Great Tit

Small bird with yellow underparts and blue-green back. Characteristic is its black head contrasting with the white cheeks. The yellow breast is streaked, lengthwise, with a thin (in females), or more pronounced (in males) black line.  In adult males the black of the head is metallic in colour and the yellow of the abdomen is more shiny. Juveniles are duller in all their colours. Beak and legs blue-black.

Spreads throughout Europe and Central and South Asia, as far as Japan and part of Indonesia, and is also found in a narrow belt off the coast of NW Africa.

It lives in woods and trees, showing a preference for deciduous trees, but will be found in any area with dense or scattered trees and less so with tall shrubs (parks, gardens, crops, etc.).

In Lesvos island it is found almost everywhere, except in areas with very open and low vegetation. Particularly common in olive groves, oak  and pine forests.

• It feeds on small invertebrates (mainly insects and arachnids) and their larvae (caterpillars) up to 1 cm in size but also seeds and fruits.
• It is a very agile bird and with its strong legs it can hang upside down as it hammers a fruit to feed.
• It nests in cavities (cavities). It lays 8-14 eggs which the female lays for 10-12 days. The nestlings remain in the nest for 18-25 days and later when they leave the nest they remain as a family group for 2-3 more weeks.
• The chicks in the nest feed almost exclusively on moth larvae (caterpillars) when available in most places where it lives. This is why the Great Tit breeds most successfully in deciduous forests, where the caterpillars show huge outbreaks each spring.
• Because they have many chicks in the nest, parents have to bring something to feed them up to every minute, in areas of northern Europe where the day lasts fewer hours (due to latitude).
• This is quite a feat considering that they lay the largest number of eggs of all the crested birds and only ducks outnumber them in this respect. But parent ducks can take their babies along and forage for food, they don't have to carry it back to the nest like the Great Tit which has chicks that are born naked (so they get cold and want extra care) and blind and grow slowly.
• In our area (Mediterranean) they lay twice each spring.
• A very well studied bird throughout Europe, as it is easily attracted and builds its nest in artificial nest-boxes. Scientists can open these boxes (following specific protocols so as not to disturb the birds) and monitor/measure in detail the development of the chicks, the success of reproduction and many other parameters and probably for decades, giving very important results on animal biology and ecology.
• In fact, due to the extensive studies mentioned above, it was one of the first animal species on which the effect of climate change was documented.
• In winter it forms large groups with other species (other Tits, Crests etc.) up to 50 birds together.
• There are 15 different subspecies of Great Tit in its range. In the Aegean islands we have Parus major aphrodite, which has more dull colours than the other subspecies in Central Europe.
• Over 90 different patterns in its song have been recorded!