What type of bird is the great tit? Great tit, or grasshopper tit - Parus major: description and images of the bird, its nest, eggs and voice recordings

The great tit (bolshak) is widespread. In areas developed by humans, it is several times larger than other tit species in terms of the number of individuals.

The dorsal side of the great tit is yellowish-green, the ventral side is yellow with a wide black stripe along the chest and belly. The upper side of the head, sides of the neck, throat and adjacent part of the crop are shiny black with a bluish steel tint, the sides of the head are white. The wing is grayish-blue with a light transverse stripe. The tail is blackish with a bluish coating. The great tit is one of the largest representatives of the family: its body length is 130-165 mm, weight is about 20 g.

Bolshak 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 high mountainous regions of Central Asia).

The singing of the great tit can be heard at any time of the year, with the exception of late autumn and early winter. 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.

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.

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 skins of building walls, in mailboxes, inside the muzzle of an artillery gun, and even in the skull of a camel! And, of course, bolshaki willingly settle in nests made by humans.

Building such a nest is not at all difficult. A smaller copy of a birdhouse (called a titmouse by analogy) has the following dimensions: bottom 10x10 cm, entrance with a diameter of 4-4.5 cm at a distance of 20 cm from the bottom. The lid must fit tightly and under no circumstances should it leak. You cannot sand the inner surface of the titmouse - it must be ribbed enough so that you can cling to it with your claws. Sometimes they even specially cut transverse horizontal grooves with an axe. The cracks in the bottom area do not matter at all: the birds themselves will caulk the necessary places (leave the birds at least some kind of entertainment). The titmouse should be hung on the south-southeast side of the tree in a fairly open place. There is no point in hanging many houses in one place. It is enough to maintain a distance of 50 meters between titmouses so that bird families do not conflict with each other.

And one more important note. Of course, not only great tits can live in such a house, but also many other small cavity nesters, for example, flycatchers. If you want to attract great tits specifically, keep in mind that these birds do not settle in houses with old nests. In the fall, the titmouse needs to be removed and cleaned, and hung back in place in the spring.

Both birds of the pair build a nest within 4-7 days. 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. In urban conditions, nest materials often contain wool, cotton wool, threads, blades of grass, and feathers. The tray is lined with horsehair, soft hair from various animals and soft feathers.

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. As mineral food, parents give the chicks soil, egg shells, and shells of terrestrial mollusks.

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.

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 consists of plant seeds and butterfly eggs, and in spring - seeds and beetles. Individuals joining mixed tit flocks feed in part from stores made by plumes, chickadees, tufted tits and nuthatches.

Bolshaki are frequent guests at feeding stations. Moreover, these birds themselves brazenly begin raids in flocks on the balconies of high-rise buildings at sunrise and scream loudly at the same time! They easily fly to the 15th floor - an unprecedented feat for a sparrow. Bird feeders attract tits to the city primarily as orderlies. After all, tits continue to collect pests even in winter (they do not store their own reserves like some other tits). The problem of finding food in winter is eloquently illustrated by the fact that in frosty winters up to 90% of all bolshaks die. From hunger, not from cold! The fact is that a hungry bird can easily freeze on a frosty night. A well-fed one is not afraid of any frost.

In winter, it is best to feed birds with fatty foods: pumpkin seeds, sunflower seeds, unsalted lard, butter, oatmeal covered in animal fat. The simplest feeder is traditionally cut out of a milk carton. But! Once you start feeding the birds, you should never leave the feeders empty for a long time. Birds accustomed to receiving food may die. Once you start feeding, you can’t stop until the end of winter!

Near large cities, tits compete primarily with sparrows at feeders. To get rid of the presence of the latter, you can either use food that sparrows neglect but tits do not, or use a special type of feeder. The food in question is pumpkin and watermelon seeds. When building feeders, one must take into account the natural timidity of sparrows and the acrobatic abilities of large birds. It is best to make the feeder hanging and swinging. Sparrows will never sit where there is no “solid ground” under their feet. Although, what can we say, they, like any city birds, are very resourceful and learn quickly. More and more often you can find sparrows that are not afraid of hanging feeders - we have seen enough of tits and learned not to be afraid.

In addition, great tits quite often eat hymenoptera (mainly sawflies), flies and bugs; They readily peck at pieces of meat and lard that are laid out for them by humans on feeding tables (you cannot give salted lard or meat to birds - this is harmful!), and they can peck carrion. However, the predatory tendencies of the great tit are not that great. 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.

