How many tits live. Great tit, or grasshopper (Parus major). What do tits eat

17.11.2021

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

Description of the tit

The word "titmouse" was formed from the name "blue color", therefore it is 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 reclassified to other genera: Sittiparus, Machlolophus, Periarus, Melaniparus, Pseudopodoces, chickadees (Poecile) and blue tit (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 it is still customary to consider only those birds that are included in the tit family to be real 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 difference is 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.

It is interesting! The uppertail is ashy in color, and the tail feathers on the tail are blackish. The undertail is also black in the central part and characteristic white on the sides.

The great tit is a mobile, rather fidgety bird, with a body length of 13-17 cm, with 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 eyes white cheeks, olive-colored top and yellowish bottom. Numerous subspecies of this species differ in some very noticeable variations in plumage coloration.

Character and lifestyle

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

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

However, each species of tits has only their inherent, most characteristic features, and the qualities that unite all representatives of the genus are beautiful and memorable plumage, incredibly mischievous behavior and loud singing that is simply breathtaking in its harmony.

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

It is interesting! The gray tit, as a rule, is observed in pairs, but sometimes such birds are united in small intraspecific groups or with other bird species. The so-called mixed flocks are more productive in the search for food in the hungry season.

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

How long do tits live

The life of the titmouse under natural conditions is very short and, as a rule, is only three years. When kept in captivity, the Great Tit is able to live 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

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

Types of tits

According to data provided by the database of 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) is the largest and most numerous species;
  • Eastern, or Japanese tit (Parus minor) - a species represented by several subspecies at once, which do not differ in 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 - an inhabitant of the Malay Peninsula and the island of Sumatra;
  • P.c. caschmirensis with a gray spot on the back of the head - an inhabitant of the northeast of Afghanistan, the north of Pakistan and the northwest of India;
  • P.c. cinereus Vieillot is a nominative subspecies that lives on the territory of the island of Java and the Sunda Minor Islands;
  • P.c. desolorans Koelz - an inhabitant of the northeast of Afghanistan and northwest of Pakistan;
  • P.c. hainanus E.J.O. Hartert - an inhabitant of the island of Hainan;
  • P.c. intermedius Zarudny - an inhabitant of the northeast of Iran and the northwest of Turkmenistan;
  • P.c. mahrattarum E.J.O. Hartert - 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. sarawacensis Slater - an inhabitant of the island of Kalimantan;
  • P.c. sturae Koelz - an inhabitant of the west, central part and northeast of India;
  • P.c. templorum Meyer de Schauensee - an inhabitant of the central part and west of Thailand, south of Indochina;
  • P.c. vauriei Ripley - an inhabitant of the northeast of India;
  • P.c. ziaratensis Whistler is an inhabitant of the central part and south of Afghanistan, western Pakistan.

The great tit is an inhabitant of the entire territory of the Middle East and Europe, is 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. rahrrodite - an inhabitant of southern Italy, southern Greece, the islands of the Aegean Sea and Cyprus;
  • P.m. blanfordi - an inhabitant of the north of Iraq, north, north of the central part and southwestern part of Iran;
  • P.m. bоkharensis is an inhabitant of the territory of Turkmenistan, the north of Afghanistan, the south of the central part in Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan;
  • P.m. corsus - an inhabitant of the territory of Portugal, southern Spain and Corsica;
  • P.m. eski - an inhabitant of the territories of Sardinia;
  • P.m. exсesus - an inhabitant of northwest Africa, from the territory of the western part of Morocco to the northwestern part of Tunisia;
  • P.m. ferghanensis - an inhabitant of Tajikistan, Kyrgyzstan and the western part of China;
  • P.m. karustini is an inhabitant of the southeast of Kazakhstan or 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 - an inhabitant of the southeast of Azerbaijan and northwest of Iran;
  • P.m. majоr is a typical inhabitant of continental Europe, north and east of the central part, and the northern part of Spain, the Balkans and northern Italy, Siberia eastward up to Baikal, southward 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. mallorsae - an inhabitant of the territory of the Balearic Islands;
  • P.m. newtoni - an inhabitant of the territory of the British Isles, the Netherlands and Belgium, as well as the northwestern part of France;
  • P.m. niethammeri - an inhabitant of the territories of Crete;
  • P.m. terraesanctae - an 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 various forest zones, most often in the most open areas and on the edges, and also settles along the banks of natural reservoirs.

