Coal Tit Capers

I’ve managed to get images of most of the common small birds around, but the Coal Tit was particularly problematic. Trouble is they are so fidgety; they move so fast; don’t stay still for a second. I’ve had several shots of them disappearing off the side of the frame, or a clear shot of their rear end as they turn so quickly.

But on this occasion, this wee bird was intensely engaged in picking out grubs from the tree just a few feet above my head. Got it!

Insect larvae seem to be their staple diet in springtime and summer, though they also eat seeds later in the year. My RSPB handbook tells me that “When food is plentiful the Coal Tit will hide some of it and retrieve it later”.

Well that might be linked to the behaviour of one at our bird feeder at the start of the year. It came to the feeder repeatedly only for a couple of days, in which time it virtually emptied the feeder on its own. Usually the sparrows could make it last around 10 days. The wee Coal Tit spilled most of it on the ground, (to the delight of the pigeons) and it seemed to be picking out a certain variety of seed and then flying off to return 10 minutes later.

It certainly hardly ate any of the seed it removed or spilled. Once the feeder was empty, it never came back.

And I’ve just seen a photograph of a Black-capped Chickadee from North America on Belinda Grover’s great nature blog, and it just looks so like the Coal Tit – a distant cousin.