The great tit can be found throughout Eurasia and northwest Africa. They live everywhere: in forests, parks, gardens and even in open areas. She doesn’t come to our cities because of a good life - she wants to eat. According to the observations of scientists, out of ten birds, only two will survive the winter. This is a sad statistic.

Appearance

Body length is 14 – 16 cm, its weight is up to 21 grams. The wingspan is 20 - 25 cm. In my opinion, they are very beautiful, when I see them, I am happy. The lemon-colored belly is divided in half from the bird's neck by a black stripe. The back is greenish with an olive tint, the wings and tail are gray with a white transverse stripe. There is a black cap on the top of the head, the neck is also black, but the cheeks are white. Her plumage is soft.

The outfit of males is more colorful than that of females. The head is large, the beak is straight and strong, the tail is long. Legs are strong with tenacious toes. The fingers have small but sharp and curved claws.

Lifestyle

The titmouse sings its beautiful song loudly, similar to the ringing of a bell. Of course, not a nightingale, but also nice to listen to. Moves by jumping, very active and curious birds. They usually live in tree hollows. In winter, they gather in flocks and warm each other, while saving their energy

Nutrition

Eats insects (beetles, caterpillars, flies and the like), seeds, berries. They don’t know a minute of peace, they are always searching. Loves and accepts treats from people - unsalted lard, especially in winter. It brings great benefits by destroying harmful insects.

Reproduction

In early spring, breaking up into pairs, the female builds a nest in a hollow for future offspring. They choose a place higher from the ground, from 1.5 to 5 meters in height. The bottom is lined with moss, feathers and pieces of animal hair. The female hatches chicks twice a year. The first brood is in late April or early May, the second in June. The female lays up to 12 eggs. The egg is shiny, white with frequent red and brown specks. The male will carry food and feed her the entire time his girlfriend is incubating her eggs in the nest (this period lasts two weeks).

When chicks are born, the mother stays with them for the first three days, warming her babies with her warmth. Dad is trying for two, it’s such a big, gluttonous family! Then the female joins in to help. They are busy all day, looking for suitable food for their chicks. One chick eats about 7 grams of food per day. Twenty days after birth, the chicks leave the nest.

Flight lessons begin. A week later, having fledged, the young chicks can lead an independent life, but their parents allow them to stay for a while on their territory, and even feed them. There will be fewer eggs in the second clutch than in the first. After the second brood matures, all birds flock together.

Let's not be indifferent when we see tits and other birds in cold winter, let's feed them. Birds often die in winter from hunger; food is very difficult to find, so they come to us for help.

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This family unites birds that are very uniform both in appearance and in their way of life. This includes small birds: their body length is 100-170 mm, and their weight is only 7-23 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, hard, bristle-like feathers. The legs are strong and thick, with strong toes and strongly curved claws, well adapted for climbing tree branches. The wing, relatively short and blunt, has 10 primary flight feathers. The tail is quite short, straight or with a slight notch. 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 bush undergrowth. At the same time, many species of the family obtain food for themselves 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 and nuthatches. These are very smart birds. For example, in England, tits that lived near country estates learned to remove the lids from exposed bottles of milk or to make holes in the lids and peck at the cream. Other tits quickly adopted this “experience”, and now almost throughout England they protect themselves 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 windows between window frames, where Muscovites often store these products in winter.

Tits make closed nests and usually place them 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 4-6 to 14-16 white eggs, with reddish-brown speckles in most species. Most species, at least in the central and southern parts of their range, have two clutches per year.

Tits begin nesting early, often 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 almost exclusively on insects, mainly pests of forests, gardens and parks. Therefore, in all cultivated countries these birds are protected. For them, artificial closed nesting boxes are hung and uncut hollow trees are left in the plantings.

Consisting of 6 genera, uniting 65 species, the tit family is widespread in Eurasia and the adjacent islands, in Africa and is represented by a small number of species in North America. Most species lead a sedentary and nomadic lifestyle, some species are migratory.

Great tit(Parus major) is a rather beautiful bird. The dorsal side is yellowish-green, the ventral side is yellow with a wide black stripe along the chest and belly (in the tits of Central Asia, the back is bluish-gray, and the yellow color of the ventral side is replaced by white). The upper side of the head, sides of the neck, throat and adjacent part of the crop are shiny black with a bluish steel tint, the sides of the head are white. The wing is grayish-blue with a light transverse stripe. The tail is blackish with a bluish coating.

