Friday 16 August 2024

Coal Tit

(Found this post in drafts - it got missed being published back in May and disappeared down the list).

Filling up the birdfeeders one day and there was a mass of twittering from the flowering cherry tree above me . It was a whole family of Coal Tits. I went in to fetch the camera and back out again but they weren't impressed and all flew off across the garden behind.

Later from indoors I tried again but they just don't sit still long enough. The parent bird doing the feeding looked a bit rough! I expect the babies were keeping it busy.


A lovely illustration from my book  An Illustrated Country Year by  Celia Lewis shows the difference between all the small members of the Tit family. I've seen 4 out of the five here. We used to see all five at the smallholding


Back Soon
Sue

23 comments:

  1. How lovely, we get those very occasionally but have hoards (flocks? 😀) of the more common blue tit.
    Alison in Wales x

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    1. I only get a few - sadly - too enclosed garden I think

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  2. I'm so pleased that there are people who continue to feed the birds. I do feel, though, they could sit still long enough and pose for a few good photos in return!

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    1. Had to stop feeding for the summer - the starlings plus all their relatives cleared everything out!

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  3. I love the long-tailed tits. They also troop together and would fly through the gardens with their soft twittering every lunchtime.

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    1. II'd love them to visit more often - very welcome

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  4. Lovely illustration of the differences. Must admit the coat tits are probably my favourite tits, I like their less showy plumage.

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    1. The poor thing feeding babies looked very tatty

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  5. It's the unfortunate Coal Tit's fate to be bottom of the pecking order when it comes to garden birds. They are bullied by every other bird, even those innocent-looking little Blue Tits. As a result they fly on to the feeder whenever it happens to be vacant, grab a quick beak-full, and then scarper. I wonder if the amount of energy they expend is worth the tiny amount of sustenance they get each time.

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  6. I love titmice, but I've never seen a marsh tit or a willow tit. The blue tits are very busy in my garden at the moment.

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    1. I've stopped feeding for now due to the starlings but will start again soon

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  7. That's a beautiful illustration of all the 'tits'. I have rarely seen any since we moved here, maybe the sheer number of hedge sparrows we have in the hedges along the canal mean that the tits don't get a look in here.

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    1. Not a single sparrow have I seen since moving here

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  8. That is a lovely illustration! The garden in my old house had blue tits and great tits. My new garden has crows, magpies and pigeons!! :-) xxx

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  9. In 2020-2021 I spent an hour a day walking in a local wildlife preserve along the river, and learned to hear, and see the birds, it was a great experience in a trying time.

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  10. Your bird feeder attracts a wide variety of birds. Seeing 4 out of 5 varieties is pretty good. Which tit are you not seeing? Lately I see red cardinals and crows and an occasional red tailed hawk.

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    1. The garden is too enclosed for the willow tit and Marsh tits to visit

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  11. Thanks for sharing the illustration of the different kinds of tits. I haven’t seen any of the variety in our garden but nothing gets a look in between magpies and gulls! Catriona

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    1. Magpies were getting to be a real pain at Clay Cottage

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  12. Your coal tit looks a lot like our chickadee. Off to have a listen to their song.

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  13. As Debby says your coal tit looks a great deal like a chickadee here across the pond.

    God bless.

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