BELLIGERENT TITMOUSE IS NO TEA-CHERS PET
The Great Tit is a colourful character and usually a welcome visitor to garden bird-tables on Mull, although it can be a bit of a bruiser, as it seeks to see off rival House Sparrows and Greenfinches from nut feeders and seed dispensers.
With its vivid plumage and entertaining behaviour, Great Tits are a source of fascination for many garden birdwatchers, although their antics are simply part of a daily struggle for survival. The agile Great Tit can be a belligerent little so-and-so and holds dominance in the local pecking order at most garden bird feeders, where aggressive encounters between Great Tits and other birds are frequent.
Milder weather and lengthening days during January and February prompt male Great Tits to break away from roving Winter tit flocks to indulge in bouts of territorial singing. The Great Tits song, a strident and easy-to-recognise “tea-cher, tea-cher”, seems to be reproduced with monotonous repetition, yet that is to tell only part of the story.
Great Tits are among the most well-studied birds anywhere in the world. Their song repertoire consists of up to 60 known variations on the teacher, teacher theme, although each male will use only three or four of these phrases. Exceptional males will employ as many as eight, in order to impress eligible females, as well as dupe any incomers into thinking that there are extra males about (and no vacant territories!).
In June, once the years young Great Tits have fledged from their tree-hole nest, look-out for Ma, Pa and the weans arriving to feed at peanut dispensers in Mull gardens. Great Tits are fabulous birds to get up close and personal with, giving garden birdwatchers a great chance to look at their plumage.
Birds that have really glossy black crowns, as well as a broad black belly stripe are males. Females are slightly smaller and tend to have duller crowns and much narrower belly stripes, so telling Ma from Pa shouldn't be a problem. The birds with yellow (not white) cheeks, matt finish crowns and no black line down their bellies are juveniles, birds that are only a few weeks of age.
Like other small songbirds, the survival rate of young Great Tits is very poor, hence the reason why this species lays large clutches of eggs. A pair of Great Tits, breeding in a nest box in a Mull garden, may attempt to hatch as many as eleven eggs at a single sitting, although six to eight is normal. On average, however, only one of these parents and one youngster will survive to breed the following Spring, such are the perils of being a Great Tit.
Contrary to what I have just said, one Great Tit was known to have lived to the ripe old age of 15 years. During its lifetime, it may have acquired as many as fourteen different partners and been responsible for around 100 youngsters! The likelihood is that it was a male, but that it wasn't quite so prolific, as young females have a much higher mortality rate among Great Tits.
Great Tits visit garden feeders for a meal of energy-packed peanuts, but in the wild of Mulls woodlands they use their bills to manipulate a variety of insects, seeds and nuts. Great Tits feed their young on defoliating caterpillars and other insects in Summer, whereas they may be heard hammering at acorns and beechmast during the Autumn months. Great Tits make their beaks more efficient for insect catching by frequently wiping them on twigs and branches. This wears down the sides of the bill, while a lack of hammering away at nuts allows it to grow longer !
The Great Tit is the largest and boldest of the three true titmice that belong on Mull. Although not having the cute factor associated with its smaller relations, the self-confident Great tit is nonetheless a familiar and popular visitor to gardens on the island.
Stuart Gibson