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Find from Laguja a few days ago

 

 

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The coal tit is just a trifle larger than a goldcrest, thus our smallest tit. Its modest way of life makes the coal tit little noticeable. In winter it often operates together with willow tit or crested tit flocks. Sociable creatures who usually are not encountered on their own, but on rare occasions we can notice the shy bird snatching some seeds at a birdfeeder.

 

The little bird has a black crown and chin patch, the back plumage dark blue-grey. The white nape patch characteristic for the species shows in Arne’s photo. Adults have similar plumages and their bellies are pastel coloured – the young birds  greyish yellow or just a little like a great tit. On the dark wings we can see a white cross bar, the dark tail is shorter than that of other tits. The little beak is black, legs blue-grey. The length of coal tits is a little over 10 centimetres and weight up to 10 grams.

As insect eaters they are appreciable forest pest destroyers. Coal tits collect food stores for winter, hiding the seeds or invertebrates in bark crevices or twigs joints, always so that snow or ice will not cover the hiding place.

 

For winter food they use seeds of conifers, moving in spruce forests or mixed spruce forests, but this year’s cone harvest is again poor. The abundance is estimated to stay below fifty thousand.

 

See coal tit observations: LINK