Great tit
Description
With a body length of 13-15 cm, the great tit belongs to the larger tit species and is the largest tit in Europe. The wing length of males is between 71 and 82 mm, of females between 69 and 81 mm. The tail length of the male is 59-66, that of the female 55-63 mm. The weight is between 14 and 22 g. The 11.5-13.5 mm long beak is relatively strong and blackish horn-coloured with slightly lighter edges. The iris is vivid reddish brown to blackish brown. The legs and feet are blue-grey to slate-grey.The sexes are very similar, but can be distinguished partly by the expression of the black breast band.
adult birds
In adult males, the top of the head, upper nape, sides of the neck, throat and a band on the middle of the breast are glossy blue-black. Cheeks and ear coverts are pure white, neatly edged by the black areas. The sides of the chest and belly are sulphur to lemon yellow. The black band in the middle widens to a deep black patch between the legs. A whitish band on the nape of the neck separates the black of the back of the head from the back and fades into a greenish yellow towards the back. Dorsal and shoulder feathers are otherwise olive green with a greyish tinge. Lower back, rump and uppertail coverts are blue-grey with a greenish tinge on the rump. Longer uppertail coverts and tail feathers are dark blue-grey. The middle pair of tail feathers bears a dark shaft line, the others black inner vanes, the penultimate also a white tip and the outer one a white outer vane, the whiteness of which extends to the middle of the inner vane. The outer sides of the tail therefore appear white. The upper wing coverts are grey-blue, with the lesser and middle coverts showing slightly duller coloured centres, the inner plumes of the greater coverts and the primary coverts showing obscured black-grey centres. The large greater coverts also show white tips forming a white wing band. The primaries, secondaries and the tertials are predominantly black-grey. The tertials are also broad and fringed with light greenish yellow with a white lace fringe. The wings, with the exception of the two outer primaries, are narrowly grey-blue fringed and white-tipped, with only faint tips on the primaries.
The female strongly resembles the male, but is duller and darker on top. The head plate is less shiny bluish and the throat patch is duller. The black band framing the cheeks on the sides of the neck is narrower and sometimes interrupted. The vertical chest band is narrower and duller in colour. It often appears messier at the edges and may be interspersed with white towards the belly. The dark belly patch is smaller and there is often more white on the undertail coverts. The grey-blue fringes of the arm wings are less conspicuous.
juvenile plumage
The juvenile plumage resembles the adult plumage, but is much less colourful. The sides of the head, the light band on the nape and the wing band are tinted yellowish or dirty white. The head plate and the sides of the neck are dark olive-brown to dark grey and without gloss. The dark grey breast band runs out on the rear breast. The wing and tail feathers are rather dark brown instead of blackish. The fringes of the upper wings and the uppertail coverts are dull olive-green instead of grey-blue. The undertail coverts are whitish. The beak, unlike adult birds, is more horn-coloured with yellow edges and beak angles, the iris is greyer.
The sexes are not easily distinguished in juvenile plumage, but the differences present in adult plumage are already apparent. For example, the dark band on the sides of the head below the cheek patch is absent in the female, and the band on the middle of the breast is very faint or absent. The wing and tails feathers appear duller or more brownish than in the male. The best distinguishing feature, however, is the fringes of the primary coverts, which are already bluish and distinct in the male, but diffuse brownish, greenish or pale grey in the female.
Habitat
The great tit breeds primarily in deciduous and mixed forests where the tree population is 60 or more years old enough to guarantee a sufficient supply of nest holes, whereby it nests remarkably more often in rotten tree stumps than in woodpecker holes. In younger forest stands it occurs only sporadically, in closed forest areas it colonises only the marginal areas, valley locations are preferred to mountain forests. The preferred forest composition can vary regionally; in western Central Europe the highest population densities are found in oak forests, whereas further east they are found in mixed coniferous forests. Relatively low stand densities are achieved in pure beech forests; pine and spruce forests are generally only very sparsely populated.
However, due to its great adaptability, the great tit can also be found in numerous other habitats with old trees or artificial nest holes. In addition to copses, groves, hedgerows with interspersed trees, parks, cemeteries, olive groves and orchards, it also inhabits gardens or green spaces with individual trees in the middle of towns. At higher altitudes, in cleared cultivated landscapes or arid areas, it is particularly tied to human settlements.
Outside the breeding season, the great tit occurs in all conceivable habitats and has also been found, for example, in treeless steppe areas.
The text is a translation of an excerpt from Wikipedia (https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kohlmeise). On wikipedia the text is available under a „Creative Commons Attribution/Share Alike“ licence. Status: 11 November 2021
