web is white, on the inner there is a white apical spot; a small white or whitish spot is present on the top of the second pair of tail feathers from the edge; the underparts are yellow, with a matte black spot on the chest and belly, with whitish underwings, the undertail is also whitish, with an admixture of blackish-brown streaks. The legs are dark gray, the beak is black, the iris is dark brown.

The female is similar to the male, but the black stripe on the belly is narrower and the yellow color is less bright. Juveniles have a dark grayish-brown head and throat, yellowish cheeks, grayish sides, and a general dull color tone.

It differs from other tits in its large size.

Voice and singing

Great tit. Rtishchevo city center

The voice is a ringing “pin-pin-charzhzhzh”. The song is loud whistles “tsi-pi-tsi-pi-tsi-pi-in-cha-in-cha.” The singing of the great tit can be heard at any time of the year, with the exception of late autumn and early winter. The possible period of singing covers more than 9 months. Spring singing begins already in early January, sometimes even at the end of December. As a rule, the birds that winter near human habitation begin to sing first. Intense singing begins in March and continues until the second half of May. In the second half of June - early July, a new increase in singing activity is observed, associated with the second breeding cycle. Autumn singing begins in August, intensifies in mid-September and stops in the first ten days of October. The song of the great tit is subject to strong individual variability. By ear it is possible to distinguish up to 40 of its variants. One bird can alternately use 3-5 options that differ in rhythm, relative pitch of sounds, timbre and number of syllables. Most often there are two- and three-syllable songs. In the great tit, not only males can sing, but also females, who more often produce a song while feeding chicks and leading the brood.

In addition to demonstrative singing, the great tit is also characterized by a “sub-song” that has a very unique sound. In some ways it resembles “purring.” The sub-song is most often heard in February and March, but it has also been observed in January, April, June and September. The sub-song is quite euphonious and is a mixture of quiet chirping and mutely sung syllables of a demonstrative song. In this case, the birds (in the observed cases these were males) sit in the treetops, often in motionless positions. The duration of the sub-song is from 0.5 to 10 minutes. Group performance of the subsong is also observed, when 3-4 males sit on adjacent branches and sing at the same time. Borrowed sounds are sometimes included in the sub-song: for example, fragments of the song of the yellow-headed kinglet and the gurgling sounds of the puffball. For some tits, vocal imitation is a common occurrence. Individuals that have learned to copy a signal constantly retain it in their repertoire. Typically (but not always), great tits use borrowed calls in the presence of the species they are mimicking.

The great tit, imitating the specific calling cry of other bird species, never uses it to express demonstrative alarm. To do this, she uses only her visual signal.

Spreading

Area

Lives in Europe, Asia and North-West Africa.

Habitats

During nesting time, the great tit inhabits mainly deciduous and mixed stands. Most often it settles along rivers, lakes, and near forest edges. In dense forests it is very rare. The favorite habitats of these tits are gardens and parks, holiday villages and green small towns. It nests even in the centers of large cities. The highest density of nesting great tits (up to 30-40 pairs per 1 km²) is observed in old parks and forests adjacent to populated areas. In mixed forests, their population density is only about 3.5 pairs per 1 km². However, after hanging artificial nests, it usually increases noticeably.

Lifestyle

Great tits. Rtishchevo

During nesting time, the great tit lives in pairs, the rest of the time in flocks, often together with other tits. The territorial behavior of great tits is characterized by the absence of strict sedentarism and the ability to change habitats, and, if necessary, undertake migrations in search of feeding places. In the presence of a rich food source, a concentration of individuals occurs. In winter, most tits leave forest areas and accumulate in populated areas. In particular, great tits fly to the city of Rtishchevo for the winter. Leaving the forest for the winter to human habitation, often tens of kilometers away, takes on the character of seasonal migrations. For many young birds, movements of hundreds of kilometers are typical. These are essentially true seasonal migrations.

Territoriality in great tits is expressed only during the reproductive period. Young birds that leave their nests lose contact with the nesting area, and upon achieving independence, in most cases they leave the area of ​​their birth. In their place later appear young tits born in other places.

Migrations

There are usually three periods of high migratory activity of great tits: summer, autumn and spring. Summer movements begin in late June - early July and end in the first half of August. The contingent of summer migrants consists of settling young birds of the year. Autumn migration is observed from the second half of August to the first ten days of November with a peak at the end of September - beginning of October. The number of migrants fluctuates quite significantly from year to year. Spring migration, as a rule, is somewhat less pronounced than autumn migration. It begins in the second half - end of February and continues until the beginning of May. The timing of migration is highly dependent on weather conditions. Usually there are two peaks of spring migration: in February - early March and at the end of March - the first half of April. In the initial period, there are many adults among migrating birds. Later, mostly young birds fly. In general, young males predominate during spring migration.

