Great tit

About

The Great tit is a bird about the size of a sparrow, 12.5–14 cm long. The head is black with white cheeks, the back is olive-green, and the belly is yellow with a black longitudinal stripe. In males, the stripe is wide and extends to the legs, while in females it is narrower and shorter.

In the Carpathians, the Great tit lives in deciduous and mixed forests, gardens, parks, and villages, most often in valleys and the lower forest belt. In continuous spruce forests, it is replaced by smaller relatives — the Coal tit and the Crested tit.

It nests in tree holes, wall crevices, and nest boxes. In summer, it eats insects and spiders, while it primarily feeds its chicks with caterpillars. In autumn and winter, it switches to seeds and eagerly visits feeders.

This is a resident bird: Great tits do not migrate but form flocks in winter along with other tits, creepers, and woodpeckers. Therefore, during winter hikes, it is often the flocks of tits that enliven the quiet forest.

At the end of winter, as soon as the sun warms up, males begin to sing — the ringing two-syllable "tsi-tsi-pi" can be heard from afar. The song has many variations, and even experienced observers do not always immediately recognize the common tit in an unfamiliar voice.

Where in the Carpathians

Teal — roughly where the species can occur, by elevation and habitat; orange — where naturalists recorded it (GBIF, CC0/CC BY).

Range: elevation belt and the countries where it is known — our model (AWS Terrain Tiles)

Countries

Ukraine · Slovakia · Czechia · Poland · Hungary · Romania · Serbia · Austria · BG

Mountain ranges

nearly all Carpathian ranges, within its elevation belt

Altitude belts

Foothills (below 600 m) · Beech forests (600–1200 m)

When to see it

From naturalists’ observations in the Carpathians (iNaturalist, research grade): the darker the cell, the more often the species is seen that month.

Protection and rules

Not listed in the Red Book of Ukraine.

FAQ