Blue Tits - Hebridean Birds - Western Isles Birds - Birdlife and Bird Sightings in the Hebrides The blue tit - a lovely bird - now starting to frequent the Stornoway Castle Grounds and indeed the surrounding areas near Stornoway - Western Isles. It has a small, rounded head without an obvious neck. The crown is blue on a white head which also has a black stripe through the eye. Underparts are yellow with a narrow grey stripe in the centre of the belly. In winter they form flocks with other tit species
Blue Tits - Western Isles Birds
Blue Tit - Stornoway Castle Grounds - Western Isles
(Click Image for Larger Pictures)
Blue Tit - Stornoway
This lovely blue tit - quite happily perching in the branches in the Castle Grounds - Oct 2010
Bird Overview - Blue Tit
Family
Tits (Paridae)
Latin name
Cyanistes caeruleus
Population
Common in Britain (not so much in the Western Isles - mainly now a few in Stornoway Castle Grounds)
Similar Species
Gadwell, Shoveller,Teals, Pintails
Description
The blue tit has a small, rounded head without an obvious neck. The crown is blue on a white head which also has a black stripe through the eye. Underparts are yellow with a narrow grey stripe in the centre of the belly. In winter they form flocks with other tit species
The sexes are similar, though the female is slightly paler.The juvenile birds are duller than the adults and have greener crown, wings and tail, and yellow cheeks
Size
Length; 4 1/2 inches - 12 cms
Habitat
Anywhere where there are trees and bushes
Food
Seeds,nuts, caterpillars or from bird feeders sunflower seeds and peanuts
Voice
A chrring sound of " tsee-tsee-tsu-hu-hu-hu-hu" .The blue tit's song is a high-pitched tremolo ending in a trill. Male blue tits sing at any time of year but are most commonly heard from late winter through to high summer
Breeding
Blue Tits breed from mid April and will nest in any hole in a tree, wall. . The nest is a cup made by the female from moss, wool, dead leaves, spiders' webs, and lined with down. The birds line their nests with aromatic plants such as mint or lavender, which kill bacteria.
The blue tit lays between 10 to 12 eggs. The eggs are laid at such a time that green caterpillars will be abundant when the chicks hatch. Second clutches are rare.
The eggs are smooth and glossy, and white with purplish-red or reddish-brown spots. They are about 16 mm by 12 mm. The female incubates the eggs by herself. incubation is 12 - 16 days and the young birds are fed by both parents.
So voracious is the appetite of a large brood of blue tits that the family is capable of eating over 10,000 caterpillars before they finally leave the nest and fledge anywhere from the 15th day or within the next week.
Misc. Info
The yellowness of a male blue tit's breast is said to show how many yellowy-green caterpillars he has eaten due to the high levels of carotene pigments in the diet.
This bird's usually lives to about 1.5 years; however, the oldest known bird reached almost 10 years.
Like all birds, blue tits can see ultra-violet light - the front of their head glows brightly under UV light and this is how females are thought to choose their partners.
In all probability the male adult would have been somewhere close - whilst the adult female may have
actually been nesting as stonechats have several broods.
