Great Tit

Description:

The Great Tit (Parus major) is a passerine bird in the tit family Paridae. It is large for a tit at 12.5–14.0 cm (4.9–5.5 in) in length, and has a distinctive appearance that makes it easy to recognise. The plumage of the female is similar to that of the male except that the colours are overall duller; the bib is less intensely black, as is the line running down the belly, which is also narrower and sometimes broken. Young birds are like the female, except that they have dull olive-brown napes and necks, greyish rumps, and greyer tails, with less defined white tips. The colour of the male bird's breast has been shown to correlate with stronger sperm, and is one way that the male demonstrates his reproductive superiority to females. Higher levels of carotenoid increase the intensity of the yellow of the breast its colour, and also enable the sperm to better withstand the onslaught of free radicals. Carotenoids cannot be synthesized by the bird and have to be obtained from food, so a bright colour in a male demonstrates his ability to obtain good nutrition. The width of the male's ventral stripe, which varies with individual, is selected for by females, with higher quality females apparently selecting males with wider stripes. Until 2005 this species was lumped with numerous other subspecies. DNA studies have shown these other subspecies to be distinctive from the Great Tit and these have now been separated as two separate species, the Cinereous Tit of southern Asia, and the Japanese Tit of East Asia. The Great Tit remains the most widespread species in the genus Parus. A study published in 2005 confirmed that the major group was distinct from the cinereus and minor groups and that along with P.m. bokharensis it diverged from these two groups around 1.5 million years ago. The study recommended that the two eastern groups be split out as new species, the Cinereous Tit (Parus cinereus), and the Japanese Tit (Parus minor), but that the Turkestan Tit be lumped in with the Great Tit.

Habitat:

The Great Tit occupies a range of habitats. It is most commonly found in open deciduous woodland, mixed forests and forest edges. In dense forests, including conifer forests it is usually found in forest clearings. It is a widespread and common species throughout Europe, the Middle East, Central and Northern Asia, and parts of North Africa in any sort of woodland. It is generally resident, and most Great Tits do not migrate except in extremely harsh winters.

Notes:

The last 5 photos show this little bird holding a sunflower seed in its feet and hammering it with its beak to get to the seed inside.