Eastern, or Japanese tit is represented by nine subspecies:

  • P.m. amamiensis - an inhabitant of the northern Ryukyu Islands;
  • P.m. commixtus - an inhabitant of southern China and northern Vietnam;
  • P.m. dageletensis - an inhabitant of the island of Ulleungdo near Korea;
  • P.m. kagoshimae - an inhabitant of the south of Kyushu and the Goto Islands;
  • P.m. minor - an inhabitant of the east of Siberia, the south of Sakhalin, the east of the central part and the northeast of China, Korea and Japan;
  • P.m. nigriloris - an inhabitant of the south of the Ryukyu Islands;
  • P.m. nubiсolus - an inhabitant of the east of Myanmar, the north of Thailand and the northwest of Indochina;
  • P.m. okinawae - an inhabitant of the center of the Ryukyu Islands;
  • P.m. tibetanus is an inhabitant of southeast Tibet, southwest and south-central China, northern Myanmar.

The green-backed tit has become widespread in Bangladesh and Bhutan, in 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 reproduction, tits feed on small invertebrates, as well as their larvae. Feathered orderlies destroy a huge variety of forest pests. However, the basis of the diet 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;
  • semi-coleoptera living creatures, including bedbugs.

Also tits 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 eating bees, from which the sting is previously removed. With the onset of spring, tits can hunt prey such as dwarf bats, which, after emerging from hibernation, remain still inactive and quite accessible to birds. Nestlings are fed, as a rule, by 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 seeds of hazel and European beech, noticeably increases in the diet of the tit. Birds feed on the fields and sown areas with waste grains of corn, rye, oats and wheat.

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

  • spruces and pines;
  • maple and linden;
  • lilac;
  • birches;
  • horse sorrel;
  • pikulnikov;
  • burdock;
  • red elderberry;
  • irgi;
  • mountain ash;
  • blueberries;
  • hemp and sunflower.

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

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

It is interesting! It is the great tit among all passerines that has the largest list of objects for hunting, and having killed the tap dance, common oatmeal, pied flycatcher, yellow-headed kinglet or bat, the feathered predator easily pecks out their brains.

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

The great tit is a very familiar bird in Eurasia and parts of Africa. On the territory of Russia, it lives in the Caucasus, Siberia and the Amur region. The great tit nests in deciduous plantations, next to water bodies, while it is never found in a coniferous forest. The bird is so unpretentious that it can be found both in the forest belt, on the plains, in parks, as well as in cities. The bird reaches out to people due to lack of food. Only 20% of birds survive the winter.

How to recognize a tit

The average size of the great tit reaches 15 centimeters. The bird weighs about 20 grams. She can spread her wings by an average of 23 centimeters. The great tit is very beautiful. On her chest is a black stripe, like a tie, which divides the abdomen into two halves of lemon color. The back shimmers with an olive color, and the wings and tail are gray. The natural attire is complemented by a black beret on the top of the head, which harmonizes well with the white cheeks of the bird.

Males differ from females in a brighter outfit. Tits have a large head with a straight beak and a long tail. The plumage is soft and pleasant to the touch. The bird has strong paws with tenacious, rounded claws.

Why do many people know the titmouse

The tit is not a migratory bird. However, she gets closer to people when she has nothing to eat. As soon as the sun begins to warm in the month of February, the sonorous singing of a bird comes from the street. Light sound, reminds residents of cities about the approach of spring. Watching how the bird moves in the air, one can only admire how competently it acts with its body. The wingspan allows you to wave them a couple of times to soar up, then it falls down like a stone, while consuming a minimum of its energy.

From the life of a tit

The great tit sings its songs incomparably. Her sonorous voice is heard when you walk through the forest thicket. The titmouse reaches its target with small jumps; these are very nimble and agile birds. More often the nest of a titmouse can be found in the hollow of a tree. Tits winter in small flocks to warm each other in severe frosts.

Bird diet

The bird's favorite delicacy is insects of different species. She loves bugs, caterpillars and does not disdain flies. The bird is in constant search of food. People feed the birds with pieces of fat, laying it out on the windowsill of the apartment. The tit brings its benefits due to the destruction of harmful insects.

