Long-tailed Tit

The Long-tailed Tit is one of the most instantly lovable birds in Europe and Asia. Its body is barely bigger than a golf ball, yet its narrow tail nearly doubles its length, producing the unmistakable lollipop silhouette that has earned it affectionate nicknames like "flying teaspoon" and, in older British folk usage, "bumbarrel." Dressed in soft blends of black, white, and dusky pink, with beady dark eyes set in a fluffy round head, it looks more like a child's drawing of a bird than a real one.

Despite the name, it is not a true tit at all. It belongs to its own small family, the Aegithalidae, whose closest relatives include the Bushtit of North America. What it shares with the true tits is restless energy and sociability. Outside the breeding season, Long-tailed Tits live in tight flocks of relatives, usually roughly six to twenty birds, that stream through hedgerows and treetops in single file, keeping in constant contact with high, rolling calls. On cold nights the whole flock huddles shoulder to shoulder along a branch to share warmth, a habit that helps a bird weighing less than a coin survive hard winters. Their cooperative family life, extraordinary domed nests, and sheer charm make them a favorite of birders and casual garden watchers alike.

Almost nothing else looks like a Long-tailed Tit. The combination of a tiny, fluffy, rounded body, a stubby black bill, and a very long, narrow tail creates a silhouette you can recognize at a glance, even in poor light. You will almost never see one alone: watch for a bouncing procession of small shapes crossing a gap between trees, one after another, accompanied by constant thin calls. Once the flock arrives, the birds rarely pause, dangling upside down from twigs and moving on within minutes.

Male vs. female

Males and females look essentially identical in the field. Both sexes share the same pink, black, and white pattern, the same long tail, and the same size, and even experienced ringers separate them mainly by breeding condition in the hand rather than by plumage. If you watch a pair at a nest, behavior offers a few clues: both sexes build the nest and feed the chicks, but only the female incubates, so a bird sitting tight in the domed nest for long spells is her. During nest building, a bird whose tail looks bent or kinked is often the female, her long tail feathers pressed out of shape by weeks spent curled inside the tiny nest chamber.

Juveniles

Juveniles are noticeably different from adults and can puzzle observers in early summer. Fresh out of the nest they are darker and duller, with sooty chocolate-brown cheeks and face sides, a shorter tail, and virtually none of the adult's pink tones. The overall impression is of a scruffy, dark-faced miniature of the adult. Through late summer they molt into adult-like plumage, gaining the pink wash and the clean white central crown stripe, so by fall the family flock looks uniform again. Family groups stay together after fledging, so a mixed party of dark-faced youngsters and pink-flushed adults in June or July is a strong sign of local breeding.

Long-tailed Tits keep up an almost constant conversation, and it is usually their voice that announces a flock before you see it. Three calls dominate: a soft, low single pit or tup, a thin, high tsee-tsee-tsee on one pitch (easily confused with calls of true tits and Goldcrests), and, most distinctive of all, a dry, rolling, almost sputtering tsirrup or srihp-srihp that no other small bird in their range quite matches. Learn that rolling trill and you will start detecting flocks everywhere.

The true song is quiet, rarely heard, and easily overlooked: a subdued, hurried twittering built largely from the same call notes rather than a structured melody. Unlike robins or wrens, Long-tailed Tits do not advertise loudly from perches; their constant contact calling does the social work that song performs in other species.

The Long-tailed Tit occupies an enormous band of Europe and temperate Asia, from Britain, Ireland, and Iberia east through central Europe, Scandinavia, and Russia all the way to China, Korea, and Japan. Across this range it splits into distinctive regional forms: the white-headed northern race is widespread in Scandinavia and eastern Europe, while birds in Britain and western Europe typically show the bold black eyebrow stripe.

It is largely resident and non-migratory, though the most northern populations may drift south or wander in exceptionally harsh winters, and occasional irruptions bring white-headed continental birds to Britain. The species favors deciduous and mixed woodland with a dense shrubby understorey, and it thrives equally in hedgerows, scrub, riverside thickets, heathland with scattered bushes, parkland, and mature gardens. The common thread is plenty of twiggy cover for feeding and, crucially, thorny bushes such as gorse, bramble, or hawthorn in which to hide the nest. In recent decades the species has expanded and increased in many areas, helped by milder winters and by garden feeding.

The diet is dominated by tiny invertebrates. Insect eggs, small caterpillars, moth and fly larvae, aphids, and spiders make up the bulk of what the flock gleans as it works methodically through twigs, buds, and leaf clusters, often hanging upside down to reach the undersides. The birds' small size and light weight let them forage at the very tips of slender branches that heavier birds cannot exploit, which reduces competition with true tits feeding on the same trees.

Because they are almost purely insectivorous, Long-tailed Tits were long considered unlikely garden-feeder visitors, but that has changed markedly. In autumn and winter they now regularly come to gardens for suet, fat balls, and finely grated or crumbled fat-based foods, and they will take small amounts of seed. Feeder visits are usually brief and communal: the whole flock swirls in, feeds for a moment, and moves on together.

The nest is a genuine natural marvel and one of the finest structures built by any songbird. Both members of a pair construct an elastic, domed oval with a small side entrance near the top, using four key materials: moss for the walls, spider silk and cocoons to bind and stretch the structure, lichen flakes on the outside for camouflage, and a lining of feathers, often more than a thousand and sometimes upward of two thousand, for insulation. The spider-silk binding lets the nest expand as the growing chicks fill it, so a structure begun snug enough for a pair of adults stretches to hold a large, feathered brood. Building can take up to three weeks.

The nest is usually hidden low in a thorny bush like gorse or bramble, or higher in a fork against a tree trunk. The female lays a large clutch, commonly six to twelve eggs, and incubates them herself for around two weeks while the male brings food. Long-tailed Tits are famous for cooperative breeding: predation of these conspicuous nests is heavy, and adults whose own nests fail often do not renest but instead become "helpers," assisting close relatives, usually brothers, to feed the chicks at a nearby nest. This help measurably improves the survival of the young and of the exhausted breeding adults.

Long-tailed Tits are true garden birds in much of their range, but they behave differently from the tits and finches that dominate seed feeders. They arrive as a flock, feed briefly, and leave together, and they are far more interested in fat and cover than in seed. A few simple changes make gardens far more appealing to them and improve your chances of a regular visit.

• Offer suet and fat-based foods, fat balls, suet blocks, suet pellets, and grated cheese or fat crumbs on a mesh feeder or table, which are the foods most likely to pull a flock in during autumn and winter.
• Provide fresh water in a shallow, clean birdbath for drinking and bathing; even tiny birds need reliable open water, especially in frost.
• Keep dense native shrubs and hedgerows, hawthorn, blackthorn, bramble, and gorse, which supply both insect food and the thorny cover this species needs to nest safely.
• Go pesticide-free so that aphids, spiders, and small caterpillars, the birds' natural staple, remain plentiful on your trees and shrubs.
• Let a corner of the garden grow a little wild and twiggy, with scrub and tangled growth, rather than clipping every edge, to mimic the shrubby habitat they favor.
• Watch and listen in the colder months, when flocks range most widely and are most likely to sweep through gardens; learn the dry rolling tsirrup call so you catch them arriving.

• Marsh Tit: A true tit with a glossy black cap and short tail; lacks the pink tones and the long tail entirely, and travels in smaller numbers.
• Bushtit: A closely related North American bird with very similar flocking habits and a tiny body, but plain gray-brown and without the pink and bold face pattern.
• Goldcrest: Also tiny and flock-forming in winter, and often heard alongside Long-tailed Tits, but greenish with a bright yellow-and-black crown stripe and a much shorter tail.