Coal Tit foraging through the Pine Forest, Nethybridge Strathspey Scotland. SCO 6813
The Coal Tit is 10– cm in length, and has a distinctive large white nape spot on its black head. The head, throat and neck of the adult are glossy blue-black, setting off the off-white sides of the face (tinged grey to yellow depending on subspecies) and the brilliant white nape; the white tips of the wing coverts appear as two wingbars. The underparts are whitish shading through buff to rufous on the flanks. The bill is black, the legs lead-coloured, and irides dark brown. The young birds are duller than the adults, lacking gloss on the black head, and with the white of nape and cheeks tinged with yellow. It is typically a bird of temperate humid conifer forest, but apart from that shows little habitat specificity. While searching for food, Coal Tit flocks keep contact with incessant short dee or see-see calls. The species' song – if "song" it can be called – is a strident if-he, if-he, if-he, heard most frequently from January to June, but also in autumn. One variant of this song ends with a sharp ichi. North African birds also have a currr call similar to that of the Crested Tit (Lophophanes cristatus) which is not found in Africa. A favourite nesting site is a hole in a rotting tree-stump, often low down, and the nest is deep within the hole; holes in the ground, burrows of mice or rabbits, chinks between the stones in walls, old nests of Pica magpies or other large birds, and squirrel dreys are also occupied. The materials, moss, hair and grass, are closely felted together, and rabbit fur or feathers added for lining. Seven to eleven red-spotted white eggs of the usual tit type are laid, usually in May; this species breeds usually once per year. Being common and widespread, the Coal Tit is not considered a threatened species by the IUCN
Size: 3732px × 5619px
Location: Nethybridge, Strathspey, Highland Region, Scotland.
Photo credit: © David Gowans / Alamy / Afripics
License: Royalty Free
Model Released: No
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