Reproduction

Nest with a clutch of great tit eggs

When choosing a place for a nest, the great tit is very flexible. She prefers to nest in natural or woodpecker hollows, as well as in artificial nests, occasionally settling in old magpie nests, and sometimes even making open nests, which happens, however, very rarely. Near human habitation, the great tit can build nests in the most unexpected places. There are known cases of these birds nesting in cast iron railings, in water pump pipes, in street lighting poles, in hollow metal pipes of fences, in mailboxes, behind the cladding of building walls, etc.

Construction of nests begins in mid-April. Only the female builds the nest. Birds spend 3-15 days building it, most often 5-7 days. In cold, rainy weather, construction is delayed. The amount of material brought varies significantly depending on the size of the shelter. When settling in spacious artificial duck nests, the great tit drags a very large amount of moss to the bottom, trying to fill it completely, and arranges the tray in the center or side of this pile of moss and lichen and is lined with soft plant fluff, shreds of wool and feathers. In forests, its nests are more uniform and consist of moss and wool, often mixed with feathers and spider cocoons. In urban conditions, nest materials often contain wool, cotton wool, threads, blades of grass, and feathers.

In many cases, the female begins laying when the nest is unfinished. Sometimes several days pass between the completion of construction and the appearance of the first egg. Almost always, during egg laying, the female continues to bring building material to the nest. She brings it even in the first days of incubation. Most researchers agree that the female specifically covers the clutch in order to reduce the risk of detection by a predator, to protect the eggs from hypothermia, or to eliminate the possibility of premature incubation while the female spends the night in a hollow. The female brings the most valuable nesting material (down, underfur, spider cocoons) the latest and at a time when her visits to the nest become more frequent. This can reduce the risk of other birds stealing particularly valuable material. When spending the night in the nest, the female always opens the clutch in the evening and warms the eggs for some time.

The egg laying period lasts approximately 3 months. The first eggs appear in late April - early May. Some great tits have two clutches per summer. The number of second clutches varies from year to year. They tend to be more numerous in years with early spring. The second breeding cycle will be extended much more. In complete clutches of great tits, from 5 to 14 eggs were found, but most often there are 8-12. The second clutch is usually smaller than the first by about 2 eggs. The eggs are white with reddish speckles, measuring 14.4-20.1 × 11.3-14.8 mm. The female incubates the clutch. The male feeds her regularly. Most often, the incubation period is 13-14 days. Its duration depends on the behavior of the female and the timing of reproduction. The female begins to incubate the first clutches regularly from the penultimate egg or even a day (or two) after the completion of the clutch. At later stages of reproduction, regular incubation usually begins before the clutch is complete.

Normal flight of chicks usually occurs on the 19th-21st day, but if frightened, chicks are able to jump out even at the age of 15 days. The mass flight of chicks of the first hatch occurs in the second ten days of June, the second - from the end of July to the second ten days of August. In the first broods, an average of 7.7 fledglings fly out of the nests, in the second - 4.8 fledglings. Nesting success with the first clutches is usually higher than with the second. But the opposite picture can also be observed.

After the chicks leave the nest, they stay in a flock near the places where they hatched, and the parents continue to feed them for one or two weeks. If the female begins a second clutch, the first brood is led by the male. The chicks are fed by both parents, mainly by butterfly caterpillars. Spiders, pupae and adults of butterflies, and sawfly larvae also play a significant role. Great tits often feed their young chicks by squeezing the contents of spiders down their throats. As mineral food, parents give the chicks soil, egg shells, and shells of terrestrial mollusks. In the first days, parents make about 500 flights with food to the nest, and before the departure of the young, this number increases to 800.

Nutrition

In the diet of adult birds in the summer, along with spiders and Lepidoptera, a significant role is played by Coleoptera, mainly weevils, as well as Homoptera, Diptera and Hemiptera. In autumn and winter, seeds and various human food waste predominate. From plant food, tits use fruits and seeds of the following plants: pine, spruce, linden, maple, birch, lilac, horse sorrel, burdock, pickles, red elderberry, rowan, serviceberry, blueberry, sunflower, hemp, rye, wheat, oats. In addition, they willingly feed on the corpses of dead animals, using the remains of the prey of predators. Individuals joining mixed tit flocks feed in part from stores made by plumes, chickadees, tufted tits and nuthatches. Tits crush their food, holding it in their paws. In winter, the great tit is one of the most frequent visitors to feeders.

Limiting factors and status

The main reasons for the death of nests: destruction by humans and domestic animals, great spotted woodpecker, squirrel, whirligig, small mustelids. Some tit nests are abandoned due to ants settling in the hollow. Second broods often die from excessive reproduction of fleas in a nest, especially if the birds breed a second time in the same nest.

