All about Birds
Blue Tit Bird Information – The Only Guide You’ll Ever Need
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One of the most easily recognized species across gardens in the United Kingdom is the Eurasian Blue Tit. This is not only because they are densely populated, but they have bright, beautiful plumage that makes them easy to see.
Below you’ll find the size and identifying features of the Blue Tit as well as information about its habitat, diet, and population.
After that, there are some wildly cool facts as well as a list of other common British garden birds.
Grab a cup of tea and get ready to learn everything you’ll ever need to know about blue tit birds in this guide.
Eurasian Blue Tit (Cyanistes caeruleus)
Blue Tits are known by the scientific name, cyanistes caeruleus. It also is recognized by the names blue tit cyanistes and blue tit cyanistes caeruleus.
The Latin name for this tits bird is Parus Caeruleus, and its nickname is the tit blue bird.
These birds are not to be confused with the great tit, which is a slightly different garden bird.
Size and Features
This small garden bird measures just 12 cm in length and has an approximate wingspan of 18 cm. The average blue tit weighs around just 11 g.
Other identifying features, such as the wing color, patterning, and leg color, differ depending on the age of the tit, sex of the tit, and current season.
Adult blue tit males and females look similar to each other in terms of color but differ slightly to their juvenile young. The adults have bright blue, yellow, and white feathers, while the young’s blue feathers are duller and darker.
Males are said to have a brighter crown than females, but the difference is usually unnoticeable unless viewed under ultraviolet light.
In addition to the young having duller and darker blue feathers, they actually have brighter yellow bellies than the adults.
As far as patterning goes, all of the blue tits, regardless of sex or age, have a blue cap as well as dark grey or black stripes over its eyes, and white cheek feathers.
As the seasons change and the male blue tits birds molt, the blue feather cap loses its UV brightness.
This is believed to be, in part, due to the bird’s ability to reproduce with high genetic quality. Thankfully, the change in seasons has very little impact on the blue tits habitat and diet.
Habitat and Diet
The blue tit can be seen across almost all of the United Kingdom, the only exception being a few of the Scottish islands.
The blue tit can often be found in gardens, but they are also found in parks, farms, wetlands, and woodland areas.
These birds, while little, have a big appetite because they are so active. For food, tits will feast on small insects and bugs.
In the springtime, blue tits will forage in gardens and feed on the fruit of fruit trees. While blue tits enjoy munching on fruit, it can be damaging to the plant, so many gardeners set up little bird feeders.
Many gardeners will also provide blue tits with the next boxes for homes. Nest boxes are beneficial to the birds and plants in the garden. Plants are protected from harmful insects because they are food for the blue tits.
If nest boxes weren’t provided and a safe nesting area was not available near a garden. This would cause the blue tits to stay in areas where better nesting habitat is available and abandon their ever favorite gardens.
Gardens benefit greatly for the groups of birds that colonize them.
Population
The amount of animals that are on the United Kingdom’s endangered and extinct lists continues to grow.
Thankfully, the blue tit is one bird that is not on either list. In fact, the population continues to thrive even though there is a high mortality rate of young blue tits.
It is important to note, however, that the population of the tit blue has been in decline over recent years. The good news is that in the last fifty years the population has remained stable overall.
This is important to know because it can take one extremely cold winter or excessively hot summer to have negative effects on a bird population.
Ten Facts About The Blue Tit
There are so many interesting facts about the tit blue bird that it is hard to narrow them down. Here are ten of our favorite facts about these birds:
- Even though these birds are recognized as Eurasian, they can be found as far south as Africa.
- Tits in Europe typically stay in one place, versus migrating like many other birds.
- The biggest predator of this species is the common house cat.
- This bird is the only European tit that features blue feathers.
- Thanks to nest boxes, almost 98% of tits stay in the same gardens in the winter as they do in the spring and summer
- Blue feathers on the males’ heads light up under UV light. Its believed that other males and females of the same species could see with a UV lens, which helps them choose a mate.
- For food, the tit eats mostly insects and bugs, including spiders and caterpillars. They’ll also eat fruit, seeds, and nuts from gardens.
The food that they eat depends on the season – more nuts and seeds in the winter, more insects and fruit in the spring and summer.
- The number of eggs laid depends on the habitat. More eggs are laid in the woodlands and wetlands versus in towns, cities, and gardens.
- These birds of blue feathers flock together. There can be as many as 20 family members that live and eat together.
- The typical age range is three years, but the longest recorded life is over ten years.
Other Common British Garden Birds
There are many other species that are commonly found in gardens across the United Kingdom. Seven of the most recognizable ones include:
- Great Tit
- House Sparrow
- Goldfinch
- Starling
- Robin
- Wood-pigeon
- Chaffinch
