Tits

Tits

The tits are small. Active woodland and scrub1 dwellers: many are well-known visitors to bird feeders in gardens. Most are gregarious and vocal. The word “tits” derives from “titmice”, the name for “true” tits (family Parade) or, in North America, one group of Pare’s species (another group is called the chickadees). Other, unrelated, bird species are called tits, but here we include only members of three families currently thought to be closely related; they form a group probably closely allied to the nuthatches and creepers.

The true tits are by far the largest and most widespread of the three families, occurring from sea level to high mountains wherever there are trees: apart from treeless areas and offshore islands, only South America, Madagascar, Australia, and the Antarctic are without true tits. Ten species are confined to North America, 10 to Africa south of the Sahara and the remainder are primarily Eurasian, though some of these spread into North Africa and one into Alaska. The North American and European species include some of the most “popular “of all birds, nesting in boxes in summer and common at bird feeders in winter. They rarely cause any damage but provide hours of interest and enjoyment to home-bound observers.

The form and general appearance of most of the true tits are fairly uniform and easily recognized as “tits” all over the world—a generalization borne out by the fact that all but two species are in the single genus Parus. Many have pale or white cheeks contrasting with black or dark caps; a number are created. They have short sturdy bills and short legs. All spend most of their time entrees and hushes, though they will forage on the ground. They are extremely nimble and readily hang upside down on small twigs. Although they can fly long distances, they commonly only flit from one tree to the next.

True tits are monogamous in temperate areas, the male defending a territory against all comers. These territories are usually established in winter and early spring and break down when the young become index-pendent, though in some species there is a brief resurgence of territorial behavior in the fall after the molt. Some species maintain their territories throughout the year. In Scandinavia the Willow tit may winter in groups of up to four in one territory; mortality in winter can be high and some territories do not have a pair by spring.

Another species the birds may join up in flocks for much of the year, roving over large areas of woodland. Parties of mixed species of tits. often together with other small woodland birds are a common feature of woodlands in Europe, Asia, and North America. The behavior of tropical and African species isles is well-known. However, in the African Black tit, territories are occupied by 3 or 4birds during the breeding season, and all help to raise the brood. The “extra” birds are usually males which have been raised in the same territory the previous year.

Of the two Southeast Asian species in separate genera. The Sultan tit is an enormous bird for a tit, about 22cm (8.7in) longhand weighing perhaps well over 3og (ion). It is predominantly a glossy blue-black (the female is a little duller) with a bright yellow crown, an erectile crest, and a yellow belly. It lives in rich forests and is not well known. Even less is known about the rather drab, greenish Yellow-browed tit, which lacks the distinctive patterning of most tits. It lives in high-altitude forests above about 2,000M (6,000-7,000ft). It was not until its nest was found in a hole in a rhododendron treeing T 969 that its breeding habits were known to be like those of other tits.

Many species have extensive ranges, the Great tit, Coal tit, and Willow tit breeding from the British Isles across to Japan. The Marsh tit also breeds at both ends of this range, but has a gap of some 2,000km1,25omi) in its range in Central Asia. The Siberian tit ranges from Scandinavia across Asia into Alaska and Canada. The Willow of Europe and Asia is very similar to the North American Black-capped chickadee; probably in prehistoric times a single species encircled the Northern Hemisphere; only later did they diverge into two species.

Most tropical and many temperate species are resident. Some, such as the Siberian tit, remain on their breeding grounds throughout the year despite very low winter tem-prelatures (as low as — 45°C, — 49°Fovernight): they roost in cavities in trees or even in mouse holes in the snow, and go slightly torpid during the night, regaining their normal temperature at dawn. Some temperate species may migrate over long distances. Especially when there are failures of the seed crops on which they are dependent in winter. Great tits from northern Russia have been known to winter far afield as Portugal.

Most tits are primarily insect-eaters. Many also take seeds and berries, particularly species in colder climates where seeds are the main item of the winter diet. An abundance of an alternative food source is the reason why tits are so common in gardens and at bird feeders in winter. Some stored food, primarily seeds, but sometimes also insects; such items are usually put behind cracks in the hark, but may also be buried under the moss.