Unlike other birds, the titmouse does not stock up for the winter, which is why it suffers in winter, however, the bird loves to feast on the stocks of others.

It all starts in early spring, when the birds form into married couples. After, the arrangement of the nest begins. For their children, they choose a hollow in a tree at a height of up to 5 meters. The nest is covered with feathers, animal hair and moss. From April to June, the female has a serious period for hatching chicks. The female lays eggs twice, one brood can reach up to 12 eggs.

The eggs of the tit are white with red or brown spots. While the female is incubating the chicks (the period lasts about two weeks), the head of the family provides her with food. At the same time, married couples strictly divide their territory in order to provide decent food for their offspring. During this period, birds can be aggressive and fight for food even with their relatives. The territory for searching for food usually reaches 50 meters.

After the chicks have hatched, for the first three days, the bird gives all its maternal warmth to the children. At this time, the male is the getter of food, both for his girlfriend and for the chicks that have appeared. The food for the chicks consists of caterpillars no larger than 1 centimeter in size. One chick during the day can eat insects weighing up to 7 grams. After three days, the female joins the male, and they raise the cubs for about 20 more days.

After the babies have left the nest for the first time, flying lessons begin. If the chick has learned to fly (which takes about a week), parents can continue to take care of their children and even feed them. The second brood will be smaller than the first. After the birds have matured, they fly into flocks. Birds are grouped in the amount of 40-50 individuals. Often in the flock you can see representatives of other species, for example, landslides.

After 10 months, the chicks turn into sexually mature individuals.

Raising birds in captivity

Tits are raised in captivity because of their beautiful singing. The bird is easy to feed, so keeping it has its advantages. The singing of a bird in the spring is very beautiful, as at this moment the male calls the female. Tits teach singing to canaries, in which the oatmeal tune is very much appreciated. If the bird is well looked after, then the titmouse easily gets used to captivity.

Tit is a very curious and cocky nature. And her predatory disposition can harm smaller birds. The bird may even run over a smaller bird if they are in the same cage. To avoid such embarrassment, the titmouse should be settled with larger birds, for example, a thrush, a nuthatch or a woodpecker.

Great tit in captivity can be fed soft food. For example, you can rub carrots, finish soft cottage cheese and soaked crackers there. You can also feed minced meat or chopped fish, grated chicken egg. Dried insects and ant eggs are added to the feed. A delicacy for tits are flour worms, which are desirable to be given every week. The bird's diet may also include hemp, sunflower seeds and pine nuts. Grain complementary foods can consist of cedar seeds, sunflower seeds, walnuts, but at the same time, everything is finely chopped and served in a separate cup.

The bird loves water very much, but uses it not only for drinking, but also for bathing. Therefore, it is necessary to prepare two bowls, one with drinking water, the second for swimming. The bowl for "water procedures" should not be deep and small.

In order for the bird to breed outside the wild, it is necessary to allocate a separate room for them.

  1. The body temperature of the blue bream fluctuates depending on the time of day, during the day it reaches 42 degrees, in the evening it can drop to 39.
  2. The heart rate can range from 500 to 1000 beats per second, depending on the excitement.
  3. A bird can eat insects larger than its own weight. When feeding their chicks, they eat up to 1800 insects daily.
  4. The tit is so active and curious that you can feed it from your hand.
  5. The beak of a titmouse can grow back as it wears out. After all, it is with its beak that a bird can hatch a hollow, crack open nuts and get the right insect from under the bark.

How long do tits live

Great tit in wild nature can live 1-3 years, with good care in captivity up to 15 years. In the cold season, a lot of individuals die due to lack of food. It is in the power of every person to help the bird survive in severe frosts. After all, a tit helps a person get rid of pests. For example, during the period of feeding chicks, tits can save about 40 trees and shrubs from pests. The great tit is a good orderly of the forest, park, garden. After all, she can get under the bark of a tree in search of a harmful insect, where even a woodpecker with his dexterity cannot reach.
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Video: great tit (Parus major)

great tit

Great tit. Rtishchevo, city park
scientific classification
Kingdom:

Animals
Type:

chordates
Class:
Squad:

