The blue tit is the most common European tit. It is also the only blue species in Western Europe. It is smaller and rounder than the great tit, and it has a shorter beak. In reality, the bird's only blue parts are the crown, the wings and the tail, the other parts of the upper body being mostly greenish. The bottom of the body is yellow, with a black stripe separating the belly from the chest. The cheeks are white, circled by a thin dark blue line that runs across the eyes. Both young and female blue tits are slightly duller than males.
The blue tit can be found either in the countryside or in the city. Its life expectancy is longer in the city, but it doesn't breed as many babies there, since caterpillars are rarer. Blue tits are numerous in leafy and mixed woods, as well as gardens and parks. The highest densities can be found in oak woods. They avoid resinous trees. Blue tits are sedentary birds.
There it is, in the plum tree, so lively, so nimble, so wild... Just like a bubble, it is light and elusive. Beware! Do not mistake it for the great tit. Even if the distinctive colors represent the main difference between the blue tit and the great tit, the blue tit is also more stirring and energetic. The blue tit is also the very best when it comes to jumping from one branch to the other. The whole process sometimes compares to a flying trapeze show, whether for the perilous postures or the precarious balance involved. If needed, the blue tit is not afraid of climbing up to the very edge of the thinnest branches. Good job, little artist! But wait... The blue tit has many other skills, some of them truly unexpected and unbelievable. For example, it is known for being able to open milk bottles, which proofs its amazing ingenuity. For the blue tit, the easier is the better, and the bird proves to be particularly opportunist and smart. For example, it will prefer the coziness of a man made bird house over the precarious shelter of a tree trunk - it is a cave-dwelling bird. It will also favor fat balls prepared to its attention over tiny bugs or other natural foods. Blue tits are typically grateful. They render all sorts of valuable services to their natural environment, and their breathtaking shows make them particularly attractive to bird lovers. The song of the blue tit is varied and distinctive; however, it kind of lacks of musical interest. Silent during the winter, the blue tit resumes singing as soon as spring starts to set in.
Some birds have already paired and have started looking for a place to settle. The male typically shows several locations to his mate, the latter making the final choice. Whether she picks a birdhouse or a natural cavity, the female performs her own real estate appraisal. However, it's still a little early to start building the nest.
Now comes April, time to build the nest. The female, alone, gathers pieces of moss to build up the foundations of the nest. First, she piles the moss in the bottom of the nesting place, under the male's supervision. Then, she shapes the inside part of the nest by fidgeting and flattening the moss with her crop. At this stage of the process, the male is not welcome if he tries to approach and have a peak at the construction. The nest is made of moss, dry grass and roots. The edges are covered with animal hair and wisps of wool in order to protect and heat the eggs. Medicine herbs are also used to repel parasites. Building the nest takes between 3 and 10 days. To boost her fertility, the female needs a protein rich diet. Ideal foods are willow capsules' nectar as well as insects.
The female flaps her wings to signal that she is ready to mate. She also uses that signal to beg for food. The blue tit is the bird that lays the biggest number of eggs at one time, the eggs often weighing more than the female herself. While producing the eggs, the female needs to eat 40% more than usual. She can find the extra food by herself; however, she often relies on her mate to bring it to her. The male also helps her a lot by providing her with tiny snails. Although blue tits are common, this is the kind of scene that one seldom has a chance to observe. In order to be able to build the shells of the dozen eggs she's about to lay, the female tit needs as much calcium as there is in her entire skeleton. That's why she needs the snail shells, which she transforms into egg shells.
It is sunset, on a bright April day, but the female does not leave her nest due to the upcoming laying of the eggs. The male keeps working hard. He needs to stay in good shape to be able to protect his territory and feed his mate at the same time. He only brings her one caterpillar at a time, but he visits the female so often that she actually receives more than twice as much as she would typically pick.
The first egg is on the way. There it is! It's tiny, but what an achievement for a bird weighing barely as much as a one Euro coin (i.e. 10 to 12 gr.). The eggs are white with reddish dots that often form a crown around the rounder pole. From now on, the female will lay one extra egg every morning. There will be nine eggs altogether. Everything went well during the incubation period, which typically lasts 13 to 14 days.
Now, the female must be on her guard, especially because of cats.
