One of the prettiest birds, but perhaps also one of the most adorable animals, is a plump feathered colored with a clever air: the black-tailed tit.
One of the cutest and prettiest birds that can be seen in nature is undoubtedly the black-tailed tit. This adorable bird is characterized by a colorful plumage, sometimes accompanied by a characteristic spot on the eyes that resembles a bandit mask, a bit like in raccoons. It also has a characteristic and long tail, and has a social character even during the nesting period, unlike most birds. But let’s find out some interesting peculiarities of this feather ball.
A really cute little bird
Few garden birds are prettier than the long-tailed tit. And compared to their disproportionately long tails, which slightly exceed the length of the rest of their bodies, these birds are really small. At 9 days, they weigh less than 10 grams. These ball-shaped birds are truly adorable, as they play hide and seek and during the winter they bounce from one garden to another.
The plumage of the black-tailed tit is characterized by colored geometric spots, and in the colors white, black, gray, orange, sometimes even with the characteristic dark “mask” on the eyes. A little thief with soft feathers, no doubt about it.
Usually found in groups, in the forests in the mountains, where he usually spends his time eating, flying among the branches to find his favorite foods: insects, small invertebrates and spiders. Occasionally he does not disdain seeds and berries. The black-throated long-tailed tit can be observed in many places in Asia: Bangladesh, Nepal, Burma, Bhutan, northern India, Vietnam, Taiwan, and in the southern slopes of the Himalayas.
The small beak of the long-tailed tit is not adept at handling large seeds. However, this species is fond of animal fat products, which provide rapid calorific value. But they can also be attracted with small seeds, breadcrumbs, finely grated cheese and peanut fragments.
Behavior
Their high-pitched calls, underlined by more percussive and repetitive notes, announce their arrival. These vocalizations help the members of the group, who tend to be close relatives, to keep in touch with each other, as they move restlessly between trees and bushes, while looking for food and eating in the mangers in the garden.
Long-tailed tongues are monogamous birds, and their breeding season runs from March to May. Once a pair is chosen, it leaves the group to mate and nest. Nesting occurs by both members of the couple, sometimes with the help of other group codibles.
The nest has the shape of a sack and is built from the tongues with cobwebs and lichens. Here the female deposits a number of eggs ranging from 4 to 10. Once the eggs have hatched, the chicks are looked after by both parents, who feed them in the same way together. A truly fair couple, with a strong gender equality.
Where the long tailed terns differ from most other birds is that they maintain their sociability even during the nesting period. Individual couples attempt to breed their young but, if they fail, ask for help from a close relative’s nest – a process known as cooperative breeding. Sometimes such sociability even seems to extend to people. If we stay still at the right time, maybe we find ourselves around dozens of long-tailed codibles that turn around us, without a hint of fear.
And when the cold comes …
Being very small, the long-tailed tongues are vulnerable to prolonged periods of the coldest winter time. In fact, losses of up to 80% of their numbers have been recorded, during particularly cold winters. In fact, small birds lose heat more quickly than larger ones, due to the fact that a greater part of their bodies is exposed to the elements (they have a larger surface than the area / volume ratio).
In addition, small birds cannot afford to carry large reserves of food, which slows them down when attempting to escape a predator. To ensure their survival, long-tailed titfish need reliable access to energy-rich foods during short winter days. In this sense, garden feeders can be a lifeline.
During the night, the long-tailed tit lie down together to conserve their energy. A dense shrub like hawthorn is one of their favorites, where these little birds curl up in a real feather ball, with their tails protruding.