Literature

• Boehme R. L., Kuznetsov A. A. Birds of forests and mountains of the USSR: Field guide. Manual for teachers. - 2nd ed. - M.: Education, 1981. - P. 165
• Dementiev G. P. Passerines (Complete guide to birds of the USSR by S. A. Buturlina and G. P. Dementieva). - T. 4. - M., L.: KOIZ, 1937. - P. 165
• Malchevsky A. S., Pukinsky Yu. B. Birds of the Leningrad region and adjacent territories. - L.: From Leningrad University, 1983. - P. 460-464
• Felix I. Birds of gardens, parks and fields. - Prague: Artia, 1980. - P. 58
• Flint V. E. et al. Birds of European Russia. Field guide. - M.: Russian Bird Conservation Union; Algorithm, 2001. - P. 192
• Flint V. E., Boehme R. L., Kostin Yu. V., Kuznetsov A. A. Birds of the USSR. - M.: Mysl, 1968. - P. 518-519

The great tit has perfectly adapted to the landscape created by man. This nimble bird can often be seen near buildings, in gardens and city parks, and people everywhere welcome it as a faithful ally in the fight against insect pests.
Habitat. Lives in Europe, Asia and North Africa.

Habitat.
The great tit lives in Europe, Asia and northern Africa. The southern border of its range runs through North Africa, Israel, Iran and Ceylon, and in the north it reaches the subpolar tundra. This bird can be found throughout the vastness of Eurasia from the shores of the Atlantic to the Pacific Ocean. Some tits live sedentary lives, and birds nesting in the north migrate to areas with a milder climate for the winter.

Species: Great tit – Parus major.
Family: Tit.
Order: Passerines.
Class: Birds.
Subphylum: Vertebrates.

Did you know?
The great tit is the largest of all European tits.
During the day, the body temperature of the tit is 42 °C, and at night it drops to 39 °C. The heart of this bird beats at a frequency of 500 beats per minute, and with strong excitement, the contraction frequency increases to 1000 beats per minute.
A tit eats more food per day than it weighs. A pair of tits feeding nine chicks delivers approximately 1,800 insects and larvae to their offspring every day. During their entire stay in the nest, the chicks eat about 15,000 insects and caterpillars.
In a 10-hectare area, great tits can kill 150,000 insects and caterpillars.
Great tits are surprisingly brave, agile and smart. In some places they have become so accustomed to the presence of people that they take food directly from people’s hands.
The sharp beak serves the tit as a multi-purpose tool. The bird hollows them out, cracks the hard shells of nuts and seeds, and picks out the larvae from under the bark. As it wears out, the beak continually grows back.

Security.
In many countries, the great tit, like its other relatives, is protected, although its population is very large and the bird is not in danger of extinction. Having long ago appreciated the enormous merits of these little birds in the fight against dangerous pests of crops and forests, people feed them in the winter, and in the spring they hang out nesting boxes, which quickly find owners. Tits living in cities often crash into transparent shop windows or glazed walls of high-rise buildings, so it is recommended to stick images of birds of prey on such surfaces, which scare away all the small birds from dangerous obstacles.

Lifestyle.
During the nesting season, the male great tit occupies the home range and defends its borders from other relatives, but in the fall and winter these sociable birds gather in flocks, often teaming up with other species of tits. Living in a flock helps them spot danger in time and find food. The composition of such a flock is constantly changing: some birds fly away, others join the group. Tits are very vocal and communicate with each other using a rich set of whistles and trills. At the end of winter, tit flocks begin to disintegrate. Males claim their rights to certain areas, and a little later the females also set out on a journey, trying to find a partner. The diet of tits is very diverse: in spring and summer they feed on all kinds of insects and their larvae, and in winter on larvae and spiders hidden under the bark. With no less appetite they eat plant seeds, beech and hazelnuts, seeds of ash, maple, euonymus, yew and hawthorn. In the fall, tits often feast on the pulp and seeds of overripe fruits, and in the snowy winter they flock to feeders in noisy flocks. In search of prey, these restless birds quickly run along the branches, often even upside down. Their natural enemies include small feathered predators, weasels, ferrets and martens, and squirrels and crows often destroy their nests.

Reproduction.
In the spring, the first thing a male tit occupies is his home range and immediately notifies rivals and neighbors about this with ringing trills, which at the same time attract females. Having noticed a possible partner, the male puffs up his shirtfront for greater importance and begins to nervously flutter around the chosen one. If the female likes the gentleman, she squats on a branch, opening her wings and beak, and demands a treat, and the male tries to feed her (perhaps in this way the female checks whether the future spouse will be able to feed the chicks). Then the male shows his girlfriend the place he has chosen for the nest, which can be a tree hollow or a titmouse, and if the female likes it, the couple begins to build a nest from thin twigs lined with dry blades of grass, moss, feathers and scraps of wool. In April, the female lays 6-12 white eggs with reddish speckles and incubates the clutch for 10-14 days, feeding on the male’s offerings. The chicks hatch blind and naked. After 2-3 weeks they fly out of the nest, but their parents feed them for about another week. As a rule, tits have one brood per year. Sometimes the pair manages to make another brood, and then the older chicks are fed by one male. In winter, juveniles join flocks of tits. Great tits reach sexual maturity at 10 months of age and hatch their offspring the following spring.