May 21In the meantime, lots of emotion in the bird house: the babies are born! All nine of them are pink and totally naked. Their head is a little hairy, and it is so big they look like they cannot hold it. Instead of eyes, they sport two huge blue bumps. And they already have a beak! A big yellowish beak, which they open wide each time their parents approach. In order to produce the nine egg shells, the female had to use calcium from her own skeleton. She is now recovering, by eating the empty shells. The babies stretch and open their beak: they wish they could all eat at the same time! One of the parents leaves, then comes back holding a green caterpillar. The parent leaves again shortly after, and comes back 2 minutes later, this time with a butterfly. So many trips are needed to feed these starved babies! Each baby gets between thirty and seventy beakfuls a day. First, butterfly eggs, then spiders, caterpillars, small butterflies...It truly compares to an aerial bridge between the nest and the neighboring branches. As soon as the babies no longer need to be heated, the mother also gets out of the nest to collect food. After the feedings, the male observes the babies from the edge of the nest. He shakes his head and looks all around. If he doesn't spot anything, he goes back looking for food. |   |
Baby birds stand bottoms up to defecate. Their stool forms a small white ball that looks like a plastic bag (therefore called the fecal bag). The male grabs it with his beak and brings it as far as possible from the nest to avoid attracting predators. Sometimes, the male stands by his mate and sounds like he's talking to her. Tits have their own language, made of calls, songs as well as body language. |   |
One baby tit has died. Thank God, the eight others are in perfect health. Dead young birds are immediately taken away from the nest by the parents.
It's cold and rainy today. The mother hatches her babies to heat them, spreading her wings all over them. Babies move under the female's wings. One can spot a long pink neck and a big yellow wide open beak.
Some news! The babies open their eyes! Instead of fidgeting to ask for food, they now turn towards their mother. The foods still comes their way. Upon leaving the nest, they will have eaten around ten thousand caterpillars...
June 2 - Day 12A bad surprise welcomes us when we open the bird house: three baby tits have died, while the remaining five look much chubbier than before. Parents make the biggest breeding effort around this period of time. As soon as an adult appears in the nest with a prey, the hungriest of the youngsters hold their neck and open their beak to receive the food - typically caterpillars. |   |
Only five babies are left in the nest. One of the parents has died a couple of days ago and the surviving one could not feed the whole brood by itself.
The male has been feeding his youngsters for sixteen days already. They are ready to leave the nest. The male hops from one branch to the other, from the plum tree to the birch, and from the birch back to the plum tree...He looks very antsy. He's probably trying to teach his babies to leave the nest, but none of them dares to takeoff first.
  | June 8 - Day 18The babies are still in the bird house, possibly bothered by the rain. The adult is still feeding them; otherwise, they would die of starvation. They now look just like their parents. The youngsters stay close one from the other. |
The weather is nice. Inside the bird house, lots of action! The two last babies are practicing their flight! The strongest gets to the edge of the nest and takes off. They are very clumsy at first, and they need to remain silent and hide in the leaves in order to avoid attracting predators. For another week or two, the young birds will remain in the nest and get fed by the adults. Their flying skills will improve every day, then, they will start paying attention to preys. Some time soon, they will fly so well and capture so many preys that the parents won't need to feed them anymore. At that time, the family will be able to split, and the real adventure will begin for each one of the youngsters. At around six to eight weeks of age, they will sport the same distinctive coat as the adults.
In average, one offspring out of every adult couple survives every year. Out of a brood of nine like ours, only one would need to survive in order to replace one of its parents.
The blue tit regularly visits the feeders. This bird is mostly insectivore, although it also eats seeds, especially during the winter.
The winter season takes a huge toll on sparrows. Lots of young birds born during the warm season do not live long enough to see the next spring. A large number of blue tits die every year during the cold season, despite feeders and fat balls installed to their attention. Some people believe this is the consequence of an unfair and cruel law, while others think it results from a natural selection process, which is necessary to the survival of the species. Let's at least accept this sad reality, for one cannot really influence it.
In an environment that is becoming less and less welcoming for the blue tit's reproduction, one of the best ways to partially counter the devastating effects of the winter consists of building artificial bird houses. This is a very little investment, for only a couple of boards will do the job!
Life is not easy, even amongst birds, and constant fighting is the rule. Here, a female kestrel carries a sparrow that will feed her two babies, although it's less filling than the usual field mouse.
Tits also need to be careful of other predators. The Eurasian Sparrowhawk, for instance, is also fearsome, and its view triggers a series of distinctive high pitched calls amongst tits.
Beware of the common magpie too, for it will eat both eggs and young birds.
Amongst nocturnal rapacious, the tawny owl regularly catches tits!
Squirrels, weasels, martens, ermines as well as some reptiles also hunt blue tits.
In such conditions, it is not surprising to learn that the average life expectancy of tits is very short. Studies have shown that 87% of tits do not reach the one year milestone, and that 49% of the survivors will die each year afterwards.
Data gathered by ringers in more than 50 ringing stations as well as bird counters in more than 1,500 listening places makes possible a reliable statistic analysis of a great number of species. Based on data gathered between 1989 and 2001, some species of tits seem to be in a critical situation. During the 12 years covered by the study, most tit species have experienced a significant decrease in number: 59% for the marsh tit, 47% for the willow tit, 38% for the coal tit, 28% for the long-tailed tit, and 27% for the crested tit. In fact, only blue and great tits were spared from this downward trend. Their number even increased between 2001 and 2002.
Reminder: the blue tit is a protected species.