Passeriformes
Family:

Titmouse
Genus:
View:

great tit
International scientific name

Parus major Linnaeus, 1758
View in taxonomic databases

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

Description

A brisk, mobile 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, goiter are brilliant black with a blue metallic sheen; the bridle, 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 in the rump; wing coverts of the same grayish color; the whitish apices of the greater wing coverts form a whitish stripe across the wing; flight feathers are dark brown with white tops of outer webs of primary flight feathers (except first and second) and with a whitish border at the base of inner webs of the same feathers; the main halves of the outer primaries are grayish; secondary feathers with wide light edges of outer webs; middle tail feathers are bluish-gray, the rest are blackish with bluish-gray edges of the outer webs; on the extreme pair, the outer fan is white, on the inner one, the apical white spot; a small white or whitish spot is present at the top of the second from the edge of a pair of tail feathers; the bottom is yellow, with a black matte 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 with a dark grayish-brown head and throat, yellowish cheeks, grayish sides, with an overall dull coloration.

It differs from other tits in large sizes.

Voice and singing

Great tit. Rtishchevo city center

The voice is a sonorous “ping-pin-charzhzhzhzh”. The song is loud whistles of "qi-pi-qi-pi-qi-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 singing period covers more than 9 months. Spring singing begins already at the beginning of January, sometimes even at the end of December. As a rule, birds wintering 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 upsurge in song 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, 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 often sing a song while feeding chicks and driving a brood.

In addition to demonstrative singing, the great tit is also characterized by a “subsong”, which has a very peculiar sound. In some ways, it resembles a "purr". The subsong is most often heard in February and March, but it has also been celebrated in January, April, June and September. The subsong is quite harmonious and is a mixture of quiet chirping and syllables of a demonstrative song performed "on the sly". At the same time, the birds (in the observed cases, they were males) sit in the crowns of trees, often in motionless poses. The duration of the subsong is from 0.5 to 10 minutes. There is also a group performance of the subsong, when 3-4 males sit on neighboring branches and sing at the same time. Borrowed sounds are sometimes included in the subsong: for example, fragments of the song of the yellow-headed beetle and the gurgling sounds of the powder. For some tits, vocal imitation is a common occurrence. Individuals that have learned to copy any signal constantly keep it in their repertoire. Typically (but not always), great tits use borrowed signals in the presence of the species they are mimicking.

The great tit, imitating the specific call of other species of birds, never uses it to express demonstrative alarm. To do this, it uses only its specific signal.

Spreading

area

It lives in Europe, Asia and Northwest Africa.

habitats

During nesting time, the great tit inhabits mainly deciduous and mixed stands. Most often, it settles along rivers, lakes, not far from the edges. It is very rare in dense forests. The favorite habitats of these tits are gardens and parks, holiday villages and landscaped 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 settlements. In mixed forests, their population density is only about 3.5 pairs per 1 km². However, after hanging artificial nests, it usually increases markedly.

Lifestyle

Big tits. Rtishchevo

During nesting time, the great tit keeps 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 a strict settled way of life 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 the forests and accumulate in settlements. In particular, great tits fly to the city of Rtishchevo for wintering. Leaving for the winter from the forest to human habitation, often for tens of kilometers, takes on the character of seasonal migrations. For many young birds, movements of hundreds of kilometers are typical. These are, in essence, true seasonal migrations.

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

Migrations

Usually, three periods of high migratory activity of great tits are distinguished: 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 is made up 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 in late September - early October. The number of migrants fluctuates quite a lot from year to year. Spring migration, as a rule, is somewhat weaker than autumn migration. It starts in the second half - the end of February and continues until the beginning of May. Migration times are 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 the migrating birds. Later, mostly young birds fly. In general, young males predominate during spring migration.

reproduction

Nest with great tit eggs

When choosing a nest site, the great tit is very flexible. She prefers to nest in natural or woodpecker hollows, as well as in artificial nests, occasionally settles in old magpie nests, and sometimes even arranges open nests, which happens, however, very rarely. Near human habitation, the great tit can arrange nests in the most unexpected places. There are known cases of nesting of these birds in cast-iron railings, in a pumping pipe, in street lighting poles, in hollow metal pipes fences, in mailboxes, behind the wall cladding of buildings, etc.

