Birdwatch West Cork Branch Committee member Damaris Lysaght gives an insight into the charming habits of the long-tailed tit
They’ve never visited my bird table – yet! – though a few friends of mine are honoured with their presence on their feeders. It’s quite likely that the first indication that Long-tailed Tits are around is the sound of high pitched ‘tssee ‘ and clicking ‘pt’ noises and maybe the ‘thrupp’ of an alarm call. They constantly communicate with each other using these contact calls. They travel around in sometimes quite large family groups, seemingly always on the move, flitting with undulating, gliding short flights from bush to bush, never staying still for more than an instant. Enchanting and adorable with tiny fluffy, round, stripy black and white bodies with a pinkish blush, these birds have extremely long tails accounting for over half their total length of just 14cm. They weigh in at a mere 7-10 grams and their body is only a fraction bigger than that of a Goldcrest, our smallest species of bird.
Misleadingly the Long-tailed Tit is not actually a tit as we know it because it is not closely related to our Great, Blue and Coal Tits. It is part of the Bush Tit family (Aegithalos) of which Long-tailed Tits are the only representative in Ireland. The English name Long-tailed Tit and Irish name ‘Meantán earrfhada’ are descriptive. There are many local names in English such as Bumbarrel , Mumruffin or Poke Pudding, which mostly describe the nest rather than the bird.
They are a common breeding species in Ireland and can be seen all year round, as they don’t migrate. They roost snuggled up together to keep warm in the winter. They are vulnerable to cold weather, losing heat rapidly as their bodies are so small. They can lose up to 10 per cent of their body weight during a very cold night. In order to survive they must feed from dawn to dusk during the short days of winter, moving from spot to spot throughout their territory and preferring the sunny places. They are agile, acrobatic foragers, clinging on upside down with their strong feet and claws, searching for their mostly insectivorous prey and delicately picking them off with their very tiny bills. Among their favourites include the eggs and larvae of moths and butterflies. They will eat seeds in winter when prey is less plentiful.
In February and March, they pair off and start to build nests, returning to the communal roost at night. Because they are master builders this work can take around three weeks! They construct elaborate spherical nests out of lichens, mosses and feathers, which are bound together with mossy hooks and spider silk interlocking like nature’s Velcro. The nest is suspended from a branch and is indeed a work of art using around 6000 separate interwoven pieces. It is cosily lined with about 2,000 downy feathers and is springy and flexible with a hole near the top. In order to accommodate their long tails the adult birds have to bend their tails behind their bodies. Eight to 12 white eggs are laid, which hatch out in about 16 days. The young birds spend only two or three weeks in the nest. Since the parents make little attempt to hide or camouflage the nests it is believed that 60 or 70 per cent of the nests are predated, usually by watchful crows. Often the parents of the predated nest will help bring up the nestlings of another pair in the family group. So it is not unusual to see four adults feeding the chicks of a single nest. This is unusual behaviour in the small bird world and obviously helps survival rates, as a huge amount of time and energy is required to forage to feed so many chicks. Unusually too among small birds, the fledglings stay with the flock whereas other species abandon their juveniles. So in a Long-tailed Tit flock there will be the parents, siblings, offspring, aunts and uncles and probably cousins too. Other small birds may follow the flock attracted by the excitement and chatter.
Long-tailed Tits are doing reasonably well and are holding their own. They are monitored by the Garden Bird Survey and Countryside Bird Survey. The easiest way to monitor them is to count them, as they fly past a gap in the bushes. Since they will not use nest boxes due to their intricate nest building techniques, one of the best ways to help them is to leave or encourage dense bushes and shrubs, which provide them with nesting locations. Pesticide use is particularly detrimental to them, as they are chiefly insect eaters.
Who doesn’t love a Long-tailed Tit? Physically they are enchanting and distinctive and these social birds exhibit fascinating behaviour and adaptations to their lifestyle. It is a joy to see them pass through my garden even if they turn their bills up at the menu!
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For more information about the Branch, contact Fiona O’Neill at secretary@birdwatchirelandwestcork.ie.
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