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FAMILY: TITMICE AND CHICKADEES |
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Great tit (Tit, Titmice) (Parus major)
The great tit is the largest one of all titmice. It has a black head with white cheeks and nape; the back is greenish; the belly is bright-yellow with a black longitudinal strip in the middle, which is wider for males. Its song is a loud ringing "zi-zi-zi-pi" and "in-chi-in-chi"; also they make sonorous "ping-ping-chrrrrj". These songs are the first sign of approaching spring. Usually these songs may be heard as early as the first sunny day of February. Quite often, the great tit supplements its songs with voices of other birds: warblers, buntings, nuthatches — those who live nearby. The female tit builds a nest usually in a hollow or in a birdhouse — as a rule, of moss, and lines it with feathers and hair. A nest of the great tit is very warm: it is necessary to warm many eggs, and then hatchlings — from 10 up to 13! Sometimes great tits manage to build nests also in all kinds of niches in building walls and even in rural mailboxes and in tailpipes of dumped cars! The female sits on eggs, and the
male brings her food. The young are fed by both parents. There were cases when great tits made by the beak openings in aluminum covers on milk bottles — and drank milk. It was enough for one bird to make such an invention — and all other tits, who have seen this, — immediately started to imitate! (Parus caeruleus)
The blue tit is a very lovely and nice birdie. The color of its plumage is very pure and gentle. All its back is green; the wings and tail are gentle-blue; the belly is yellow; the head is white with a blue cap and black collar. In winter and autumn, one can often see them in flocks together with great tits. They willingly take food from a human palm too. By March, they leave flocks and live in pairs. They nest in mixed forests, in parks and gardens. Males start singing in February. Their song is a short murmuring trill or sonorous "tzi-tzi-tzirrz". |