Great tit - Parus major.
Length: 14 cm.
Wingspan: 22-25 cm.
Weight: 15-20 g.
Number of eggs in a clutch: 6-12.
Incubation period: 10-14 days.
Sexual maturity: 10 months.
Food: insects, fruits, seeds.
Life expectancy: up to 15 years.

Structure.
Beak. The beak is short, cone-shaped.
Head. The upper side of the head is covered with a cap of black shiny feathers.
Body. The physique is quite dense.
Cheeks. Cheeks are white.
Mirror. There are white stripes on the wings, the so-called. mirrors.
Plumage. The dorsal side is yellowish-green, the abdomen is bright yellow. The wings, tail and tailbone are bluish-gray.
Tie. A wide black stripe, resembling a tie, stretches along the chest and abdomen.
Fingers. Four short fingers are equipped with sharp and tenacious claws.
Legs. Thin legs are devoid of feathers.

Related species.
The tit family includes about 65 species of birds inhabiting Europe, Asia, Africa and North America. All of them are small birds leading a sedentary lifestyle, and only species that nest far in the north migrate to warmer climes for the winter. These birds live mainly in forests, although many species have successfully adapted to life in the city. The main food of tits is insects and seeds.

Tits (Parus) are a fairly numerous genus of birds belonging to the Tit family and the order Passeriformes. A common representative of the genus is the great tit (Parus major), which has become quite widespread in many regions of Russia.

Description of tit

The word “tit” is derived from the name “blue color”, and is therefore directly related to the color of the blue tit bird (Cyanistes caeruleus), which previously belonged to the genus of tits. Many species previously classified as true tits have now been transferred to the category of other genera: Sittiparus, Machlolophus, Periarus, Melaniparus, Pseudopodoces, chickadees (Poecile) and blue tits (Cyanistes).

Appearance

The Tit family includes subspecies: long-tailed and thick-billed tits. In the world today there are more than a hundred known and fairly well-studied species of birds belonging to this genus, but only those birds that are included in the tit family are now considered to be true tits. Representatives of the Gray Tit species are characterized by a wide black stripe along the abdomen, as well as the absence of a crest. The main species differences are the gray color of the back, a black cap, white spots on the cheeks and a light chest. The belly is white, with a central black stripe.

This is interesting! The rump is ash-colored, and the tail feathers are blackish. The undertail is also black in the central part and characteristic white on the sides.

The great tit is an active, rather fidgety bird, with a body length of 13-17 cm, an average weight of 14-21 g and a wingspan of no more than 22-26 cm. The species is distinguished by a black neck and head, and also has striking eyes white cheeks, olive-colored top and yellowish bottom. The numerous subspecies of this species are distinguished by some very noticeable variations in plumage color.

Character and lifestyle

It is incredibly difficult for a mischievous tit to hide or stay in the same place for a long time. Such a bird is accustomed to constant movement, but is an absolutely unpretentious feathered creature in terms of its habitat. Among other things, tits have no rivals in agility, mobility and curiosity, and thanks to tenacious and very strong legs, such a small bird is capable of performing many tricks, including all kinds of somersaults.

Thanks to their well-developed legs, tits survive even in unfavorable conditions, being at a great distance from their nest. Attaching its claws to the surface of the branch, the bird quickly falls asleep, becoming similar in appearance to a small and very fluffy lump. It is this feature that saves her during too much winter cold. The lifestyle of all tits is predominantly sedentary, but some species, according to the observations of experts, tend to periodically wander.

However, each species of tit has only its own, most characteristic features, and the qualities that unite all representatives of the genus are beautiful and memorable plumage, incredibly mischievous behavior and simply captivating with its harmony, loud singing.

The process of molting in birds of this species under natural conditions occurs only once every twelve months.

This is interesting! Gray tits are usually observed in pairs, but sometimes such birds unite in small intraspecific groups or with other species of birds. So-called mixed flocks search for food more productively during the hungry season.

By their nature, absolutely all types of tits belong to the category of nature’s true orderlies. Adult individuals actively destroy a huge number of many harmful insects, thus saving green spaces from death. For example, one family of tits needs to clear more than four dozen trees of pests to feed their newly born offspring. To communicate with each other, titmouse birds use a special “squeaky” chirp, vaguely reminiscent of the loud and melodic sounds of “blue-blue-blue”.

