Sombre Tit

Greyish brown on top with black head, white cheek and characteristic extended black neck. The underparts are whitish while a light-coloured thin band is visible on the closed wing. Greyish legs and black beak. Like all Tits it has strong legs so it can hang upside down as it moves among the vegetation in search of food.

A species that can be considered endemic to the eastern Mediterranean region, it occurs in the Balkan peninsula and Romania, Anatolia up to western Iran and on the coasts of the Middle Eastern countries (Syria, Lebanon, Israel). In Greece it is absent from the Aegean islands except Crete, Evia and Lesvos and in the Ionian Sea it occurs in Corfu.

It lives in open, sparsely wooded areas with a dry climate. In Lesvos, it can be seen in areas of the central and western part of the island (except pine forest): in olive groves and oak trees, but also in pastures with scattered trees and tall shrubs.

• Its Latin name (lugubris) means one who mourns and expresses both its sombre appearance and its melancholic song.
• It feeds mainly on invertebrates (caterpillars, spiders, grasshoppers, etc.) but also on seeds of thorns and other annual plants.
• It generally moves to lower parts of shrubs and trees than other Tits and more often than others on the ground, and also occupies more of these dry areas.
• It nests in cavities in tree trunks and less often on the ground.
• It lays a relatively large number of eggs (5-8), like all cavity-nesting species, and generally twice a year (in spring). The chicks hatch for 12-15 days and the young remain in the nest for about another 20.
• The female in the nest, laying eggs or caring for the chicks during their first days of life, and feeling threatened makes snake-like sounds to repel predators.
• In its efforts to drive carnivorous ants living in tree trunks away from its nest (and chicks!) it has been observed crushing some of them at the entrance to the nest to repel the rest from approaching!
• In winter it is often seen in small groups with other Tits (Great tit and Eurasian blue tit).
• One of the 4 species of Tits that occur on our island.