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Coal Tit

Coal Tit

Periparus ater

Identify the Coal Tit by sound or photo and log your sightings with Birdpass.

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The Coal Tit is a tiny, energetic tit of coniferous woods found from Europe and North Africa across much of temperate Asia. It is recognised by its black head with white cheeks and a bright white nape patch, and two white wing bars. It stores seeds in countless hiding places to survive the winter. Northern populations sometimes irrupt in large numbers.

Did you know?

  • It caches seeds in thousands of hiding places to survive winter.
  • The Black-crested Tit of South Asia is now treated as part of this species.

Voice

Song
Call
Flight call

About the species

Identification

A small tit with a black head, a clear white nape patch, white cheeks, greyish upperparts, two white wing bars and buffish underparts. The white nape patch and small, slim build separate it from Willow Tit; Great and Blue Tits are much more colourful. Its song, a clear “pee-chu” series, resembles a Great Tit's but is higher and faster.

Family

Paridae

Size

Tiny (goldcrest)

Colours

grey, black, white, brown

About the habitat

Spruce and pine forests above all, but also mixed woodland, parks and gardens with conifers.

Diet

Mainly small insects and spiders gleaned from needles and bark; in autumn and winter conifer seeds and other seeds, and it readily visits feeders.

Behaviour

Active and acrobatic, it gleans tiny prey from needles and twigs, often hanging upside down. It often joins mixed-species flocks outside the breeding season and caches food for later. Its song is a fast, high “teechu-teechu”, and calls are thin, high notes. It nests in holes, often low down in stumps, banks or walls, and uses nest boxes.

Sources

Photo: Luiz Lapa from Oeiras, Portugal, CC BY 2.0 https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Chapim-carvoeiro, Coal Tit (50500214628).jpg

Sound: Alexander Kurthy, XC108345, CC BY-SA 4.0 https://xeno-canto.org/108345

Sound: wilmet sebastien, XC973306, CC0 1.0 https://xeno-canto.org/973306

Sound: Sonothèque ADVL, XC707389, CC0 1.0 https://xeno-canto.org/707389

Text: Wikipedia (English) + FinBIF species descriptions, CC BY-SA 4.0; FinBIF: CC BY 4.0 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coal_tit

See also