How long do tits live?

The life of a titmouse in natural conditions is very short and, as a rule, is only three years. When kept in captivity, the Great Tit can live even up to fifteen years. However, the overall lifespan of such an unusual feathered pet directly depends on many factors, including compliance with the maintenance regime and feeding rules.

Sexual dimorphism

Female gray tits have a narrower, duller stripe on their abdomen.. Female great tits are very similar in appearance to males, but in general, they have a slightly duller color of plumage, so the black tones in the head and chest area have a dark gray tint, and the collar and black stripe on the belly are somewhat thinner and may be interrupted .

Types of tits

According to data provided by the International Union of Ornithologists, the genus Parus includes four species:

• Gray tit (Parus cinereus) – a species that includes several subspecies, which some time ago belonged to the species Great Tit (Parus major);
• Bolshak, or Great tit (Parus major) – the largest and most numerous species;
• Eastern, or Japanese tit (Parus minor) – a species represented by several subspecies at once, which are not distinguished by mixing or frequent hybridization;
• Green-backed tit (Parus monticolus).

Until recently, the species Eastern or Japanese tit was classified as a subspecies of the great tit, but thanks to the efforts of Russian researchers, it was possible to establish that these two species simply coexist quite successfully.

Range, habitats

The gray tit is represented by thirteen subspecies:

• R.c. ambiguus – inhabitant of the Malacca Peninsula and the island of Sumatra;
• P.c. caschmirensis with a gray spot on the back of the head - inhabitant of northeastern Afghanistan, northern Pakistan and northwestern India;
• P.c. cinereus Vieillot is the nominate subspecies, found on the island of Java and the Sunda Lesser Islands;
• P.c. desolorans Koelz - inhabitant of northeastern Afghanistan and northwestern Pakistan;
• P.c. hainanus E.J.O. Hartert – inhabitant of Hainan Island;
• P.c. intermedius Zarudny – inhabitant of the north-east of Iran and north-west of Turkmenistan;
• P.c. mahrattarum E.J.O. Hartert is an inhabitant of the north-west of India and the island of Sri Lanka;
• P.c. planorum E.J.O. Hartert is an inhabitant of northern India, Nepal, Bhutan, Bangladesh, central and western Myanmar;
• P.c. sаrаwacensis Slаter – inhabitant of the island of Kalimantan;
• P.c. sturae Koelz - inhabitant of the west, central and northeast of India;
• P.c. templorum Meyer de Schauensee - inhabitant of the central part and west of Thailand, southern Indochina;
• P.c. vauriеi Ripley – inhabitant of northeast India;
• P.c. Ziaratensis Whistler is an inhabitant of the central and southern parts of Afghanistan and western Pakistan.

The great tit is an inhabitant of the entire territory of the Middle East and Europe, found in North and Central Asia, and inhabits some areas of North Africa. Fifteen subspecies of the great tit have slightly different habitats:

• P.m. raphrodite - inhabitant of southern Italy, southern Greece, the islands of the Aegean Sea and Cyprus;
• P.m. blanfordi - inhabitant of the north of Iraq, the north, north central part and southwestern part of Iran;
• P.m. bokharensis - inhabitant of the territory of Turkmenistan, northern Afghanistan, south-central Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan;
• P.m. corsus – inhabitant of the territory of Portugal, southern Spain and Corsica;
• P.m. eski – inhabitant of the territories of Sardinia;
• P.m. excesus - inhabitant of northwestern Africa, from the territory of the western part of Morocco to the northwestern part of Tunisia;
• P.m. ferghanensis - inhabitant of Tajikistan, Kyrgyzstan and western China;
• P.m. karustini is an inhabitant of the southeast of Kazakhstan or the Dzungarian Alatau, the extreme northwestern part of China and Mongolia, Transbaikalia, the territories of the upper reaches of the Amur and Primorye, the northern part to the coastline of the Sea of ​​Okhotsk;
• P.m. karelini – inhabitant of the south-east of Azerbaijan and north-west of Iran;
• P.m. major – a typical inhabitant of continental Europe, north and east from the central part, and northern part of Spain, the Balkans and northern Italy, Siberia to the east up to Lake Baikal, south to the Altai Mountains, eastern and northern Kazakhstan, found in Asia Minor, ha the Caucasus and Azerbaijan, with the exception of the southeastern part;
• P.m. mallorcae – inhabitant of the territory of the Balearic Islands;
• P.m. newtoni - inhabitant of the British Isles, the Netherlands and Belgium, as well as the northwestern part of France;
• P.m. niethammeri – inhabitant of the territories of Crete;
• P.m. terraesanctae - inhabitant of Lebanon, Syria, Israel, Jordan and the northeastern part of Egypt;
• P.m. turkestaniсus is an inhabitant of the southeastern part of Kazakhstan and the southwestern territories of Mongolia.