Nest building starts in mid-April. Only the female builds the nest. Birds spend 3-15 days to build it, most often 5-7 days. In cold rainy weather, construction is delayed. The amount of material brought in varies greatly depending on the size of the shelter. Settling in spacious artificial nests for ducks, the great tit drags a very large amount of moss to the bottom, trying to fill it completely, and the tray arranges in the center or side of this moss and lichen influx and is lined with soft vegetable fluff, tufts of wool and feathers. In the forests, its nests are more of the same type and consist of moss and wool, often with an admixture of feathers and spider cocoons. In urban conditions, wool, cotton wool, threads, blades of grass, and feathers are often found in the material of nests.

In many cases, the female starts laying with an unfinished nest. Sometimes several days pass between the completion of the building and the appearance of the first egg. Almost always, during the laying of eggs, 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 danger of detection by a predator, to protect the eggs from hypothermia, or to eliminate the possibility of premature incubation during the night of the female in the hollow. The most valuable nesting material (down, underfur, cocoons of spiders) is brought by the female late and at the time when her visits to the nest become more frequent. This can reduce the risk of other birds taking away especially 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 is extended by about 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. There are usually more of them in years with early spring. The second breeding cycle is much longer. In full clutches of the great tit, from 5 to 14 eggs were found, but most often there are 8-12 of them. 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 breeding dates, regular incubation usually begins before the clutch is completed.

The normal departure of the chicks usually occurs on the 19th-21st day, but when frightened, the chicks are able to jump out even at the age of 15 days. The mass departure of chicks of the first hatch occurs in the second decade of June, the second - from the end of July to the second decade of August. In the first broods, an average of 7.7 fledglings flies out of the nests, in the second - 4.8 fledglings. Nesting success in first clutches is usually higher than in second clutches. But the reverse may 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 starts the second clutch, the first brood is led by the male. The chicks are fed by both parents, mainly by caterpillars of butterflies. Spiders, pupae and adults of butterflies, sawfly larvae also play a significant role. Great tits often feed small chicks by squeezing the contents of spiders into their throats. As a mineral feed, parents give the chicks earth, egg shells, shells of terrestrial mollusks. In the first days, parents make about 500 arrivals 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 summer, along with spiders and Lepidoptera, Coleoptera, mainly weevils, as well as Homoptera, Diptera, and Hemiptera, play a significant role. In autumn and winter, seeds and various human food waste predominate. From plant food, tits use the fruits and seeds of the following plants: pine, spruce, linden, maple, birch, lilac, horse sorrel, burdock, pikulnikov, red elderberry, mountain ash, shadberry, blueberry, sunflower, hemp, rye, wheat, oats. In addition, they willingly feed on the corpses of dead animals, using the remains of predators' prey. Individuals joining mixed titmouse flocks feed in part on stocks made by puffballs, chickadees, crested tits, and nuthatches. The food of the tit is crushed, holding it in its 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 are: ruin by humans and domestic animals, great spotted woodpecker, squirrel, wryneck, small mustelids. Some tit nests are abandoned because of the settlement in the hollow of ants. Second broods often die from overbreeding in the flea 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. A guide for teachers. - 2nd ed. - M.: Enlightenment, 1981. - S. 165
  • Dementiev G.P. Sparrows (Complete guide to birds of the USSR by S. A. Buturlin and G. P. Dementiev). - T. 4. - M., L.: KOIZ, 1937. - S. 165
  • Malchevsky A. S., Pukinsky Yu. B. Birds of the Leningrad region and adjacent territories. - L .: From the Leningrad University, 1983. - S. 460-464
  • Felix I. Birds of gardens, parks and fields. - Prague: Artia, 1980. - S. 58
  • Flint V. E. et al. Birds of European Russia. Field identifier. - M.: Union for the Protection of Birds of Russia; Algorithm, 2001. - S. 192
  • Flint V. E., Boehme R. L., Kostin Yu. V., Kuznetsov A. A. Birds of the USSR. - M.: Thought, 1968. - S. 518-519

The great tit is the most common bird of the family, and perhaps the most famous, as it lives near human habitation and its buildings. In size, it is slightly inferior to the house sparrow, the size of the bird is 14 cm.

