Black-headed tits

In older bird books its Estonian name has been „sootihane”, “marsh tit”; the newer name is “salutihane”, “copse tit”. It is confusingly similar to the willow tit.

 

The marsh tit’s head is glossy, that of the willow tit a dull black. The spot under the chin is smaller for the marsh tit, but that characteristic is very relative. The lengthwise light  band on the wings is lacking, the wings are uniformly brown. The lower half of the marsh tit’s beak has a small pale patch, the beak of the willow tit is all dark.

 

Both visit the bird feeder. A viewer must be very observant, or an experienced bird watcher.

 

The winter population of marsh tits is estimated at one to two hundred thousand individuals. But the bird feeder is only visited by one or two birds – why? The marsh tits are very stationary and probably the winter visitors even in summer live somewhere in the neighbourhood. Towards people they are very trusting. In the feeding queue they wait patiently and appear only when the more active birds have gone.

 

The willow tit population is estimated to be even larger, somewhere around half a million. They too wait for their turn at the feeder and keep to themselves. But they are happy to join groups of other tits who are looking for food in nature; the marsh tit usually does not behave like that.