A worldwide community photographing and learning about wildlife
Project Noah Nature School
Aegithalos caudatus europaeus
The tiny long-tailed tit (13–15 cm in length, including its 7–9 cm tail) is the only representative of the family Aegithalidae in northern Eurasia. Due to their small size these birds are vulnerable to extreme cold weather, with high population losses seen with prolonged cold. Populations seem to rapidly return to previous levels due to high breeding rates. Spotted here on a snowy day looking for food close to houses.
Remnant forest patch, rural.
The long-tailed tit exhibits complex global variation with 19 recognized local races. The subspecies europaeus seen here shows two black bands on the head and is found in southern and western Europe, north-east China, and Japan.
Spotted on Jan 20, 2015
Submitted on Feb 5, 2015
17 Comments
Congrats Daniele, your gorgeous Long-tailed Tit has made the top 10 bird spottings in the '2015 Best Wildlife Photo' mission! Rangers are voting on the top 10 bird spottings, and the top 3 will be announced on February 1st. The top 3 spottings will be commented on here on the site, but make sure you keep a look out on our Facebook app page for the announcement as well! Congratulations on making the top 10! https://www.facebook.com/projectnoah
Lovely series Daniele. Just a beautiful little bird. Thank you for sharing :)
kd, apparently a high breeding rate allows populations to recover quickly from the devastating impact of cold waves. At this stage they're not considered threatened and seem to be receding only at the edge of their distribution range.
They do look to be a very delicate creature. That's an incredibly high death rate. Do you know how the overall population is with that sort of impact?
Thanks kd! After a week of extreme cold I'm glad I've spotted a few again. Their small size makes them vulnerable to extreme cold, with population losses apparently up to 80% recorded in times of prolonged cold.
Beautiful series, an unusual but cute little face isn't it.
Thanks António and James. It's been well below freezing here for a few days and these little guys and all the other local tits species don't show up anymore.
Incredible images Daniele
Super spotting Danièle,so cute,congrats and thanks for sharing
Thanks J! The orange eye-rings are one of the many nice touches in these little guys.
How beautiful! I love the yellow just above the eye. :)
Thank you Caleb!
terrific series, daniele!
Thank you ZooNerd, Marta and Viv! They are little delights to watch. Last year we were visited by the Northern subspecies caudatus, which is much more rarely seen at our latitude. Their head in entirely white. Spotting here: http://www.projectnoah.org/spottings/176...
Beautiful series Daniele. Mum gets a visit from the Longtail Tits in her garden in Devon, England. Such a pretty little bird. Yours look all fluffed up to keep warm :)
Very pretty winter spotting, Daniele!
What a cute little fellow. He looks like he is enjoying himself. Nice Picture. I love birds. keep it up.