Its coloring is very attractive. The back is olive green, the abdomen is pure yellow with a black longitudinal stripe in the middle - a "tie". In males, it has an expansion on the abdomen, in the female, on the contrary, it tapers downwards. The birds have white cheeks and the back of the head, while the rest of the plumage of the head is black and shiny. The tail and wings are bluish. But this is how the birds that live in Europe and the forest part of Asia east to the Amur region are painted. Tits living in the south of the Far East have a white belly instead of a yellow one. And in Central Asian birds, in general, yellow and green tones are absent in plumage. The range of the great tit extends through the broad-leaved forests of Eurasia and northwest Africa, they also live on the Sunda Islands.

The great tit lives in deciduous and mixed forests, in gardens and parks. Lives in plains and mountains. Leads a sedentary or nomadic lifestyle. During the nesting season, it keeps in pairs, and in other seasons - in flocks, often together with other tits. Nests are arranged in hollows and various shelters. I have repeatedly observed the nesting of tits in metal pipes with a diameter of 6-7 cm. Sometimes it occupies birdhouses with a small entrance. The clutch contains 9-13 white eggs with reddish spots. The nest is a well-woven and warm construction of a thick layer of moss, on top of which is a thin layer of wool and hair. During the summer, two broods are not uncommon.

Great tits in the summer eat mainly caterpillars, with which they mainly feed their offspring. Great tits do a great job even with hairy caterpillars, which most birds ignore. The hairs of these caterpillars carry toxic substances and are dangerous for small birds. The tits got out of the situation as follows: they clamp the caterpillar in the foot and peck out a small hole in its side, through which they pull out all the insides. Only an empty skin remains from the caterpillar.

In general, tits are very intelligent creatures. In England, they learned to peck through the caps of milk bottles and drink some of the milk out of them. In our cities in winter, titmouse use food hanging outside the windows. They peck at lard, butter, chicken skin, frozen meat and other products.

The omnivorousness of tits makes it easier to keep them in captivity. The main diet for them is soft food, consisting of grated carrots mixed with white breadcrumbs, with the addition of low-fat boiled cottage cheese, boiled meat or fish scrolled in a meat grinder, chopped chicken eggs. Gammarus, ant eggs, dried insects can be mixed into soft food. 4-5 flour worms should be given daily. Usually, tits are given crushed hemp and sunflower seeds, as well as broken pine nuts, which the birds eat with pleasure.

They keep great tits mainly for the sake of a sonorous song, which can be conveyed as a sonorous "chi-chi-chi-fi, pin-cha-pin-cha". These birds are used as teachers of oatmeal canaries, which are highly regarded for the "titmouse's knee" in song. In order for the tit to sing a lot and willingly, it must be kept separately. The cage can be small, preferably made in the form of a house with a gable roof, since the birds are very mobile and love to climb the bars.

Great tits get along well with other birds, but sometimes they show their predatory nature and beat small birds to death. Therefore, they are kept in enclosures along with larger birds - nuthatches, woodpeckers, blackbirds.

Vladimir Ostapenko. "Birds in your house". Moscow, "Ariadia", 1996

The great tit or big tit (lat. Parus major) is a bird of the passerine order, the tit family, the genus tit.

Titmouse on a mushroom.

Titmouse: artistic photo.

The origin of the name of the bird has no exact scientific confirmation. According to one version, the tit got its name due to the characteristic singing "zin-zin" or "sin-sin". Another version suggests that the name is associated with the word "blue", which had a broad meaning in Russia: this is how the bird with a black cap with a blue tint was called.

Tit in flight
Tit in flight

What does a tit look like?

The largest representatives of the species are similar in size to sparrows. The body length of an adult is 13-17 cm, weight is from 14 to 21 g, the wingspan reaches 22-26 cm.

The tit bathes

Among feathered relatives, tits are distinguished by their long tail and bright plumage. Sexual dimorphism is weakly expressed and consists in a duller plumage of females. The head of males is covered with a black cap with a blue metallic sheen, on the back of the head there is a yellow-white spot, which in young individuals is small and blurry. Females are distinguished by a hat of a dark gray shade. The tops of young individuals are painted in brown or brown-olive color.


