Gadget birds. Black-headed and brown-headed titmouse: photos and facts

For a long time, these birds belonged to the genus of tits, but recently they have been identified as a separate genus - chickadees. There are several representatives of this genus, but two of them are most common - brown-headed and black-headed chickadees.

Both species have striking features and signs by which they are easy to recognize, but at first glance it will be difficult for an uninitiated person to distinguish them.

Description of species: black-headed and brown-headed tit

Brown-headed and black-headed chickadees are very similar: they have fluffy gray-brown plumage, reach 14 centimeters in length, maximum wingspan reaches 22 centimeters, weight does not exceed 14 grams, very short neck and large head, cheeks and neck on the sides are light, almost white. The underside is off-white, the beak is brown-black, and the legs are grey.

The black-headed tit was first described in 1758, the brown-headed tit in 1827, it was from this year that their full-fledged study began, as well as the search for the main differences and features characteristic of each of the species.

Brown-headed chickadees are one of the most common species, they got their second name - powder for the fact that in bad weather fluffy feathers. On the head and back of the head they have a matte black cap, a speck of the same color is on the front of the throat. Brown-headed chickadees are more curious than other members of this species.

In black-headed chickadees, the cap is not matte, but shiny, and the spot on the neck is much smaller in size. The notable features of black-headed chickadees include more a long tail and a smaller head, as well as greater mobility, they even fly faster and sing.

Vocal abilities of chickadees

At a distance, these two species of birds can be distinguished by their vocalization, brown-headed chickadees have only three types of songs in their repertoire: territorial, demonstrative and for courting a female. The first and last are most often used by the male, and the demonstrative can be heard from both the male and the female during the search for a partner.

The vocal repertoire of black-headed chickadees is very diverse. They make both ordinary calls for screaming and those intended for specific purposes: courtship, protection of the nest by the female, protection of the territory by the male, flirting, and so on. Each type of song usually has about 20 variations.

Bird habitat

These birds live in northern regions North America, Europe and Asia and lead a sedentary life - these are one of the few representatives of birds that store food for the winter and roam only as a last resort - to search for food in early spring or cold winter.

Throughout their lives, chickadees live on an area of ​​about 5 kilometers - this small area is selected during the first nesting of the bird and is fixed in her memory for the rest of her life. This small area is ideally explored for building nests, finding food and hiding places.

The habitats of brown-headed and black-headed chickadees are somewhat different. Brownhead loves coniferous, dense forests, it can easily be found in the taiga or on the banks of rivers overgrown with shrubs, where it is almost impossible to meet a person.

Blackheads are often found near villages, cities, towns, but the most acceptable for them are deciduous or, in extreme cases, mixed forests. Preference is given to low-lying and flat areas with swampy forest stands, where there are many dead trees.

In their range common habitat black-headed chickadees always dominate brown-headed ones and do not tolerate brown-headed brethren on their territory, although sometimes they make exceptions for their lone representatives in winter.

What do these bird species eat?

All types of chickweeds eat about the same: the main food includes seeds of various plants (for example, juniper and sunflower), tree fruits, small nuts, insects (beetles, larvae, etc.). Due to the fact that harmful bugs are included in their diet, chickadees are considered natural healers that help forestry.

In summer, they eat plant and animal food, and in winter and spring, mainly plant food. In early spring black-headed chickadees drink the juice of birch, aspen and maple, and in winter they visit feeders located near farmlands (although they visit them quite rarely) and, most interestingly, hide the grains found in the feeders in the forest.

In the first days of life, chicks of both species feed exclusively on animal food, and only with time does it begin to be included in the diet. plant food. The tendency to thrift in gaitches appears very early - already at the age of one month. Throughout spring, summer and autumn, birds make continuous stocks for the winter.

In spring, pine and spruce seeds are stored, in autumn, chickadees hide various insects and plant seeds. For the period from spring to winter, one bird makes up to 5 kg of reserves in its habitat (in the bark of trees, cones and other secluded places), although only a third of them are eaten in one winter (quite a lot of reserves are simply lost).

Socket device

The brown-headed chickadee nests from April to May, and the black-headed titmouse from the end of March, during these periods the chickadees are very excited, they sing a lot, fly, fight for females, and look for a place to nest. Pairs last until one of the partners dies.

Young birds during the first year of life look for a couple in the nearby area from their home. If a partner has not been found, they leave these places and seek their fortune in the far reaches of the forest.