In the wild, representatives of the species are found in a variety of forest zones, most often in the most open areas and on the edges, and also settle along the banks of natural reservoirs.

The eastern or Japanese tit is represented by nine subspecies:

• P.m. amamiensis - inhabitant of the northern Ryukyu Islands;
• P.m. сommixtus – inhabitant of southern China and northern Vietnam;
• P.m. dageletensis – inhabitant of Ulleungdo Island near Korea;
• P.m. kagoshimae - inhabitant of the south of Kyushu and the Goto Islands;
• P.m. minоr – inhabitant of eastern Siberia, southern Sakhalin, eastern central and northeastern China, Korea and Japan;
• P.m. nigriloris – inhabitant of the south of the Ryukyu Islands;
• P.m. nubiсolus – inhabitant of eastern Myanmar, northern Thailand and northwestern Indochina;
• P.m. okinawae – inhabitant of the center of the Ryukyu Islands;
• P.m. tibetanus is an inhabitant of the southeast of Tibet, southwest and south-central China, and northern Myanmar.

The green-backed tit has become widespread in Bangladesh and Bhutan, China and India, and also inhabits Nepal, Pakistan, Thailand and Vietnam. The natural habitats of this species are boreal forests and forest zones in temperate latitudes, subtropics and tropical lowland moist forests.

Tit diet

During the period of active breeding, tits feed on small invertebrates, as well as their larvae. Feathered orderlies destroy a huge number of different forest pests. However, the basis of the food ration of any tit during this period is most often represented by:

• butterfly caterpillars;
• spiders;
• weevils and other bugs;
• dipterous insects, including flies, mosquitoes and midges;
• hemipteran living creatures, including bedbugs.

Tits also eat cockroaches, orthoptera in the form of grasshoppers and crickets, small dragonflies, lacewings, earwigs, ants, ticks and centipedes. An adult bird is quite capable of feasting on bees, from which the sting is first removed. With the onset of spring, tits can hunt prey such as dwarf pipistrelle pipistrelles, which, after emerging from hibernation, remain inactive and quite accessible to birds. The chicks are fed, as a rule, by the caterpillars of various butterflies, the body length of which is no more than 10 mm.

In autumn and winter, the role of various plant foods, including hazel and European beech seeds, noticeably increases in the tit's diet. Birds in fields and cultivated areas feed on waste grain of corn, rye, oats and wheat.

Birds living in the northwestern territories of Russia often feed on the fruits and seeds of some of the most common plants:

• spruce and pine;
• maple and linden;
• lilac;
• birch;
• horse sorrel;
• pikulniks;
• burdock;
• red elderberry;
• serviceberry;
• rowan;
• blueberries;
• hemp and sunflower.

The main difference between the great tit and other species of this genus, including the blue tit and the tit, is the lack of its own reserves for the winter. Such a dexterous and very active bird is capable of very skillfully finding food that was collected and hidden in the fall by other birds. According to experts, sometimes representatives of the Great Tit species can eat various carrion.

To feed themselves, tits often visit bird feeders in cities and parks, where they feed on sunflower seeds, food scraps and bread crumbs, as well as butter and pieces of unsalted lard. Food is also obtained in the crowns of trees, usually in the lower tiers of plants and in the foliage of undergrowth or shrubs.

This is interesting! It is the great tit that among all passerines has the largest list of objects for hunting, and having killed a redpoll, a common bunting, a pied flycatcher, a yellow-headed kinglet or a bat, a feathered predator can easily peck out their brains.

Fruits with too hard shells, including nuts, are first broken with the beak. Great tits are inherently predatory. Representatives of this species are well known as regular and typical scavengers, feeding on the carcasses of various ungulate mammals.