The abdomen of both sexes is bright yellow, the cheeks are white. The black "tie" extending from the chest to the rump is wider in males, narrower and sometimes intermittent in females.


The neck of tits is surrounded by a black "collar", in females it is thinner. The color of the back can be yellow-green or gray-blue, on the shoulders it casts an olive color. Wings and tail are bluish. The three extreme steering wings are distinguished by white tops that make up a transverse strip.


The upper and middle wing coverts of males form a greenish-blue border at the ends, in females the border is greenish-gray. The undertail of females is whiter than that of males.


The modern classification distinguishes more than 30 subspecies of the tit, which differ in the shade of plumage and the saturation of white.

Range and habitat features

A nimble, fidgeting bird lives throughout Eurasia and northwest Africa. Inhabits all European countries, except Iceland and the north of the Scandinavian countries. Island populations are common in Cyprus, Sardinia, Corsica, Sicily, and also in the British Isles.


Most tits are sedentary birds, migrations are observed in case of extremely severe winters. They prefer to live in mixed and deciduous forests, wooded hills, where they are found on the edges and along the banks of rivers and lakes. The favorite habitat of tits is oak groves with many voids in tree trunks.

Tit in flight

In lean years, part of the birds migrate to villages and villages, to the outskirts of fields and forest plantations, as well as to city squares and parks.

What do tits eat?

In spring and summer, the basis of the diet of tits is animal feed - insects and their larvae, including many pests. Butterfly caterpillars, various beetles (weevils, dung beetles, leaf beetles), dipterous (flies, mosquitoes, midges), arthropods (bugs, horseflies, aphids) are eaten.

Tits and woodpecker at the feeder

The menu also includes cockroaches, dragonflies, ground beetles, grasshoppers, ants, ticks, centipedes and even bees, with their stingers previously torn off. In early spring, tits willingly eat dwarf bats, sleepy after hibernation.

Tit with seeds

In autumn and winter, tits switch to plant foods, when the diet consists mainly of seeds of plants harvested in the forest and in the fields. These can be seeds of spruce, pine, maple, linden, birch, oxalis, burdock, elderberry, mountain ash and currant.

Tits sort things out

After harvesting, tits feed on the remains of rye, wheat, corn and oats, they will not fly around sunflower and hemp.


Tits do not make their own stocks for the winter, but they easily find and gladly empty other people's caches of food.

Tit on a tree

In winter, bird feeders with sunflower seeds, unsalted bacon and bread are extremely popular among tits. Titmouse and carrion do not disdain, and they also like to eat nuts, splitting the shell with a hard beak.


Breeding tits

Most tits are monogamous and remain faithful to the chosen one for several years. The breeding season starts in January and lasts until September. During this time, the couple manages to become parents twice.

Titmouse on rowan

The first calling trills of the male can be heard in February - early March. Fluffy males playfully jump in front of females from branch to branch, outline the place of the future nest in the air, and present food to the chosen ones.

Tit cub

Tit nests are built both traditionally - in hollows of trees, and in the most unexpected places. These can be mouse holes, voids under the roofs and in the walls of buildings, rock crevices, as well as titmouses. Sometimes a pair occupies an abandoned magpie or squirrel nesting site.


Females personally build nests from twigs, moss and dry grass stalks. The bottom is lined with bird feathers, animal hair, spider cocoons, cotton wool and threads. The diameter of the nest is 4-6 cm, the depth is 4-5 cm.


The first laying occurs at the end of April. The clutch contains 5 to 12 white, glossy red-brown speckled eggs. The second time tits breed in June, and the clutch contains 2 eggs less.

Tits actively communicate

The female does not leave the nest for 12-14 days, all this time the male feeds her. Newborn chicks covered with gray down are fed by both parents, and the diet consists exclusively of butterfly caterpillars, no more than 1 cm long.

Tits on a sunflower

After 3 weeks, the chicks are already able to fly, but for another week they are in the care of their parents. The second offspring does not leave the vicinity of the nest for a month and a half, until autumn, when tits begin to gather in flocks.


The maximum recorded lifespan of a tit is 15 years. But not every titmouse is destined to become a long-liver: adults often become victims of sparrowhawks, and tit nests are often ruined by squirrels, weasels and woodpeckers.

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