These little beauties are regular visitors to our back garden bird feeder, often arriving in groups of 4-6, resulting in a flurry of long tails pointing in all directions, and several totally charming faces keeping watch-out. They are impossibly cute, and also the source of an ornithological mystery. At least I have never read an explanation of why Long-tailed Tits and Magpies both have such long tails yet have nests that are domed, that is, having a ‘roof’, or at least a covering. A long tail would seem to be exactly what you would not want in such a confined space but clearly their tails must have great benefits elsewhere.
Despite arriving in small groups, we have never seen aggression between the individuals so we have concluded these must be family groups. During the winter they often arrive with flocks consisting of all the common tits, so, Blue, Great and Coal. The Blues and Greats are argumentative and squabble over perches, the Coals and Long-tails much less so, taking advantage of perches that become available, rather than attempting to displace another bird. When you look at those humbug heads, striped black/white/black, with those bright little eyes and tiny, stubby bill, if your heart doesn’t melt then you truly must have a heart of stone.
Lee
Despite arriving in small groups, we have never seen aggression between the individuals so we have concluded these must be family groups. During the winter they often arrive with flocks consisting of all the common tits, so, Blue, Great and Coal. The Blues and Greats are argumentative and squabble over perches, the Coals and Long-tails much less so, taking advantage of perches that become available, rather than attempting to displace another bird. When you look at those humbug heads, striped black/white/black, with those bright little eyes and tiny, stubby bill, if your heart doesn’t melt then you truly must have a heart of stone.
Lee