During the first year of life, out of 1000 individuals, only 300 remain alive, about 50 birds live up to 5 years, and 3 up to 6-7 years, although at home these birds often live up to 9 years.

Nesting of adult birds occurs in approximately one place, in a certain territory, which the male guards for a whole year. New nests are often made by brown-headed chickadees, black-headed ones prefer to use old or other people's hollows.

To make a new hollow, the birds pinch off the wood and carry it away so as not to give away the location of the nest. Hollows are made in dead or splintered trees, as living wood is too hard for the fragile and small beak of the tit.

Before populating the hollow, it is cleaned and deepened to renovate and make it more acceptable for the nest. Usually chosen certain types trees, these include alder, larch, birch, aspen. It takes up to 12 days to make a new hollow or update an old one. The depth should be about 20 cm.

To build a nest different types nuts use certain materials. So, blackheads use moss, wool, cobwebs, feathers, and brownheads use twigs, bark, feathers, wool, birch bark.

Chick care

Brown-headed chickadees start laying eggs from the end of May, and black-headed ones from the end of March, in one clutch there are up to 9 white eggs with red-brown specks. The size of one egg is approximately 15x12 mm.

For the first 15 days, the female incubates the eggs without leaving the nest, and the male feeds and protects her. The female can only leave the nest rare cases if there is no male for a long time to find food for himself. Already in April - May, black-headed chicks appear, and in July - brown-headed ones.

The female and the male feed them together, constantly bringing them food. In cold weather, the female is in the nest with chicks, warming them, and in warm weather she can leave to get food.

Already after 18 days, the chicks are able to fly, but still do not know how to get their own food. Over the next 12 days, the male and female teach them to get food, navigate the terrain, and find a nest.

Throughout their lives, they hatch and nurse more than one offspring, anxiously taking care of it until the chicks are able to survive on their own in the wild forest. The life of chicks is complex and unpredictable, only the strongest, most adapted to the wild, survive from a large seasonal brood of chicks, and, alas, there are not many of them.

The brown-headed chickadee, or puffball, is a real taiga bird. She has huge range. It occupies the forest regions of Europe (except for its southern Mediterranean regions). In our country brown-headed tit ubiquitous in the forest zone. She comes to sea ​​coasts Chukotka, populates almost the entire North America. An isolated focus of the species is confined to mountainous regions Central Asia including Tibet.

C. Linnaeus on Latin assigned the name of the black-headed tit to this tit, but then they began to call the swamp tit and because of this there was a lot of confusion. To eliminate it, the puff was given a new Latin name- "mountain tit". This species included all European and our subspecies. The mountain origin of the puff and its closest ancestors can be assumed based on its close relationship with two subspecies, which are now identified in independent species, - with Dzungarian and Tibetan, or East Chinese, chickadees.

When nesting, the puff willingly populates both deciduous and coniferous forests, although it nests, like the black-headed chickadee, mainly in hollows deciduous trees(alder, aspen, less often birch). Many researchers note the attraction of powder to conifers, especially spruce forests. It also has another difference from the more southern and heat-loving black-headed chickadee - the powdery bird rarely nests in gardens and parks.

In the conditions of the Moscow region, the true territorial song of the powder should be called his usual "tee" song. This song comes in two main types: monotonous "tee-tee-tee" and more harsh modulated sounds that can be rendered as "tee-tee-tee...". The monotony of these songs over the vast expanses of the range is surprising.

Like the black-headed chickadee, puffballs remain faithful to each other for a long time, sometimes for life. They are more likely to lead a sedentary than a nomadic lifestyle. This is also indicated by a clearly expressed desire for situational and seasonal storage of food.

Ordinary "tee" songs of brown-headed chickadees can be heard occasionally both in December and January. The most regular song of brown-headed chickadees is heard in March - April. In May and June, the activity of singing decreases sharply and may increase again by the time the chicks leave the nest. Both males and females can sing at the puff. But the singing of the females seems to be relatively a rare event. St. Petersburg researchers noted that female puffballs sing more often during the period of rearing the brood and driving the chicks.

