The blue tit is one of the most delightful little birds in Britain. One of the most noticeable features is the strong head pattern; the dark blue-black eye stripe and the brighter blue ‘skull cap’ are set against the white cheeks and forehead. The blue-green back becomes a brighter blue on the wings, while the underside is a bright lemon yellow. Although male Blue Tits are usually brighter in colour than the females, this difference is often not apparent in the field. Young Blue Tits are duller in appearance than the adults and have pale yellow, rather than white, cheeks. Although adults will feed themselves on sunflower hearts and other seeds, they need to find plenty of caterpillars for their growing youngsters. Parents are likely to collect these from near-by trees and garden shrubs.
|
|
|
|
The blue tit is a naturally bold and resourceful bird and good at solving problems, especially in the search for food.
Not surprisingly, blue tits were the first birds to peck through milk bottle tops! These little
|
|
|
|
birds learn from each other, so any new trick discovered by one, gets rapidly adopted by all! In winter, blue tits often form flocks with other tit species. They are commonly found at peanut feeders, often hanging upside down. A garden with four or five at a bird table at any one time may be feeding 20 or more blue tits. They breed readily in garden nest boxes, although they will also nest in unusual places such as in letter boxes and pipes.
What they eat
Blue tits eat insects, spiders, fruit, grain and seeds.
They will eat kitchen scraps (fat, fruit, meat) from bird tables
They are a very frequent visitor to garden bird feeders and will eat seed mixes, suet products and peanuts from hanging feeders.
|
|
|
|