Our Birdorable Bonanza: 2015 Advent Edition just has a few more days to go! Today we reveal a little cutie from the same family as chickadees: the Azure Tit!
Azure Tits are small songbirds found across parts of Russia and central Asia. For the most part they are resident birds (non-migratory) throughout their range. This little cutie-pie is in the same family as titmice and chickadees.
The Azure Tit is found in many different types of forested habitat, including cultivated lands like orchards and gardens. Azure Tits feed on a varied diet, which inlcudes both insects and plant material. Outside of breeding season, they will feed in mixed foraging flocks which may contain other species of tit as well as warblers.
Azure Tits nest in cavities. They use holes in trees but also other cavities like inside man-made structures or even in a nook in a pile of rocks. Female Azure Tits construct the nest cup inside the cavity, lining it with soft material like animal fur and moss.
Azure Tit by Jargal Lamjav (CC BY-SA 2.0)
Azure Tit by Anita Szeicz (CC BY-ND 2.0)
The Azure Tit joins Birdorable today as our 637th cute cartoon bird. Be sure to check out our selection of apparel and gifts featuring our Birdorable Azure Tit.
Tomorrow our Bonanza will reveal a widespread species of shorebird that is named for the color of its belly during the breeding season. Can you guess tomorrow's species?
Today our Birdorable Bonanza 2013 continues with the addition of a small European species. Our third Bonanza bird is the Crested Tit.
Crested Tits are small songbirds in the tit family; they are related to chickadees, titmice, and other types of tits. They live in forested habitats throughout parts of Europe; they are also known as European Crested Tits.
Kuifmees (Crested Tit) by Maarten Visser (CC BY-SA 2.0)
Crested Tits feed on both insects and seeds, and will visit feeding stations. In times of abundance, they cache food for later use.
Tomorrow, as we celebrate Independence Day in the United States, we will introduce a bird with "American" in the name!
Check out these fun facts about chickadees:
- There are seven species of chickadee in the world. Chickadees, along with titmice, belong to the family Paridae. This family of songbirds also includes birds known as tits.
Black-capped Chickadee
- The Black-capped Chickadee is the state bird of both Maine and Massachusetts. It is also the provincial bird of New Brunswick.
- The Grey-headed Chickadee is also known as the Siberian Tit. Strangely, it does not have a grey head.
- These little birds are known as "chickadees" because of their alarm call. This type of name is onomatopoetic -- the word is the sound that it describes.
- The more "dee" notes at the end of a chickadee call indicate increasing levels of agitation. For instance, a chickadee may end their call with just one "dee" when a known person fills a favorite bird feeder. An owl roosting near the feeding station would warrant many more "dee" notes.
- This is what the call of the Black-capped Chickadee sounds like:
- While some species may move seasonally, for the most part chickadees are non-migratory. Passing migrant species may seek out feeding flocks of chickadees (finding their "chick-a-dee" call familiar) as they stop along their migration route. As flocks of chickadees attract migratory birds, they also attract birdwatchers!
Boreal Chickadee
- Chickadees are known to store food items like seeds or insect larvae in times of abundance. The cached food may be retrieved in leaner times. The Mexican Chickadee is the only chickadee which does not cache food.
- Chickadees are cavity nesters. They use old woodpecker holes or excavate their own cavities in rotted or soft wood. They will also use birdhouses.
- Chestnut-backed Chickadees like to line their nests with animal hair, with fur from animals like coyotes, skunk, rabbits, and others making up to half of the nest's materials.
- A group of chickadees can be called a banditry of chickadees. This collective noun probably refers to the mask-like appearance of chickadee species.
- The range of Black-capped Chickadees overlaps with that of Carolina Chickadees. They look so much alike that even the birds themselves may have a hard time telling each other apart - they hybridize! Offspring of a mixed pair sing a song that is three notes long. That's one less note than the Carolina parent, and one more note than the Black-capped parent!
Mountain Chickadee
- Five species of chickadee found in North American can be found right here on Birdorable! See the following species pages:
And be sure to browse through our great selection of chickadee t-shirts & gifts!
1. The Black-crested Titmouse is closely related to the Tufted Titmouse. They hybridize where their ranges overlap (in Central Texas) and they used to be considered the same species.
2. The bird's DNA suggests that the Black-crested Titmouse diverged from the Tufted TItmouse about 250,000 years ago.
3. It's 'peter, peter, peter' call is similar to that of the Tufted Titmouse, but shorter.
4. Their diet consists of seeds, berries, nuts, insects and insect eggs.
5. The crest of a female Black-crested Titmouse is actually dark gray.
6. Another name for the Black-crested Titmouse is the Mexican Titmouse.
7. Black-crested Titmice are considered residents throughout their range, which covers much of central Texas, and parts of Oklahoma and Mexico. They do not migrate.
8. Black-crested Titmice are cavity nesters, and have been known to line their nests with horse hair, feathers, onion skins, and even tissue paper.
9. The Black-crested Titmouse is one of our cute Birdorable birds! The Black-crested Titmouse was added to Birdorable on November 10th, 2010. Check out our other cute tits and chickadees.
Photo by martytdx (source: Flickr)
