David Element
Wildlife Photography and Digital Video Images
______________________________________________________________________________________________________Birds – 208 – Long-tailed Tits
LONG-TAILED
TIT Aegithalos caudatus
LONG-TAILED
TIT Aegithalos caudatus
LONG-TAILED
TIT Aegithalos caudatus
LONG-TAILED
TIT Aegithalos caudatus
LONG-TAILED
TIT Aegithalos caudatus
LONG-TAILED
TIT Aegithalos caudatus
LONG-TAILED
TIT Aegithalos caudatus
LONG-TAILED
TIT Aegithalos caudatus
LONG-TAILED
TIT Aegithalos caudatus
LONG-TAILED
TITS Aegithalos caudatus
LONG-TAILED
TIT Aegithalos caudatus
LONG-TAILED
TIT Aegithalos caudatus
LONG-TAILED
TIT Aegithalos caudatus
·
The tiny Long-tailed Tit Aegithalos
caudatus is one of the most charming and
animated of British birds. So little concern is shown about the presence of
human observers that it is possible to stand in the middle of a wintering flock
and watch them feeding from very close range. During the spring these birds
build extraordinarily intricate nests and once again close observation can be
very rewarding as a pair will tirelessly collect sufficient material in the
form of lichens, cobwebs, feathers and other useful contributions to a
structure that will usually be built in the middle of a secure bramble or other
thorn bush. The nest needs to be extremely flexible as Long-tailed Tits produce
large broods (to compensate for probably high mortality) and once the
youngsters have hatched it is required to contain them as they move about
inside. Therefore small bulges may occasionally be seen as they wriggle around
and make contact with the inside of the nest wall. The photographer has been
able to confirm the contribution of an extra adult bird towards feeding the
chicks of a pair that he had been watching. The additional ‘parent’ is likely
to have lost a brood of its own and it may have been related to one of the
parent birds. Having been so dispossessed it therefore performed an extremely
useful role by providing the chicks in the successful nest with additional food
and gave them a better chance of survival. Unfortunately a fleeting opportunity
to photograph all three adults in the same frame was missed.
·
David has posted three short films of Long-tailed Tits on YouTube
at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kEt1tUVnH8U&list=PL4AirIEc0NodqeZdtp_567wjjG7S6vPGy&index=2&t=0s, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3gUbFEpaAgk&list=PL4AirIEc0NodqeZdtp_567wjjG7S6vPGy&index=102&t=0s, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8aZT8cFxLhg&list=PL4AirIEc0NodqeZdtp_567wjjG7S6vPGy&index=172&t=0s.
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