The cache may note used for some time or the bird may store food and collect it within hours. In the warm breeding season, all species feed insects toothier young. A pair of Blue tits may feed caterpillars to their nestlings at the rate of one a minute while the young are growing most rapidly, and bring well over Io, 000such items while the young are in the nest. it’s have been thought—although the evidence is not convincing to be important in the control of forest pests, and large numbers of nesting boxes have been put up for this reason.

Tits are very versatile and quick to learn from one another. In 1929 some it’s in Southampton were observed to remove the tops from milk bottles and drink the cream. This habit spread very rapidly throughout England by tits copying the skills from each other.

As far as is known, all Pare’s species are nesters. A few nest in nesting boxes in gardens; these species are well-known and have been studied extensively. The majority probably search for a suitable hole, because they do not seem to enlarge it in any way. However, some, including the Crested tit, Willow tit, and Black-capped chickadee, excavate their nest chamber in a soft piece of dead timber.

This habit seems so fixed that they will excavate a new chamber even if the pre-vinous year’s chamber is standing unused in the same tree. These species will normally not use nesting boxes, although if the boxes are filled with wood chippings they may then “excavate” them and find them acceptable! When suitable tree sites are in short: supply, holes in the ground may be used.

Most species line their nests with moss. Some add hair or feathers; the female does the work, though the male may accompany her on trips to collect material. The eggs are laid at daily intervals. Clutches tend to be large, 4-5 in tropical species and more in temperate areas; as with other hole-nesting species, large clutches are thought to be related to the safety from predators of nests in holes, enabling large numbers of young to be raised.

The average clutch of Blue tits in oak woodlands is about II eggs (exceptionally birds may lay as many as 1. 8 or 19); these are probably the largest clutches of any songbird and only fanon-passerines such as game birds and ducks (which do not bring food to nestlings)lay larger clutches. In some species, clutch size has been shown to vary with several factors: first-year birds lay smaller clutches than older, more experienced ones; clutches are smaller in the poorer habitats of gardens than in woodland; they are smaller later in the season when caterpillars are scarcer; and smaller when breeding density is high.

Most species have a single brood, but some raise two broods in favorable seasons. Incubation is by the female alone. After leaving the nest the large brood is cared for by both parents for a week or so in temperate species and probably for much longer-income tropical species.

Long-tailed tits are very small birds, their tail being perhaps half of their length. All seven species are highly social and live in flocks of 6-12 birds for much of the year. The Long-tailed tit and the bushtit roost in little groups, huddling together for warmth on cold nights. In Europe many Long-tailed its die in very cold weather.

They build elaborate purse-like nests of feathers and moss—more than 2,000 feathers have been counted in a single nest. The beautifully constructed nest is bound together with a spider’s web and camouflaged with a covering of lichen; it may be 8cm (7in) or so deep in Long-tailed tits and up to 30cm (rein) or more in the bushtit, and it takes many days to complete. Although both members of a pair may roost in the nest at night, probably only the female incubates, acquiring, a bent Valiant^ sitting in the tiny nest. The Pygmy tit in Java also lives in flocks and builds similar nests, but little else is known of the behavior of this species.

In both the European Long-tailed tit and the bushtit, one or more “helpers” may assist the parents to feed the young at the thinnest. The helpers usually arrive after the thinnest has been built and the eggs lay: they may be birds that have lost their own nest to predators.

Pendulant tits are named for their hanging nests. All are very small and have finer; more needle-pointed bills than the other tits. All the species are primarily residents. The penduline has by far the greatest range. Stretching from southern Europe across to eastern China. In Europe, its range is extend-in slowly west and north. Pendulant titslive in small parties for most of the year, many species in rather open, scrubby woodland, but the Pendulant tit lives in small trees such as willows and tamarisks in marshes and spends much of its time hunting for its food amongst the reeds.

The Pendulant tit and all Anthoscopusspecies build purse-like nests, of strong felt-like construction. Indeed some nests are occasionally used as purses by certain tribes in Africa. Anthoscopus nests have a dummy entrance that is blind. The parents close the real one when they leave, thus making it hard for would-be predators to find their way in. The vermin builds a more normal domed nest with many thorns weaved intuit, and the Fire-capped tit nests in holes in trees like the true tits (arguably, it should be placed in the family Parade).