Puffs nest in hollows and almost always gouge and pluck them themselves in the rotten wood of alder, aspen or birch. They often make hollows in rotten stumps not high above the ground or in rotten broken tree trunks. Less often they use someone else's hollow, but then they must clean and deepen it. The construction of the hollow together with the nest lasts from 8 to 25 days. The hole diameter is very small, 25-35 mm. The depth of the hollow is from 100 to 200 mm, rarely deeper. The base of the nest consists of pieces of wood, bast, sometimes moss and wool. The tray is laid out from more delicate wool (from the wool of a squirrel, a hare), often with a small admixture of feathers and cobwebs. There are often cases when there is almost no lining and at the bottom of the hollow there is only wood dust, chips of rotten wood and pieces of pine bark, sometimes strips of juniper bast, aspen, hazel. In artificial nesting places, puffs rarely settle. Known nests in unusual places- under the roots of trees, in old nests of thrushes, in slotted half-hollows and in niches pierced by gallstones. A.S. Malchevsky and A.V. Bardeen believe that, despite specialization (gouging hollows), puffs still retain the elements of behavior characteristic of the entire group of tits, which are characterized by a very high nesting polymorphism. It is interesting that, according to the observations of the same authors, each pair first lays several hollows in different places and pounding them one by one, but then focusing on pounding one. E.S. Ptushenko insisted that both partners participate in hollowing out the hollow of the puff. A.S. Malchevsky, Yu.B. Pukinsky and A.V. Bardin indicate that both birds hollow out the hollow, but one female builds the nest. IN AND. Osmolovskaya and A.N. Formozov noted that puffs often pluck their nesting hollows under the very bark and the outer wall of the hollow is then easily dented with a finger. It usually takes 4-6, sometimes 3 or even 2 days to make a nest.

A full clutch (from mid-April to mid-May) of 7-8 white eggs with reddish-brown spots is incubated only by the female from the moment the penultimate egg is laid for 13-14 days. During incubation, the male regularly feeds the female, first outside the hollow, and then in the hollow. Hatching stretches for 1-2, sometimes 3 days. Occasionally the last chick hatches 3-5 days late. In the first 2-3 days after hatching, the female almost does not fly out of the hollow - she incubates the remaining eggs and warms the chicks. The male brings food for the whole family. From the 3-4th day, the female begins to regularly feed the chicks along with the male. On average, there are 13-15 arrivals with food per hour. The size of the hunting area ranges from 5 to 12 thousand m 2. According to E.S. Ptushenko and A.A. Inozemtseva, deciduous forests nesting sites are larger, in conifers - less. Feeding lasts 18-20 days. Young chickadees that have flown out of the hollow are fed by their parents for 7-10 days near the hollow. Filed by A.V. Bardin, at the age of 26-27 days (5-6 days after departure), the chicks are already trying to get food on their own. The earliest disintegration of the brood was noted only 15 days after departure from the nest. The main enemy of the powdery in the nesting season is the great spotted woodpecker, which ruins about 25% of their nests.

The brown-headed titmouse is quite flexible in choosing the places for gathering food, however, most of the food in all seasons in this species is obtained on the branches and in the needles of spruces and pines. This shows the taiga character of the species. Butterfly caterpillars, spiders, and their cocoons form the basis of the nutrition of nestlings. The food of chicks in the first days of their life consists exclusively of small caterpillars of butterflies, larvae of other insects and spiders. Starting from the age of three days, parents often bring small beetles, butterfly pupae, and hymenoptera to the chicks. Shortly before leaving the nest, the chicks begin to be fed with seeds, and the number of caterpillars and spiders decreases. The food composition of fledglings is similar to that of adult birds in the same period. In the diet of adult birds, homoptera (mainly psyllids), lepidoptera (usually only caterpillars), beetles, or beetles (mainly weevils), hymenoptera (riders and sawflies), diptera (mosquitoes, flies), hemiptera (bugs), sometimes earthworms and shellfish. Great importance have seeds of spruce, pine and juniper, which puffs willingly eat not only in winter, but also in summer. In addition, the fruits and seeds of rowan, blueberry, alder, birch, larch, cotoneaster, hop, calico, meadow cornflower, reed grass, horse sorrel, flax, oats, and wheat were noted in the food of these chickadees. In the spring, powdery birds eat anthers of aspen and alder, drink birch sap.

The brown-headed titmouse, like other tits, has a complex sound vocabulary. It is based on whistling contact sounds, which form a special, complexly organized system of signals "qi" ("si"). A slight variation in the speed of issuing signals ("qi", "tsit", "si", "sit", "ti", "chit", etc.) allows you to very subtly reflect the dynamics of ongoing events. Acceleration of cries or their increase is an increase in danger, irritation or anxiety, slowing down is a weakening of anxiety.

