adult

adult European distribution adults feeding

Identification

Long-tailed Tits are delightful birds to encounter, swinging through the trees in tight noisy groups. Their appearance, like a tiny, fluffy ball with a great long black and white tail is quite unmistakable.

Habitat

Breeds in dense vegetation on woodland edges, scrubby thickets and hedgerows. Occurs more widely in winter including woods and gardens.

Behaviour

The constant calls of Long-tailed Tits are to help the flock stay together. If one bird gets separated from the rest of the flock, the others will double-back to 'rescue' it. This means that if you can imitate their calls you can attract a flock to within a few feet of you and it also explains why ringers sometimes find that a mist-net full of Long-tailed Tits often contains birds which have entered from both directions. This apparent 'care' for the well-being of other members of the flock is almost certainly related to the fact that many flocks are in fact family parties of closely-related individuals.

Migration

Sedentary.

This information is taken from the BirdFile on the appropriate BirdGuides DVD-ROM. As well as video and sounds, our CD- and DVD-ROMs contain additional text on Voice, Sexing, Ageing, Food, Nests and Eggs and more.

For the purposes of our bird news services, Long-tailed Tit is classed as Common: common species, including species that are certain or probable escapees from captivity when occurring in the British Isles. (Note that rarity levels are currently applied nationally and may not reflect local variations in abundance.)

Heysham, Lancs 31/08/2010	Hardley Flood, Norfolk 29/08/2010	Courance, Dumf & Gall 28/08/2010	Courance, Dumf & Gall 28/08/2010	Bruton, Somerset 23/08/2010
Hitcham, Suffolk 27/08/2010	Clyst St. Mary, Devon 24/08/2010	Clyst St. Mary, Devon 24/08/2010	Lackford Lakes, Suffolk 21/08/2010	Lackford Lakes, Suffolk 21/08/2010

 View all pictures of Long-tailed Tit

Long-tailed Tit breeds in the following countries (Bird News Extra subscribers will see population statistics and information on trends for each country):

Albania
Andorra
Armenia
Austria
Azerbaijan
Belarus
Belgium
Bosnia and Herzegovina
Britain
Bulgaria
Croatia
Czech Republic
Denmark
Estonia
Finland
France
Georgia
Germany
Greece
Hungary
Ireland
Italy
Latvia
Lichtenstein
Lithuania
Luxembourg
Macedonia
Netherlands
Norway
Poland
Portugal
Romania
Russia
Serbia and Montenegro
Slovakia
Slovenia
Spain
Sweden
Switzerland
Turkey
Ukraine

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	BTO: Boom times for Long-tailed Tits	Tuesday 10th March 2009
	This great garden favourite had a bumper-breeding year in 2008.   read on

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