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Blue-tits

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Information about the blue-tit (parus caeruleus)

Blue tits are charming little birds that add an exotic splash of colour to British gardens. They are easy to attract to both urban and rural gardens with hanging food nets or suet balls and will nest in artificial boxes as readily as they will in their natural habitat.

Description

Blue-tits have an overall length of around 120mm, a wingspan of around 120-140mm and a weight of around 10-12g.

The wings, tail and crown of the head are blue in colour, the face is white with black markings, the back is olive-green and the breast is yellow with a dark centre line.

You can download an audio file of the blue-tit's call here. Please note that this link is to an external site which I have no control over.

Habitat and distribution

Blue-tits inhabit deciduous and coniferous woodlands, hedgerows, parks and gardens all over Europe and northern Asia and Africa.

Diet

Blue-tits eat small insects, spiders, caterpillars, nuts, seeds, fruit and animal fats.

They can be attracted to your garden with a variety of foods, I use peanuts, sunflower seeds, suet balls and bacon rind.

This picture shows a blue-tit taking a sunflower seed kernel from a mesh feeder.

Nesting

Blue-tits build a nest of moss and grass lined with softer material such as feathers and animal fur. They normally nest in holes in trees but will take to wooden nest boxes in urban areas.

It is believed that they have the ability to adjust the size of their clutch of eggs to match the abundance of caterpillars, which the young feed on. The usual clutch is between 5 and 11 eggs. Only one clutch is produced around April/May and the eggs take around two weeks to incubate, with the chicks fledging in a further three weeks. The female incubates the eggs and the male brings food to sustain her.

Like other tits, there is evidence to suggest that the size of the clutch of eggs will mirror the abundance of available food.

Attract birds to your garden

Food and feeders from ebay

The items below have been selected by me personally from ebay. I have selected Buy It Now items listed with FREE postage so the price you see should be the price you pay.