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Azure Tit
Cyanistes cyanus
Identify the Azure Tit by sound or photo and log your sightings with Birdpass.
The Azure Tit is a small, pale blue-and-white tit, a close relative of the Blue Tit and the only tit with a white cap. It is a mostly resident bird of riverside willow and birch woods, scrub and marshes from eastern Europe across southern Siberia and Central Asia to Manchuria. Northern birds sometimes wander west in winter.
Did you know?
- It is the only tit with a white cap.
- Hybrids with the Blue Tit, known as Pleske's Tit, were once thought to be a separate species.
About the species
Identification
A small tit, like a “pale copy of a Blue Tit”: the head and all underparts are white, and the upperparts pale bluish. The wings show bold white markings, and the tail has broad white edges. Told from Blue Tit especially by its all-white head and belly (no yellow) and lack of a dark eye-stripe.
Family
Paridae
Size
Small (sparrow)
Colours
white, blue, grey, black
About the habitat
Riverside deciduous woods of willow and birch, scrub, reedbeds with bushes and marshes.
Diet
Insects and other small invertebrates, including larvae and eggs, from spring to autumn; in winter mainly seeds and nuts.
Behaviour
Very active and largely resident, making short movements and often joining mixed-species flocks. It nests in tree holes lined with moss, leaves and fibres, laying about ten eggs; the female incubates for about two weeks, and both parents feed the young. A sitting female may hiss when disturbed. Calls include a sharp “dee-dee-dee” and a scolding churr.
Sources
Photo: https://www.flickr.com/photos/jargals004, CC BY 2.0 https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Azure Tit - Parus cyanus.jpg
Text: Wikipedia (English) + GBIF regional observations + Wikipedia (Finnish), CC BY-SA 4.0; GBIF occurrence data; Wikipedia: CC BY-SA 4.0 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Azure_tit
