A year of my nature hunting: Day 48 - Lovely Long-Tailed Tits (Fluffy Lollipops!)

Friday 19 December 2014

Day 48 - Lovely Long-Tailed Tits (Fluffy Lollipops!)

Long-Tailed Tit (Aegithalos caudatus)

Today is the turn of mine and my mum`s absolute favourite bird - possibly the most adorable of all birds the little ball of fluff that is of course the Long Tailed Tit! Always guaranteed to get an awww! whenever we see one!

They have a call that it easily recognisable - a tssee tssee tssee or tssirup so you can often hear them before you see them. They tend to flock together in groups of between 10 and 20 and chatter to each other while they hop from branch to branch. They like woodland, farmland and parks and gardens.

Some facts:

There are 340,000 breeding pairs in the UK giving them a healthy Green Status
They can be seen all year round.
Long-Tailed Tits have a distinctive wavy flight pattern.
They have a pink, grey-white and black plumage .
Shaped like a fluffy ball with a disproportionately long tail hence Long-Tailed Tit.
One of our smallest birds. 13-15 cm with 7-9 cm of that being the tail!
The tiny little thing weighs less than a pound coin at just 9g.
To get through cold winter nights they huddle together in their roosts and can loose up to 10% of their body weight overnight keeping warm. See a picture of them roosting here on the BBC Radio 4 website.
Long-Tailed Tits have a small beak and find it hard to break into large seeds so instead of this they eat peanuts and suet, but they also like grated cheese and breadcrumbs (must try that!)
As well as this they eat insects and larvae and spiders.
Both the male and female build their nest together in a gorse, bramble bush or somewhere similar and it can take up to 3 weeks to build! They use webs, moss and lichen to make the nest and it's lined with up to 2000 feathers!
Long-Tailed Tits are cooperative breeders which means that they help each other out especially if inexperienced parents or nest builders are struggling. Parents and chicks that have helpers have a higher survival rate.
Winter is a difficult time for such small birds and if it's a very harsh one up to 80% of long tailed tits can perish. However the survivors seem to bounce back quite well and numbers aren't decreasing
In the winter they huddle together in flocks to try and keep warm, all facing inwards with their tails pointing out! (I'd just love to see that and get a photo!)
To help these gorgeous little birds leave out their favourite foods on the bird table and possibly leave roosting pouches or nest boxes in nearby trees to try and attract them.