page_title: Paridae
section_title: Diet and feeding
hierarchical_section_title: Paridae / Behaviour / Diet and feeding
caption_attribution_description: Marsh Tit, Poecile palustris hammer holding
context_page_description: The Paridae is a family of tiny birds, the tits. They are passerine songbirds which are native to the northern hemisphere and Africa. Most of them used to be classified in the genus Parus, which has now been split up.
  These birds are mainly small stocky woodland species with short stout bills. Some have crests. They range in length from 10 to 22 centimetres. They are adaptable birds, with a mixed diet including seeds and insects.
  Many species will live around human habitation and come readily to bird feeders for nuts or seed, and learn to take other foods. In Britain, great tits and blue tits learned to break through the foil caps sealing bottles of milk on doorsteps, to get at the cream on top. Of course, the change in milk packaging has robbed them of this delicacy.
  These are hole-nesting birds, typically using trees, although some species build nests on the ground. They lay anything from three to nineteen speckled white eggs, depending on species.
context_section_description: The tits are insectivorous, and eat a wide range of small insects and other invertebrates, particularly small leaf-eating caterpillars. They also eat seeds and nuts, especially in winter. A typical activity is hanging, where they inspect a branch or twig and leaves from all angles while hanging upside down to feed. 
  In areas with several species of tit, the different species will forage (search) in different parts of a tree. Larger species search on the ground, medium sized species search on larger branches, and the smallest species on the ends of branches. If they get larger prey or seeds, tits will do 'hold-hammering'. They hold the item with one foot, and hammer it with their bill (beak) until it is open. In this way they can open hazelnuts in 20 minutes. 
  Many birds store food in a cache or hiding place. They hoard supplies of food for the winter. These caches are usually of seeds but may be of insects.
caption: Hammer-holding is a common way for the family to deal with food items
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