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No tail on long-tailed tit! (1 Viewer)

rozinante

Anarchism is order
Seeing a group of long-tailed tit's yesterday, I noticed one of them didn't seem to be moving quite right. On closer inspection it didn't have any long tail feathers at all.

Is this likely to be due to close shave with a predator, or could it be a moulting problem?
 
It was quite distinctive. Like a manic pom-pom.

Glad to hear it should regrow. Thats quite some growth rate Poecile, 4wks!
 
rozinante said:
It was quite distinctive. Like a manic pom-pom.

Glad to hear it should regrow. Thats quite some growth rate Poecile, 4wks!

Think about it - a newly-hatched long-tailed tit grows one from scratch in less than 3 weeks.
 
Poecile said:
It will be loss through an accident. It's not uncommon, and will regrow in about 4 weeks.

In the meantime it has to be the smallest bird in Europe no? (Not counting eggs, chicks, escaped bee hummingbirds etc.)
 
Momo said:
In the meantime it has to be the smallest bird in Europe no? (Not counting eggs, chicks, escaped bee hummingbirds etc.)

I think that's right, I remember reading something along the lines of "the long-tailed tit would beat the goldcrest if it wasn't for its bloody long daft tail". Probably wasn't worded quite like that...
 
Poecile said:
Not so sure about that - 'crests weight a lot less than LTT, about 5-7g vs 7-9g.

We get small flocks of these endearing little balls of fluff every winter near the motorway junction (M60) in Stockport - they remind me of a squadron of little furry helicopters the way they fly together.
 
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