The great tit is one of the largest representatives of the family: its body length is 130-165 mm, weight is about 20 g.

The great tit is widespread 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 conveyed in words as the repetition of “drinking-drinking-drinking...” many times in a row. Tits settle in a wide variety of areas of the tree stand, but still prefer to nest in deciduous forests. As a rule, 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 the cracks of wooden buildings, in old squirrel nests, between thick twigs and branches that form the skeleton of nests of birds of prey, as well as in other closed areas. places, usually at a height of 2-6 m from the ground. There are known cases of using completely unusual premises for nesting: in Kyzylkum, 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 artificial nests.

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. The nest is usually built from thin twigs, roots, dry grass stems, moss, lichens, as well as plant fluff, feathers, shreds 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-up 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.

In the first 3-5 days of life, the hatched chicks are fed exclusively by the male, 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, only the male finishes feeding, 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 the 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 consists of 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, during the nesting period this strong bird sometimes kills, by piercing the skull with blows of its beak, pied flycatchers and some other small nesting birds 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 commonly eaten by the great tit, economically harmful species predominate, such as silkworms, various beetles (weevils, leaf beetles), bedbugs, 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.

Blue tit(P. coeruleus) differs from other members of the family in its blue color tones. The head is azure blue on top, with the exception of a white forehead and a white stripe on the back of the head; from the beak through the eye there is a narrow black-blue stripe, which, converging on the back of the head with a corresponding stripe on the other side, descends behind the ear coverts to a black throat patch, surrounding the white cheeks. The back of the neck is bluish-white, the back and upper tail coverts are olive green. The ventral side is yellow, the wings and tail are bluish blue. The white tips of the wing coverts form a transverse white stripe on the wing.

Blue tits live in deciduous and mixed forests, coastal thickets, parks and gardens in Europe, England, Ireland, the Canary Islands, North-West Africa, the islands of the Mediterranean Sea, Turkey, Iran, Turkmenistan, the Caucasus and Crimea.

The blue tit is a sedentary, partially nomadic bird. Appears on nesting sites in March, already in pairs. In April, the couple begins building a nest, which is usually placed in a hollow at a height of 1-4 m from the ground, often in damp areas of the forest located not far from water. The blue tit most readily uses the hollows of small woodpeckers, natural voids in tree trunks (if the entrance hole does not exceed 30-35 mm in diameter), and crevices of rotten stumps. Both birds of a pair most often build a nest from moss, dry grass, soaked bast fibers, scraps of wool, and cobwebs. The tray is lined with horsehair, feathers and down. The built nest is empty for 3-5 days, and then the female lays 9-13 white eggs with reddish-brown spots in it. Only the female incubates; during the incubation period, the male feeds the female in the nest 1-2 times an hour, sometimes she flies out in search of food, covering the eggs with down. Incubation lasts 12-14 days.

The first time after the chicks hatch, it is mainly the male who feeds them, while the female warms the chicks. From the 4-6th day, the female stops warming the chicks during the day and feeds them together with the male. Parents bring food to the nest with adult chicks up to 300 times a day. The chicks spend about 20 days in the nest. The hatched chicks are fed by their parents for 6-9 days, and then they begin the second clutch, which occurs in July. At the end of summer, flocks of blue tits wander through the forest, visiting not only deciduous but also coniferous forests during this period, flying to the outskirts of populated areas. In winter, blue tits are most often found in pairs (consisting of a male and a female), wandering alone through the forest, or flying with a flock of other tit species, but always staying apart from them.

Blue tits collect food from branches, buds and leaves of trees and shrubs; in winter they sometimes descend into the snow to pick up fallen insects. The main diet of these birds consists of caterpillars and spiders; beetles, bugs, small dipterans, hymenoptera and some other insects are much less common. Destroying a large number of forest and garden pests (for example, destroying winter nests of goldentails, eating hairy gypsy moth caterpillars, as well as a number of other caterpillars and flower-eating weevils), the blue tit is of great benefit.