Family Tit / Paridae

The tit family unites birds that are very uniform both in appearance and in their way of life. This includes small birds: their body length is 100-180 mm, and their weight is only 7-25 g. The beak of tits is short, cone-shaped, somewhat rounded at the top, and flattened at the sides. The nostrils are covered with short bristle-like feathers. The legs are strong and thick, with strong toes and strongly curved sharp claws, well adapted for climbing tree branches. The wing is relatively short and blunt, has 10 primary flight feathers. The tail is of medium length, of 12 tails, flat or slightly notched. The plumage is thick and soft. Males and females are colored similarly. Young birds differ from old ones only in paler color tones. Almost all species of the family molt once a year. Tits are agile, dexterous birds that feed mainly on insects, which are collected in the crowns of trees and in the bushy undergrowth. At the same time, many species of the family obtain food from under the bark, crushing it, like woodpeckers. They are very sociable. In the fall, they often gather in flocks, teaming up with other species of tits, woodpeckers, nuthatches and pikas. Tits are very smart. Thus, in Great Britain, tits that lived near country estates learned to remove the lids from exposed milk bottles or to make holes in the lids and peck at the cream. Other tits quickly adopted this “experience”, and now almost all of the UK protects itself from tits by covering the bottles they leave with napkins or empty boxes. Tits nesting in the gardens and parks of Moscow in the summer have learned to peck butter, lard and other meat products in winter, flying into the vents between window frames, where Muscovites often store these products in winter. Tits usually make their nests in tree hollows, less often between branches and twigs, from which the nests of birds of prey are made, in burrows, rock crevices and other sheltered places. Remes build bag-shaped nests, hanging them on thin branches. The clutch contains from 3-5 to 14-16 white eggs, in most species with reddish-brown speckles. Many species, at least in the central and southern parts of their range, have 2 clutches per year. Tits begin nesting early, when there is still snow in the forest and there are frosts at night. Therefore, they make very warm nests, and the female warms the hatched chicks for a long time in the first days, almost without flying out of the nest. Tits feed exclusively on insects, mainly herbivores associated with tree and shrub vegetation of forests, gardens and parks. Therefore, in all cultivated countries these birds are protected. Artificial closed nesting boxes are hung for them and hollow trees are left in the plantings. Consisting of 10 genera, uniting 65 species, the tit family is widespread in Eurasia and the adjacent islands; a small number of species are represented in North America and Africa. Most species lead a sedentary and nomadic lifestyle, some species are migratory.

Great tit / Parus major

The great tit is common in deciduous forests, and rises into the mountains to the upper border of the forest; in uranium thickets along the banks of rivers and reservoirs; in groves, parks and gardens of almost all of Europe (except for its north), in Asia (except for its northern regions, Kamchatka, as well as the highlands of Central Asia), in North Africa. The tit is a sedentary bird, and only partially wanders. In spring, it returns to its nesting sites in the second half of February - early March. At this time, the males sing a monotonous, but not devoid of pleasant, ringing song. It can be expressed in words as repeated “drink-drink-drank...”. Tits settle in a wide variety of areas of the tree stand, but still prefer to nest in deciduous forests. Nests are made in the hollows of woodpeckers, less often in rotten wood of a tree in the place of a fallen knot, behind loose bark, in crevices of wooden buildings, in old squirrel nests, between thick twigs and branches that form the skeleton of an old nest of birds of prey, as well as in other closed places, usually at a height of 2-6 m from the ground. There are known cases of using completely unusual premises for nesting: in Kyzyl-Kum, a pair of tits successfully built a nest and hatched chicks in a camel’s skull. They sometimes nest in mailboxes. They willingly settle in nests made by humans. Both birds of the pair build a nest within 4-7 days. In rainy springs, the construction of individual nests sometimes takes 10-12 days. Tits sometimes drag up to 200 g of building material into large hollows, trying to fill the entire internal space of the bottom with it. A nest is usually built from thin twigs, roots, dry grass stems, moss, lichens, as well as plant fluff, feathers, scraps of wool, cocoons and webs of spiders and insects. The tray is lined with horsehair, soft hair from various animals and soft feathers. During the breeding season there are usually two clutches: the first, consisting of 9-15 eggs, in April; the second, from 7-11 eggs, in June. Usually, for the second clutch, the birds move to another hollow located close to the first one. But it happens that the grown chicks have not yet flown out, and the tit corrects the nest with green moss and lays the eggs of the second clutch directly under the chicks. Tit eggs are white, slightly shiny with a large number of reddish-brown spots scattered on their surface. Only the female incubates them for 13-14 days. The male only occasionally brings her food. The hatched chicks are fed exclusively by the male for the first 3-5 days of life, while the female warms the chicks during this time. The chicks remain in the nest for 19-21 days; the parents feed them, making about 400 flights with food to the nest per day. The first day or two after hatching, the chicks are given the juice of insects crushed by an adult bird; chicks aged 2-5 days - small spiders and caterpillars. Then the chicks’ food becomes more varied: their parents bring them, in addition to spiders and caterpillars, also butterflies, flies, and small beetles. Only before leaving the nest do the chicks begin to receive coarser food, similar to that consumed by adult birds. After the young birds of the first brood leave the nest, the old birds feed them for another 7-10 days. However, one male finishes feeding, while the female is busy incubating the second clutch. Then the chicks begin to wander in a family flock near the places where they hatched, and the male returns to the female to take part in feeding the second brood. At the end of summer, family flocks of great tits unite with families of other species of tits and kinglets, individual individuals of pikas, nuthatches and some other birds. In such flocks at the beginning of winter there are usually 30 - 50 individuals, which roam widely wherever there are trees and bushes. With snow falling, most of the tits migrate to the south, and the remaining individuals for the winter move to the outskirts of populated areas. These restless birds are constantly in motion: moving from branch to branch, clinging with one or both legs, they often hang at the ends of thin branches with their backs to the ground and even upside down, helping themselves when moving up the trunk with their wings and tail, constantly flitting with places in place, and having found prey, they peck it, pressing it to a branch with its paw. In late spring and summer, great tits forage exclusively on deciduous trees; in autumn and winter they also visit coniferous trees, inspect the undergrowth and young growth, often rummage in the grass and litter, and in winter - in the snow. The great tit is an omnivorous bird. In summer, its diet consists of eggs, caterpillars and adult butterflies, beetles, and spiders. In autumn - homoptera and eggs of butterflies, few beetles are eaten, seeds appear in the food, berries and fruits are also readily consumed. In winter, the basis of nutrition is plant seeds and butterfly eggs, and in spring - seeds and beetles. In addition, birds quite often eat hymenoptera (mainly sawflies), flies and bedbugs; They willingly peck at pieces of meat and lard laid out for them by humans on feeding tables, and they can peck at carrion. However, the predatory tendencies of the great tit are not that great. True, this strong bird sometimes kills during the nesting period by piercing the skull of pied flycatchers and some other small hollow-nesting birds with its beak when they try to populate the hollow with its nest; However, more often than not, a bird that flies into the hollow of a great tit manages to escape from its owner, escaping with fright or a fair beating. Among the insects eaten by the great tit, economically harmful species predominate, such as silkworms, various beetles (weevils, leaf beetles), bugs, and aphids. It is also important that tits continue to exterminate harmful insects with particular intensity in winter, reducing their numbers many times over by spring.

