Coal Tit Facts: Song, Diet & Nesting Advice

The small, acrobatic coal tits in gardens are not to be overlooked, despite being less noticeable than their larger relatives, the blue tit and great tit. This in-depth tutorial will teach you how to recognise them and draw them to your garden.

Coal tit guide: how to identify, what they eat, and when they’re seen in gardens

Coal tits are common, but sporadic, visitors to bird feeders in the United Kingdom, and they can be confused with other tit species. Their modest size (around the weight of a fifty pence coin) makes it difficult for them to defend feeding perches from larger, more dominant species. As a result, they frequently eat “to go,” sitting in the surrounding bushes and shrubs.

You’re not the only one who can only positively distinguish blue and great tits?

Coal, willow, and marsh tits are all difficult to distinguish from one another due to their similar colouring. However, the coal tit is the most visible of the three.

identify coal tits

Coal tits have a bluish-grey back and buff underparts. Their heads are characterised by a black bib, white cheeks, and a black cap that reaches the sides and base of the neck. Nonetheless, the coal tit can be easily recognised from behind because of a white patch that forms a rectangle and extends from the top of the head to the neck.

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Coal tits make thin, weedy sounds that resemble a higher-pitched variant of the great tit. They can also make single, clear, and fine notes. Their fast-paced, high-voiced song, “teachoo-teachoo-teachoo,” is sometimes sung from the top of a tall tree and is repeated multiple times.

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In addition to eating insects and spiders, coal tits also consume seeds in the winter, primarily from the outside branches of conifers.

Observing coal tits between June and December is worthwhile since they will store food in their cache for later retrieval. You can see their behaviour as they collect seeds from feeders. They usually dart back and forth to the feeder in quick bursts when they are caching. This is due to the fact that they scatter hoard food, taking each piece to a different spot, and that their tiny beaks allow them to carry only one seed at a time.

coal tits eat

The sparrowhawk is the primary predator of great tits in gardens, along with numerous other small garden birds.

There were 660,000 territorial men in the UK and 590,000 territorial males in Britain in 2016, according to statistics.

The average life span of a coal tit is two years. For this species, the longest recorded lifespan is nine years and eight months.

coal tits live

Data from BTO Garden BirdWatch, gathered since 1995, shows that, in about 58% of gardens, they are most commonly spotted in November.

frequently seen in garden

Since the inception of BTO Garden Birdwatch in 1995, the quantity of coal in gardens has stayed comparatively constant.

coal titration ratio

Coal tits can have up to two broods annually and lay their eggs between April and June. Usually, they will lay eight or ten eggs. These are incubated for around sixteen days, and the young fledge after about twenty more days.

coal tits nest

Nestboxes with a 25-millimetre entrance hole are home to coal tits. On occasion, they build their nests in nestboxes intended mostly for blue tits.

Coal tits can be drawn in by placing feeders outside, giving them access to clean, fresh water, and building nestboxes. To stop the spread of disease among garden birds, it’s critical to clean feeders and drinking stations on a regular basis.

attract coal tits

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