Moskovka(P. ater) is one of the smallest tits: wing length 55-68 mm, weight 9 g. The head and neck above are shiny black, there is a white spot on the back of the head, the cheeks and sides of the neck are white. The back is grayish with a brownish-olive tint on the loin and undertail. The tail is grayish-brown. The throat is black, the crop, chest and belly are dirty white. The wings are brown with two transverse rows of sparse white spots.

Muscovites are widespread in coniferous plantations in Europe, in Siberia (reaching the Arctic Circle in the north), Kamchatka, Primorye, Sakhalin and the Japanese Islands, northeast China, the Caucasus, Iran, as well as in the mountain forests of the North. West Africa. In the southern parts of its range, the Muscovy is a sedentary, partially nomadic bird, but in the north its migrations have the character of real flights.

They return to their nesting sites in March. The couple settles in a spruce or pine forest. Making a nest low above the ground in old hollows of the brown-headed chickadee and lesser spotted woodpecker, the Muscovy also willingly occupies natural hollows in tree trunks; less often, it builds a nest in the roots of uprooted trees and in the cracks of wooden buildings. Occupies artificial nesting sites with a narrow round entrance.

The nest is constructed from moss, scraps of wool from various wild animals and plant fluff, and soaked bast fibers; In the inner layer of the nest there is cobwebs and occasionally downy feathers. There are two clutches per season. The first (late April - early May) consists of 8-11 white eggs with reddish-brown speckles; the second (in June) - from 7-9 eggs. The female incubates for 12-14 days. During incubation, the male feeds the female, bringing her food 2-3 times an hour. He also feeds the female and the newly hatched chicks for the first time after hatching, since at this time the female continues to incubate the remaining eggs (like other tits, the hatching of chicks from eggs does not occur simultaneously and sometimes lasts 2-3 days) and warms the chicks . Starting from the 3-4th day of the chicks’ life until their departure, the female takes part in feeding along with the male: during the day, both birds fly to the nest with food about 300 times. The chicks spend about 20 days in the nest. The hatched chicks are fed for a week by their parents, who then begin the second clutch. At the end of summer, flocks of Muscovites mix with flocks of other tits and roam widely with them through the forest.

Muscovites feed almost exclusively on coniferous trees. You can often see the Muscovy hanging from a cone and pulling seeds out from under the scales. In winter, when food is more difficult to obtain, it can sometimes be seen on dead litter under the crowns of coniferous trees or in the snow.

At the end of summer and autumn, Muscovites often store food for future use. They hide several caught insects and seeds of spruce and pine trees in cracks and crevices of the bark, in the forks of branches, and squeeze them between the needles on the branches. In this case, the birds tuck their prey from the underside of the branches so that the fallen snow does not block access to the storerooms. In winter and early spring, Muscovites search for pantries and eat the supplies in them.

The food of Muscovites consists exclusively of insect eggs, caterpillars and butterflies, small homoptera (aphids and psyllids); spiders, hymenoptera and beetles are less commonly eaten. In addition, coniferous tree seeds are consumed in winter; In the northern regions of the Muscovy's habitat, seeds become the main food during the cold months. Muscovites are very useful birds for the forest: the vast majority of the caterpillars they eat damage young branches, buds and cones of coniferous trees.

Tufted tit(P. cristatus) is clearly distinguishable from all other tits by the tuft on its head, noticeable even from a distance. For this crest she is often called grenadier. The color of the dorsal side of the body, except for the head, is brownish-gray with an inconspicuous olive tint. The elongated feathers on the head, forming a crest, are black with white spots. There are black spots on the throat and sides of the neck, the cheeks and the space between the eye and the base of the beak are off-white. The entire ventral side is yellowish-white.

The grenadier lives in the coniferous forests of Europe. This is a sedentary bird, undertaking migrations over relatively short distances in autumn and winter. 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-trry...”. Nests are made low above the ground in old hollows of small spotted woodpeckers, in last year's hollows of brown-headed 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 in the summer and early autumn (insects and spiders, as well as seeds; for future use, hiding it in cracks and crevices of twigs and between needles. By destroying pests of coniferous species, tufted tits bring invaluable benefits to forests.

Brown-headed Chickadee(P. atricapillus) is a small, gray, inconspicuous bird. The head is black with a brown tint on top; the dark cap extends far back, including the occipital region. The back, shoulders, loin and rump are gray with a brownish tint. The sides of the head and neck are white, there is a black spot on the throat. The ventral side is off-white, with a pale reddish tint on the sides and undertail. The flight feathers and tail feathers are grayish-brown. Wing length 57-69 mm, bird weight 10-12 g.

