Breeding birds: 680,000 territories
Family: Tits, Chickadees, And Titmice
The adult coal tit has brownish-grey upperparts with an olive hue, and white-tipped wing coverts that create the appearance of two distinct white wing bars. Its upper breast is white, while the rest of its underparts have a pale buff wash on the lower belly and a faint rufous wash on the flanks. The tail is grey.
On its head, the crown, neck, and throat are glossy black, while the lores and cheeks are white. A distinctive long white patch is visible on the nape. The bill is black, the eyes are dark brown, and the legs and feet are dark grey. Males and females look alike.
Juvenile coal tits resemble adults but are browner on the upperparts and have a yellowish wash on the cheeks, nape patch, underparts, and wing bars.
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Coal tits are monogamous, with pairs typically forming lifelong bonds. During courtship, males attract females by singing and performing acrobatic displays, such as hanging upside down from branches. Breeding begins in mid-April, and they produce one or two broods per season.
They nest in a variety of locations, including tree cavities, wall crevices, or abandoned burrows of mice and rabbits. They may also use old magpie nests, squirrel dreys, and occasionally nest boxes. The female builds the nest, using moss, grass, and spider webs, and lines it with feathers and hair.
Coal tits lay between 7 to 12 glossy white eggs with reddish speckles. The female incubates the eggs alone for 14 to 16 days, during which time the male feeds her while she remains on the nest. Both parents care for the chicks, which fledge after 16 to 19 days. Coal tits reach sexual maturity at one year of age.
Coal tits primarily feed on insects and spiders, but during the winter months, they also consume beech mast, nuts, and seeds from fir, larch, alder, and birch trees. They are known to cache food in multiple well-hidden locations, such as cracks in tree bark, which they return to later.
Cal tits often visit gardens in search of food, particularly favouring sunflower seeds.
In winter, they from mixed species flocks with other tits to forage.
Coal tits can be seen across the UK in woodland, parks, and gardens.
Britain's Birds
RSPB Handbook Of British Birds
Collins Bird Guide
Coal tits have low fat reserves compared to other tits, so they store food in case of future shortages.
3 Responses
Got quite a few visiting my feeders but how do you sex them ? Some seem to have broader bands of white bars on the back of their heads some thinner I wonder if the males have the thicker bars of white???
My Coal tits love peanuts
I think we saw one at the British Mining Museum (Wakefield) yesterday. I heard it singing whilst we were waiting for our tour to start. It was sitting on the weather vain!
I’d never seen one before n my eyes are rubbish, but my 6 year old grandson confirmed the colours n I looked on here to figure out what it was. How apt to see one there