Description:

Coal Tits are slightly smaller than the Blue Tit, with olive-grey upperparts and white-buff underparts. Although in general appearance they are reminiscent of both Willow and Marsh Tit, they have a characteristic head pattern, with a black bib, white cheeks and a black cap that extends down to the base of the neck at the sides. In the middle of this black cap, running from just below the top of the head back down to the neck is a rectangular white patch, so this is one species where a back view can help identification.

The calls of the Coal Tit are a bit like a weedy, higher-pitched version of the Great Tit, with a thin-sounding ‘tsee-tsee-tsee’ call and a basic song of ‘teachoo-teachoo-teachoo’ repeated several times.

Ecology & Behaviour:

Coal Tits are often regarded as being a species of coniferous woodland, and while they do nest at higher densities in coniferous woodland than deciduous woodland, Coal Tits do occur in many other habitats, including gardens. The narrower, more slender bill is an adaptation to feeding in conifers.

Coal Tits begin nesting slightly earlier than Blue Tits and some time before Great Tits. They will use boxes with small entrance holes and there is some evidence to suggest they might prefer nest boxes with a narrow vertical slit to those with a round hole. Their smaller size means that they are often out-competed by the larger relatives when it comes to finding and defending nestboxes. Coal Tits prefer nestboxes mounted on conifers to those mounted on deciduous trees. Interestingly, Coal Tits often carry food away from a feeding station to store elsewhere, a behaviour that is also seen in other tits (especially Marsh Tit) but to a lesser degree.

Garden BirdWatch links

A 'Focus on' article on the Coal Tit appeared in Issue 12 of the Bird Table. Garden BirdWatch participants can download a copy of this article from the participant only pages.