Winter Bird Feeder Camera – Great tit

Image from webcam captured by Hagnat, LK forum
Translation Liis
Great tits
 
As usual we will introduce the birds that we can see in camera view and they are not few.
 
Great tit      Rasvatihane        Parus major
 
As the first visitor in the morning dusk some older male great tit arrives. He has probably spent the night somewhere close to the birdfeeder. Sometimes he cannot even be seen, only heard.
 
For winter the great tits gather near human settlements  and there are reasons enough for this. For spending the night  some fireplace crevice, balcony corner, chimney, or woodpile in houses with a fireplace or a nestbox meant for summer breeding can be useful: places providing shelter and close to the food too; in addition it is a couple of degrees warmer in cities than in the forest.
 
Great tits have not the habit or instinct to collect winter stores for themselves, but they are extremely skilled in finding seeds hidden by other passerines or other tits into tree bark crevices.
 
Great tits are bigger than all the other tits: length up to 15 centimetres, weight around some twenty grams. An estimated 0,6 to 1,2 million birds spend the winter in Estonia;  when the winter bird census ends we can tell the number more precisely.
 
Next to the black head plumage the shining white cheeks and the black band on the yellow breast catch notice. The tail as well as wings are bluish-grey; the wings have a clear white band. The back plumage is greenish yellow, nape patch yellow. Eyes are dark brown, beak black and legs bluish grey.  A quite colourful creature, isn’t it?
 
Photos Arne Ader
Male great tit
 
Great tit
 
 Is it possible to tell the difference between the quite similar-looking sexes of great tits? It is, but the characteristics below are not unconditional rules.
 
The adult male birds are characterized by a broader black “tie” on the breast that widens a little on the belly. The black head plumage also seems glossier and their behaviour at the feeder more dominating.
 
The underbelly band of females and this summer’s juveniles is quite a bit narrower sometimes leaving an uneven impression.
 
In camera view we see about 30 individuals in action during a day. Sunflower seeds are snatched and the fat ball visited in order of importance and the branches of nearby trees and shrubs are also occupied by the stronger individuals.
 
Whwn the bellis are full the tit group moves away from the feeder to investigate what is happening at Otepää or what kind of food is offered in other feeders nearby. They always move around in groups, which quite often other passerines too join. Note this – the birds keep a “sensible distance” to each other, with somebody pressing too close a quarrel might ensue.
 
In the next few months there will be changes in the behaviour of the great tits and we will try to keep an eye on their doings. Already in January when the weather turns warmerwe will hear their calls. 
 
The events of the day are reflected in the LK forum, from the start of the camera: LINK
 
 
 


 

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