When using site materials, it is necessary to put active links to this site, visible to users and search robots.

Pairs of these tits show amazing attachment to certain areas of the forest with an area of ​​10-20 hectares. Their whole life is spent in this limited territory, which they can cross in a matter of minutes. But they perfectly remember every tree here, they know where you can find food, a place to sleep, silt and nests. Every day, flying from tree to tree, they slowly move around their site in search of food, passing a winding path of 3-5 kilometers.

Brown-headed chicks have two songs that are completely different from one another. The so-called whistling song is a series of loud beautiful whistles: "tiu-tiu-tiu-tiu". Each bird uses several of its variants, differing in height and tempo. This song can be heard already in the first sunny days winter, at the end of December. But most of all it attracts attention in March, when there are still few other singing birds. Together with bullfinches, pikas, kinglets and great tits, powdery birds create the sound background of a forest that has just been awakened in spring.

The second song of the puffy - gurgling - is rather quiet and consists of alternating trills: "si-sisi-sisisi-tur-r-lu-lu-lu ..." Not only plump males sing, but also females. The whistling song is most often used to attract a female and keep partners bonding. Gurgling serves as a sign that the individual has a territory and is going to nest here. Special quiet option gurgling songs are sung by males, caring for females.

When the forest is filled with the sound of spring streams, and yellow coltsfoot flowers bloom on their banks, the puffballs begin to look for a place to nest. Like all tits, they nest in hollows. However, unlike other European tits, puffy tits, as well as crested tits, prefer to gouge a hollow themselves. Live trunks are too strong for their small beaks. Therefore, they choose stumps and dead trees with soft rotten wood for hollows. The male and female take turns flying up to the tree and quickly pinching the rotten wood. Having collected as many pieces as possible in its beak, one bird flies off to the side, and another takes its place without delay. When making a hollow, puffers do not throw chips right under it - after all, those, brightly whitening on the forest floor, can give out the location of the nest. With pieces of wood, they fly away and often not just thrown, but hidden between the needles, behind the lagged bark, into the holes in the place of the fallen knots.

The shape of the finished hollow is variable and depends on the location of soft and hard parts of the wood. And when strong knots make the puffers make a move into the hollow, it is very intricate. Most often, the depth of the hollow is 14-16, and the diameter of the bottom is 7-8 centimeters. The nests of brown-headed chickadees are quite different from the nests of other tits - they do not contain moss. This is a rather careless lining of strips of juniper bast, aspen, hazel, pine bark scales, wool and feathers. Like all tits, the nest is built by one female, and the male accompanies her in flights for building material.

Along with woodpeckers, puffers are suppliers of hollows for others. small birds- hollow-nesting, because every year they make a new hollow. Especially often they are occupied by pied flycatchers. Sometimes they unceremoniously kick out puffs even from new hollows, forcing them to throw eggs or small chicks.

The chickadees begin to lay their eggs later than other tits, in early May. The female spends the night in the nest, where the male accompanies her every evening. In the morning, he again flies up to the hollow and calls his girlfriend with a quiet song. Every morning, before leaving the nest, the female lays one egg, white with brown speckles. The birds spend the whole day together. The female often begs for food from the male, at this moment resembling a fledgling asking for food. And she screams like a chick: "si-ti-zhe." The male from time to time gives her the found food, which is very important for the female during the period of intensive development of her eggs, each of which weighs about 1.2 grams and is about a tenth of the body weight of an adult bird. In the first half of the day, the female returns to the nest several times, bringing bundles of wool, dry blades of grass to cover the unfinished masonry.

The first two days after the appearance of the offspring, the female spends most of the day in the hollow, warming the almost naked, with a rare fluff on the head, shoulders and back, babies. There are usually seven or eight chicks. Forage for the whole family is obtained mainly by the male. Then the female more and more often leaves the nest and participates in feeding the chicks along with the male.

Brown-headed chicks often feed chicks - 300-500 times a day. The food is mainly spiders, caterpillars and sawfly larvae. They bring them eggshells, lumps of earth, shells of terrestrial mollusks. For the entire period of nesting life (about 19 days), about 20-30 thousand (800 grams) of various invertebrates disappear in the yellow mouths of the chicks.

