Things you need to know about GREAT TITS!
Channel: A Shot Of Wildlife
Date: 09/08/2021

The great tit is a common garden bird and a familiar sight in parks, woodlands and urban areas. In this video you will find details about what they eat, what they sound like, when and where they nest plus lots more interesting great tit facts. 

 Throughout the autumn and winter they live in small flocks, often with other small bird species but are easily recognised by their striking black caps and white cheek patches. They also have green shoulders with a bright yellow chest which has a dark line running down its centre. This line is the easiest way to sperate the sexes, in males it is thicker and runs all the way down the stomach whereas in females it is less pronounced and might fade out as it runs down the body. They have a wingspan of 25 cm and grow to a maximum weight of 22grams. Although great tits are found all across northern Europe, those in the UK have longer beaks than their continental cousins. Scientists believe that these rapidly evolved in order to reach the food inside garden bird feeders.
Great tits are one of the most common species to visit these garden feeders where they seem to enjoy peanuts, sunflower hearts and fat balls. During the spring and summer when invertebrates are in high supply, this is their food of choice, particularly spiders and other small insects which they pick from the undersides of leaves and from crevices amongst the bark. Where these insects are out of reach, great tits have been known to use pine needles to extract them. During the colder months, alongside the food that people provide, they will also eat fruits and berries. 
Great tits begin to claim nesting sites and territories from as early as January but usually nesting doesn’t begin until late march or April. They naturally nest in holes or cavities and quite often make use of man made nest boxes. The nest is a deep cup shaped structure of moss, twigs and grass, lined with feathers and down and once its completed the female will lay around twelve eggs that are cream in colour specked with brown. She will incubate these eggs alone for 13 days until they hatch at which point both parents take on the feeding duties. With so many mouths to feed they are constantly in and out of the nest carrying beakfulls of caterpillars and insects. With this high protein diet the chicks grow fast and can be ready to fledge the nest from as little as 16 days. After this the parents continue to feed them for another 2 weeks until they are fully independent. Each pair usually two batches of young in a season but in good years they may nest for a third time.
Great tits have an amazing repertoire of calls and have been known to mimic other species. The most common song they produce is a repetitive teecha teecha……. But I was once told if you hear a bird noise you don’t recognise, its most likely a great tit. The average life span for a great tit is around 3 years but the longest on record made it to a whopping 13 years and 11 months of age. 
#greattit #britishbirds #britishwildlife

Some of the footage used in this video was obtained using creative commons licences, the originals and their licence details can be found at:
Feeding up close HD https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N7DxVqBx57s
Various footage good https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R9O27RteTpQ
In tree multiple with caterpillar https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_l8iJBo9NPc
Nest cam footage inside showing feeding https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=no83dF8UZgg
Feeding on hanging peanut feeder https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=goc6KdEc1y0
Parents in and out of nest box from outside busy https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=51-V5btgwQI
On sunflower feeder close https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dlGYTFFZmcI
In trees in winter good https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QQ5MmWOB7ws
Eating peanut clear https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L8yzrRaLx7E
Chattering on branch close up https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ncLajdi-YOM
Shaky footage but good teacher teacher https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fonRe9TY5OQ
Eating seeds from bird table https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=INHz90-RnW4
Extremely clear footage of bird close up https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=42Qm7p4d2EY
Bird preening in tree https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Te4c7yGPhNw
Parents feeding young https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KpEs0jqLbVM
Searching crags for insects https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GUDH_fqB_-8
Front of nest box https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z0SAePz46w0
Bird on stump https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s31pKMN_9fQ
Building nest https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yTz6wyWdX4w

Some of the images used in this video were obtained using creative commons licences. The originals and their licence details can be found at:
"Great Tit Eggs" by Jon Glittenberg is licensed under CC BY 2.0
"Tit Hatchlings (~2 days old)" by Jon Glittenberg is licensed under CC BY 2.0
Thumbnail: https://www.flickr.com/photos/42244964@N03/22635288513/