Tit hanging/ Anthoscopus minutus

A remarkable nest of hanging tits is placed at the ends of branches, in the forks of small twigs, or suspended at the end of a branch of shrubs or trees, usually not high above the ground. This is a dense, thick-walled pear-shaped structure with a side entrance in the form of a small tube made in the upper third of the nest. At the bottom of the nest and at its base there is a special protrusion - a “porch”, on which the bird sits down before climbing inside the nest. The entrance to the nest itself is very narrow: the bird has difficulty squeezing into it. The edges of the entrance close when the bird leaves the nest; not always, but often the bird closes the entrance to it even when it sits down to incubate eggs. In order to get into the nest, the bird hangs on the tube with the entrance hole and, helping with its beak and paws and deftly using the action of its body weight, opens the entrance. In the same nest, a pair often raises two broods in a row. There are from 4 to 12, usually 6-8 white eggs in a clutch.

Titmouse / Panurus biarmicus

Tufted tit/Parus cristatus

During the nesting period it is found in old and middle-aged spruce and pine forests, where there are hollow trees. In March there is a breakdown into pairs; at this time, the males sing, sitting somewhere on the top of a spruce or pine tree. The song is a short, hoarse trill “...tsi-trr, tsi-tr-ri...”. Nests are made low above the ground in old hollows of small spotted woodpeckers, in last year's hollows of brown chickadees, in natural cavities of tree trunks, if the entrance hole of the hollow does not exceed 30 mm in diameter; less often, birds use old squirrel nests or nests of predators, settling in their lower part among dry twigs and branches. The base of the nest is built from moss mixed with lichen; the inside and tray are lined with wool, which is trampled down by birds and turns into a felt-like mass. There are two clutches per season: the first (consisting of 5-9 eggs) - in the second half of April, the second (of 4-6 eggs) - in June. The eggs are white with reddish-brown spots, forming a corolla around the blunt end. Only the female incubates for 13-15 days; during this time the male is busy looking for food for himself and for her. Feeding the chicks in the nest and their further life proceeds in the same way as with other tits. In search of food, grenadiers inspect the forks of branches, cracks in the bark, tufts of needles, often hanging from a branch with their backs or upside down, less often they flutter at the ends of the branches, looking for prey; Having noticed something suspicious, they stop in the air, quickly fluttering their wings, and try to peck their prey in flight. In winter, grenadiers can be seen in the snow, where they collect fallen seeds and invertebrates blown from tree branches. In summer, tufted tits feed exclusively on lepidoptera (mainly caterpillars), beetles (among which weevils and leaf beetles predominate), homoptera (mainly aphids and scale insects) and spiders; Less commonly found in food are flies, hymenoptera and other insects. In autumn and winter, along with invertebrates, seeds of spruce, pine and some other coniferous trees are consumed in large quantities. Like Muscovites, tufted tits store food (insects and spiders, as well as seeds) for future use in the summer and early autumn, hiding it in cracks and crevices of twigs and between needles. By destroying pests of coniferous trees, tufted tits bring invaluable benefits to forests.