"Snowbird" or long-tailed tit
Photo: Arne Ader
Translation: Liis
Long-tailed tit
| Long-tailed tit | Sabatihane |
With the garden bird survey this weekend let us see how the long-tailed tits occupy themselves in winter. They belong to the long-tailed tit family, all other tits to the tit family.
The stars of today’s story rove around in small flocks usually made up of this summer’s family, or several families. The sexes are quite similar. Juvenile birds have dark brown cheeks, nape and back, and the pink colouring is lacking in the plumage; the underparts are faintly yellowish.
The head, neck and breast of adult birds are white. The sides and belly have a pink glow, the very long tail feathers are black, with white edges. Expressive black eyes shine in the white head; the beak is tiny. The long-tailed tits are not particularly specialised on vegetarian food; sometimes they happen to visit a bird feeder and it is rather the piece of lard there that catches their interest.
They are friendly with other birds and not shy with humans.
They can be seen in mixed and deciduous forests and thickets, but seldom stay in one place long enough to be observed at leisure. In good years up to a hundred thousand individuals may winter in Estonia.
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