The brown-headed chickadee (or, as it is often called, the chickadee) is widespread in the lowland and mountain forests of the northern hemisphere: in North America, Europe (except for its southern regions), in the northern parts of Asia, in the Caucasus, Sakhalin and the Japanese Islands. A sedentary, partially nomadic bird, flying during migrations outside the breeding range both in the north and in the south.

Chickadees stay in pairs all the time, apparently formed in the fall. In March, birds begin searching for nesting sites. They nest in coniferous or mixed forests, choosing areas of spruce or pine plantations.

Unlike other species of tits, the brown-headed tit can itself hollow out a hollow in trees with soft wood that easily rots in natural conditions (aspen, alder, birch). The hollow hollowed out by a chickadee differs from the hollows of woodpeckers in the irregular shape of the entrance hole and small internal dimensions: the diameter of the widest (lower) part of the hollow is 5.5-9 cm, the height is about 18 cm, the diameter of the entrance is 2.5-3 cm. The couple spends from 4-5 to 10-12 days. The construction of the nest is very intensive: in an hour there are 12-14 flights to the hollow with building material. However, every 1-2 hours the birds usually stop building for several hours. In the time free from nest building and when the female is laying eggs, the pair spends most of its time storing food. On average, it takes about 3 days to build the nest itself.

The material from which the nest is made varies greatly. More often, the nest is made of thin soaked bast fibers, small wood chips, thin dry roots and stems, dried moss plants, and the hair of various animals (only thin, short and soft hairs). Less commonly, the nest is made of scales from pine trunks and birch bark films with a small admixture of dried plants and wood chips; Sometimes eggs are laid directly at the bottom of the hollow, on which in this case there is always a lot of wood dust and wood chips. Having finished the inner lining of the hollow, the female waits 1-5 days and then lays 6-11 (usually 7-9) white eggs with reddish-brown spots. Only the female incubates the eggs for 13-15 days. All this time the male feeds the female. Like most other tits, the chicks do not hatch simultaneously, but usually over the course of 2 days.

On the first day after hatching, the female almost never flies out of the hollow: she warms the chicks and the remaining eggs; The male carries the food. On the second day, the female is already more involved in feeding the chicks, and on the third day she begins to regularly feed the chicks along with the male. Subsequently, the female warms the chicks during the day only when it is cold. The female spends the night in the nest with the chicks. The chicks usually stay in the nest for 19 days. The male and the female bring food to the nest up to 250-300 times a day. After the chicks fly out of the nest (in the middle part of the range this happens at the end of May), adults feed them for 7-10 days. Then the birds stay in a family flock, usually consisting of 2 old and 7-9 young birds. In July, such family flocks unite with other species of tits, kinglets and some other birds into large flocks wandering through the forest. In autumn and winter, chickadees can be found in all types of forests; with the onset of cold weather, they also appear in city parks, gardens, and in bushes along the banks of reservoirs. However, they still gravitate towards coniferous trees. Unlike all other species of tits, chickadees quite often chisel the bark and thin branches, extracting, like woodpeckers, hidden insects.

The food of the brown-headed chickadee is very varied. These are mainly small homoptera, which are consumed in huge quantities, as well as lepidoptera, represented exclusively by caterpillars, and coleoptera (weevils and leaf beetles predominate among them). Of no small importance in nutrition are spiders, hymenoptera, and in winter and spring plant seeds (mainly pine and spruce). In small quantities, the chickadee eats bugs, dipterans and other insects. Like some other species of tits, chickadees store food (insects, spiders, etc.) in summer and early autumn.

By exterminating huge quantities of various insect pests of pine and spruce, the brown-headed chickadee brings undoubted and great benefits. It should also be taken into account that chickadees prey on insects that live under the bark of thin branches and are therefore inaccessible to woodpeckers, who cannot stay on such thin branches, and even more so to other bird species incapable of chiselling. Brown-headed chickadees, hollowing out hollows, create, along with woodpeckers, a “housing fund” for other small cavity-nesting birds (tits, flycatchers, etc.).