The chicks leave the nest already able to fly well. It usually happens early in the morning. For a long time, the chicks look out through the hole in the notch into a new world for them, until the first one suddenly decides to fly. The rest fly out after him and never return to the nest again. Agitated parents often yell and sing a whistling song. They accompany each chick on its first flight to the place where it sits, and immediately feed it.

Appearance and behavior. Small (smaller than a sparrow), modestly colored bird of a typical blue-black appearance with a contrasting black cap and large white cheeks. Body length 11–12 cm, weight 8–15 g. In most of Europe, the range of the puff overlaps with the range of an extremely similar one, it can be difficult to reliably distinguish them from each other.

Description. Male and female are colored the same. The top of the body is brownish-gray, the bottom is lighter, almost white with a slight buffy tinge on the sides of the chest and belly. The wings and tail are almost the same color as the back, slightly darker. On the outer webs of the secondary and tertiary primary feathers, whitish edges are developed, which form a longitudinal narrow on the folded wing. bright field. The entire top of the head to the line of the bridle and eyes forms a contrasting black cap, which, gradually tapering, extends to the back, which makes the head seem disproportionately large. The sides of the head below the cap are pure white, contrasting sharply with the cap. Under the beak there is a large black spot with a slightly blurred lower border. The beak is black, the edges of the mandible are gray. The eyes are black, the paws are bluish-gray. Young birds are similar to adults, but their upperparts are more gray, the cap is duller, brownish-black, cheeks with a noticeable buffy coating, the spot on the throat is pale, brownish. The underparts are whiter, with a noticeable buffy tinge on the flanks and undertail. The beak is brownish, with yellow edges of the mandible and mandible.

With a significant resemblance to the black-headed chickadee, it differs in a number of features that are not always noticeable in the field. The puff looks more big-headed and short-tailed, the cap of the puff is matte black, without shine and goes far on the back. In the black-headed tit, the cap is shiny black and practically does not go over the back. The spot under the beak of the puff is much larger, more triangular than rounded. The general color tone of the puff is more gray, less brownish, light "cheeks" take up relatively large area than that of the chickadee, they are pure white, with little or no ocher tinge. Most notable hallmark powdery - light edges of secondary flight feathers, which form a contrasting light field on a dark wing. In the northern part of its range, the puff is found together with, sometimes even hybridizing with it. It differs from it in smaller sizes, the presence of a contrasting black rather than a grayish-brown cap, a not so large throat patch and a much lesser development of buffy color on the sides.

Voice. In powdery it is thinner, quieter and more uniform than in black-headed tit. The most characteristic call is a combination of two short whistles with the sounds " zhzhe...»: « tssi-tssi ... zhzhe-zhzhe-zhzhzhe". It also emits dry trills brrrrr...". individual short high whistles these...», « sip..." or " cit...". Buzzing calls " zhe-zhe..." or " charr-charr...» the puff is quieter, softer, higher in tone. The song of the powdery is a small series of repeated monosyllabic whistles " ti-ti-ti-ti..." or " sip sip sip...", less often whistles are disyllabic" tiu-tiu-tiu...". Mostly males sing at puffs, females very rarely.

Distribution, status. The area covers the whole forest zone Palearctic from Western Europe to Sakhalin and Kamchatka, European Russia- before steppe zone. Sedentary bird, makes minor post-nesting migrations; northern populations roam more widely than southern ones. IN northern forests the puff often outnumbers all other birds. To the southern border of the range, its number decreases, however, even here it continues to be a very common bird.

Lifestyle. Differences in the biotopic preferences of the powdery tit and the black-headed tit help to identify the species in the field. Powdery everywhere gravitates towards the most different types coniferous forests, thus reaching the tundra zone. Often in various small-leaved stands, ripe deciduous forests avoids. It tends to edge areas and floodplain thickets. With enough food, it can withstand very harsh winters; with a massive crop failure of coniferous seeds, one can observe massive invasions in more southern regions. For most of the year, the puffballs live in pairs and small flocks, in which there is a complex hierarchy, depending on the sex and age of the birds.

The diet is varied, including primarily invertebrates, as well as fruits and seeds of wild and cultivated plants. Eats flowers, buds, drinks the juice of various trees. In late summer and autumn, it stores food for the winter. Common in winter on feeders, a typical member of mixed titmouse flocks. Breeds from April to July. Monogamous species, pairs persist for life.