Long Tailed Tit Facts - Information About Long Tailed Tit

Long Tailed Tit - Aegithalos Caudatus

The Long-tailed Tit is a small bird, however with its tail it can be up to 15cm in length, the tail can be up to 8cm, so body size is very small. In flight the Long-tailed Tit looks like a flying lollypop! It’s regularly seen in gardens and will visit bird feeders and tables frequently.

Identification:

Adult

• The Long-Tailed Tit is a very pretty little bird, sexes are identical.


• Tits are small birds ranging from 10cm (Coal Tit) up to 15cm (Great Tit), if it wasn’t for its tail the Long-Tailed Tit would take the crown as our smallest tit.


• It is a reasonably common garden birds and will visit garden feeders regularly throughout the year.


• Long-Tailed Tits are busy, hyperactive little birds; they tend to travel in small groups, searching for food.


• Upperparts; long dark tail with white edges (longer than its body).


• Wings and upperparts are black, however, the wings feathers are edged with white which at distance gives an impression of a pale panel.


• The shoulder area is dusted pink.


• The head is white apart from a thick black eyebrow that starts in front of the eye and sweeps back over the eye and joins onto its black back.


• The dark eye is surrounded by a red eyering.


• Cheeks, chin, throat and breast are white, the breast is often mottled dark.


• The underparts are dusted pink, darker on some birds than others. Undertail is pinkish.


• The bill is tiny and black, legs are dark grey, eye black with red eyering.

Juvenile

• Juveniles appear from the end of April onwards and look like a monochrome adult.


• The young birds lack any pink colouration and instead appear almost black and white, a very dark brown.


• The youngsters head is dark sided, like a black mask with only a white crown, chin and throat. It still has a red eyering.


• The back is dark, wing feathers dusted white as are the shoulders.


• Bill and eye black with red eyering, legs dark.




Status and Distribution


The Long-tailed Tit is an abundant breeding resident in the UK with over 250,000 pairs. The Long-tailed Tit occurs throughout the UK and Ireland apart from the far North West of Scotland and the extreme North West of Ireland.



Habitat/Food


Long-tailed Tits occur in all habitat types throughout the UK, woodlands, parks, gardens, farmland, hedgerows indeed any open country habitat with suitable scrub.
Long-tailed Tits are insect eaters, however in the garden they will feed on Peanuts, Insects, Seed Mixes, Mealworms, Suet and Fat Balls .



Song/Call


Long-tailed Tits have a couple of calls, these are given during their frantic feeding excursions, contact calls….sharp thin ‘zee zee zee’ also a strange squelch like raspberry sound!
Song is a very quiet twitter.