Ordinary remez(Remiz pendulinus) is noticeably different from other members of the tit family. Its dorsal side is rusty-red with a white head and neck; the forehead and wide stripes running from the beak through the eye to the ear are black. The shoulder feathers and rump are buffy in color. The flight feathers and tail feathers are dark brown with whitish edges. The throat and crop are off-white; the rest of the ventral side of the body is buffy with rusty streaks on the chest and sides. The beak is straight, thin and very sharp.

Ten subspecies of this species are distributed in Central and Southern Europe, the Caucasus, Asia Minor and Central Asia, as well as in Southern Siberia (reaching Primorye), the Korean Peninsula, southern Japan and the southern provinces of China. In the northern parts of the range, the remez is a migratory bird (arriving in March-April, and departing in September - October), in the south of the range it is sedentary. The common remez overwinters in Central Asia, Transcaucasia and further south - from Asia Minor to the southern provinces of China, as well as on the Balkan Peninsula and southern Italy.

It nests in thickets along the banks of rivers, lakes, ponds and other bodies of water; in floodplain and coastal forests; in thickets of reeds and reeds in swamps. It is much less common in dry areas of the forest near large ravines or small streams or puddles that dry up in the summer. Pairs form in the second half of April - early May and soon begin building a nest. Plant fibers and plant fluff, flax, hemp and nettle fibers, and less commonly wool or bird fluff are used as building materials. The outside of the nest is studded with elm seed flakes, birch bark or bud scales, and flower catkins of willow and poplar. The walls of the nest, 20-25 mm thick, are so strong that the nest hangs on the tree without collapsing for several years. The nest is usually located at the end of a willow or poplar branch drooping above the water at a height of 1 to 3-5 m. If the nest is not above the water, it is located at a height of 10 or more meters from the ground.

The pair spends at least two weeks building a nest. Having chosen a suitable branch, the birds twist the arch in its fork; then wide plates, expanding downward and connecting to each other at the lower corners, are lined up along the two branches. In place of the oval hole formed below, a deep bottom is twisted. One of the side spaces between the plates is tightly sealed, and in its place a blunt cone-shaped protrusion is formed, noticeably protruding when viewing the nest from the side. A pipe-shaped entrance to the nest is attached to the other. In cases where the nest is not built in a fork, but right at the end of a branch, only one plate is built along this branch, while the other, opposite, is built without additional support. When finished, the nest resembles a bag hanging at the end of a branch with an entrance that looks like a more or less long tube. Typically the structure is 70-100 mm in diameter, its height is 130-170 mm, the length of the tube is 40-50 mm, and the diameter of the flight hole is 23-28 mm. Among the remez of Central Asia, the nest is suspended between two reeds.

Egg laying sometimes begins even before the nest is built, but more often 2-3 days after its completion. The clutch usually consists of 6-8 white eggs. The female incubates for 13-14 days. The hatched chicks remain in the nest for 16-18 days, during which they are fed by both parents. After the chicks fly out of the nest, adult birds feed them for several days, and then the family flock wanders in the thickets along the banks of reservoirs until departure.

In August, birds nesting in the northern and central parts of their range begin to fly to their wintering grounds.

The food of the remez consists mainly of small insects (beetles, caterpillars, butterflies, bedbugs, etc.) and spiders; The seeds are consumed in small quantities.

The group of remezs also includes hanging tit(Anthoscopus minutus). This is one of the smallest representatives of the family: the length of the bird's wing is 44-55 mm (in size and weight, this titmouse is close to the yellow-headed kinglet). The color of the hanging tit is rather inconspicuous, a faded yellowish-gray color.

This species is widespread in South and South-West Africa. Hanging tits are quiet, but very mobile and active small birds, reminiscent in their habits of our European tits of the genus Parus. With great agility they search thin branches of trees in forests, very often at the same time they inspect flowers and buds, where they catch small insects that form the basis of their diet.

This bird's remarkable nest is placed at the ends of branches, in the fork 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.

Birds of Russia. Directory - Contents 1 Order: Loons (Gaviiformes) 1.1 Family: Loons (Gaviidae) ... Wikipedia

Contents 1 Order: Loons (Gaviiformes) 1.1 Family: Loons (Gaviidae) ... Wikipedia

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 classified as this genus, but only those birds that are included in the tit family are now considered 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 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 in 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 western Morocco to the northwestern part of Tunisia;
P.m. ferghanensis - inhabitant of Tajikistan, Kyrgyzstan and western China;
P.m. karustini - 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 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 coal 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.