Even in the city we are surrounded by a fairly large number of birds, and many of them belong to the wild. Gone are the days when only pigeons and sparrows accompanied city dwellers. Now it’s not a wonder to see a jay in the park or hear a woodpecker. It came to the point that at the sight of some feathered townspeople begin to think about what kind of animal. Sometimes even a crested tit is put to a standstill by people, which any villager knows “by sight” , but she is not familiar to us. So let's get acquainted!
What tits are most common in Russia
First, let's figure out which bird we are talking about. There are very different types of tits, and their names are as follows:
- Great tit. This is the one that most often catches the eye of citizens, since life in megacities does not bother her at all.
- Blue Tit. You are unlikely to meet her in the city, because she has a habit of migrating, and besides, she ignores the city in principle.
- Moscow. Most likely, you will not even understand that it is a tit - there is no blue color in it. Although in the cities he lives quite freely.
- Tufted Titmouse. The whole article is about her, so for now we are not going to go deep.
- Brown-headed gait. To meet her is also a very low probability - she avoids “human” places, and even prefers swamps.
- Long-tailed tit. He loves river coasts, solitude and silence, so those who are not inclined to quiet travel are unlikely to encounter it.
- Remez. Also a river bird, and also a songbird. But the river and quite wild is not the character that you can meet in an urban setting.
What does a crested titmouse look like
This bird is very small, even smaller than a sparrow. The length of her body, even in the largest specimens, does not exceed 14 cm, and the wingspan of both wings is 21st. The bird weighs a little at all - from 9 to 14 grams. The top of this small body is painted in a grayish-brown shade, and the bottom is white, but not clean. A black stripe goes around the neck, the throat has the same color. But the main difference that the crested tit bird boasts (photo below) is its easily recognizable sharp crest, decorated with specks of contrasting (white and black) colors.
Bird habitats
It should be noted that the crested titmouse traditionally lived only in the European North. Coniferous forests between the Middle Volga and Arkhangelsk, Bashkiria, the east of the Caucasus - this is where it feels comfortable. But in recent years, its habitat has expanded significantly. Now it is found in other regions - mainly where conifers are present. It is interesting that the hohlushka came across to ornithologists and simply lovers of nature, even in Greece and Spain, although they honestly admitted that they were solitary specimens. This is where the crested tit bird lives (photo below).
The nature and habits of the crested tit
It differs in advantages (or disadvantages - this is how to look), inherent in all birds of this genus. The crested titmouse is very mobile, impudent, cheerful, loves quarrels and fights, at the same time possesses great courage and loves to climb very much. The bird’s singing abilities are small, which often disappoints those who try to tame them, but any pigeon or peacock can envy the “seduction” poses that the male takes during the taunt of the female.
The winter habits possessed by the crested titmouse are also interesting - in the cold it unites with kings, pikas, poison dart frogs, Muscovites and travels under the watchful eye of a motley woodpecker, which greatly increases the chances of survival.
Rescue bird
Tufted titmouse, along with Moscow, is a natural orderly in coniferous forests. Its main advantage is that even in the cold it is primarily looking for wintering insects and only in their absence agrees to grain feed. By the way, such a diet is very annoying to the bird, because it requires hours of searching; but until the crested tit is hungry at all, it searches for larvae or eggs of insects. This, by the way, can become a problem if you decide to keep such a bird at home - it needs mostly live food.
Winter problems
Any tits in winter feel the worst. And at this time, they are not particularly picky - they eat what they come across. Of course, while the temperature is not too low, the same crested tit will look for wintering insects, but as soon as it drops to minus 15, it will agree to another food. People who want to help winged ones in cold weather should know that, in addition to trivial grains, they can be given to wards to support them, but not poison them. The best dressing will be unsalted lard, raw sunflower seeds, watermelon and pumpkin. If you bought coconut for the New Year, its shells will become a gift for tits - they just need to be hung on a rope. Keep in mind that they don’t eat bread or traditional millet, so you will feed sparrows and pigeons with them. Sometimes, if there is nothing else, you can offer titmouse lean meat or raw bones.
For tits in the cold season, when snow falls and frost hits, it is necessary to build feeders.
These cheerful representatives of the fauna often and with pleasure visit them, sometimes they eat food even from human hands. It’s easy to build a bird feeder . It is necessary to cut a hole in the side, wide enough in an empty five-liter plastic bottle from under purified water. Pour tit food at the bottom of the feeder (see above, what it can and cannot do), tie the structure by the neck to a tree branch growing perpendicular to the ground, at a height of one and a half to two meters. The makeshift table for the tits is ready!
Nimble birds also look between the window frames, in the window, where quite often people (especially the elderly) store products in the winter: cottage cheese, butter, lard, sausage. And feast with great pleasure!