Great Tit

The Great tit is the largest bird in the tit family with very distinctive plumage. Their white cheeks stand out against their black crown and throat. Their backs are a yellowish green and their feathers a blue-grey. Their yellow bellies dashed by a black stripe down the middle. It is easy to spot and identify these once you have seen them once or twice.

It is common in bird species for the male to have a more elaborate plumage than the female as it is a display of good fitness and therefore a good mating partner. However in great tits, as with some other bird species, the plumage between sexes does not differ too drastically. Identifying sexes is still quite easy, as in males the black belly stripe extends passed the cloaca whereas in females it falls short about halfway down the belly. Determining age is a little more difficult as it relies on the judgement of shades of colour on the wing. Different species of bird molt feathers at different ages and a different number of times. The great tit molts from a dull grey to a pale blue on its wings. A bird found with predominantly grey-ish feathers is therefore a young bird, and a bird with predominantly blue-ish feathers is an older bird.

Great tits eat an array of things from insects to seeds to berries and occupies more northern ranges; as far north as southern Scandinavia, as far south as Algeria, as far east as Siberia and as far west as Morocco. They are known to be monogamous and to hold territories which they protect through the breeding season.

Regards,

Elleni - East African Student Ambassador