The Crested Tit is a small songbird in the tit family, related to titmice, chickadees, and other tits. It is found in various forest-type habitats throughout Europe. It is also known as the European Crested Tit, to distinguish it from the Grey Crested Tit found in Asia.
Crested Tits are resident birds through their range; they do not migrate. They are cavity nesters and use rotting tree stumps to excavate nest holes. Their population trend is considered to be stable and they have a conservation status of Least Concern as of June 2013.
The Crested Tit is listed as Least Concern on the IUCN Red List and was last assessed in 2012 by BirdLife International. This species has an extremely large range, and hence does not approach the thresholds for Vulnerable under the range size criterion (Extent of Occurrence <20,000 km2 combined with a declining or fluctuating range size, habitat extent/quality, or population size and a small number of locations or severe fragmentation). Despite the fact that the population trend appears to be decreasing, the decline is not believed to be sufficiently rapid to approach the thresholds for Vulnerable under the population trend criterion (>30% decline over ten years or three generations). The population size is extremely large, and hence does not approach the thresholds for Vulnerable under the population size criterion (<10,000 mature individuals with a continuing decline estimated to be >10% in ten years or three generations, or with a specified population structure). For these reasons the species is evaluated as Least Concern.
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... Read more »
