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There are few passerines whose head is crowned by a warrior-like crest. The waxwing, the crested tit – and that is the whole list for Europe.

 

A crested tit can spend its whole life in one small stand of conifers. It is quite difficult to observe because of its quick movements.

If a bird feeder has been set up near the crested tit’s territory it may visit it, grab a seed – and be gone. For food it prefers insects, invertebrates and conifer seeds. In contrast to other tits it may occasionally also be seen busy on the ground: collecting winter stores, then hiding them in bark crevices (it does so with sunflower seeds picked from the bird feeder too). Its small home forest is as familiar to the bird as if it were its own “pocket“.

 

The black-and-white patterned crest has already been mentioned. Under the dark beak it has a large black throat patch. The back is brownish grey, the whitish underparts have a cream-coloured hue.

It is rare on the islands, quite common elsewhere. Their winter number is estimated at around a couple of hundred thousand individuals.