With their extra-long tails making it easy to accurately identify the species, long-tailed tits are a common sight in early spring, busily flitting between trees and bushes collecting material to craft their impressive nests. Their active, noisy behaviour and unusual appearance makes them fascinating to watch, as they are frequently spotted in groups of up to 30 family members.
Long-tailed Tit
A pair of Long-tailed tits - one in flight, coming in to land
As you might imagine, a long-tailed tit’s primary distinguishing feature is nothing other than its long tail, and this is particularly evident in flight. They are delicate, plump-bodied birds, with their lollipop-stick tail accounting for up to two-thirds of their total length.
Females and males are alike in appearance and in size. Both have distinctive black and white wings, black backs, a black tail and dusky pink shoulders. Their face and belly are an off-white colour, marked with a wide black stripe above the eye, and their flanks have a pinkish tinge.
Juvenile long-tailed tits are darker than adults, and have shorter, browner tails. For the first few months after fledging, young long-tailed tits have dusky bandit-style facial markings.
How big are Long-tailed Tits?
If it wasn’t for their exceptionally long tails, long-tailed tits would be among the smallest British bird species. Their tails account for up to two-thirds of their total size, and their body alone is a mere 5 cm to 6 cm (2 in to 2.4 in).
Length: Total length: 12 cm to 16 cm (4.7 in to 6.3 in)
Body length: 5 cm to 6 cm (2 in to 2.4 in)
Tail length: 6 cm to 10 cm ( 2.4 in to 3.9 in)
Weight: Around 9 g (0.3 oz), which is roughly the same weight as a £1 coin.
Wingspan: 16 cm to 19 cm (6.3 in to 7.5 in)
Close up of a perched Long-tailed Tit
Did you know?
Its long, elegant tail is used for communication with other birds and balancing on branches.
Calls & Sounds
What sound does a Long-tailed Tit make?
Long-tailed tits are noisy, vocal birds, with a high-pitched “see-see-see” call frequently heard in flight and when feeding in trees.
This whistle-like contact call is often followed by an excitable twittering, regularly heard when larger flocks of long-tailed tits are gathered together in the branches of trees, foraging for tiny insects.
Invertebrates, including spiders, larvae, caterpillars and the eggs of moths, form the main part of a long-tailed tits’ diet. Some seeds and buds may also be eaten, especially in the autumn and winter months. They are also sometimes observed to drink sap.
When tackling an insect that is particularly large, long-tailed tits may acrobatically twirl into a precarious one-footed upside-down position, gripping the prey with its other foot.
Hanging bird feeders stocked with peanuts and suet may attract long-tailed tits to a back garden.
What do baby Long-tailed Tits eat?
Long-tailed tit hatchlings are fed tiny regurgitated invertebrates, by both parents, and frequently by other unmated individual birds from within the wider family group.
Long-tailed Tit eating seeds from a bird feeder
Did you know?
The long-tailed tit is not actually a tit, but is more closely related to babblers.
Habitat & Distribution
What is the habitat of a Long-tailed Tit?
One of the preferred habitats of long-tailed tits is deciduous woodland with large areas of shrubbery and heathland.
Trees that they can be frequently seen energetically foraging for insects in include oak, ash and sycamore. Parks and gardens are also common spots for parties of long-tailed tits to gather together.
What is the range of a Long-tailed Tit?
Long-tailed tits have a wide distribution range, living and breeding across the UK (except in the far north of Scotland and its offshore islands).
Various subspecies of long-tailed tits are widespread across Europe; a Scandinavian subspecies is sometimes spotted in the UK in winter, and can be distinguished from native birds as their heads are pure white.
Where do Long-tailed Tits live?
Deciduous woodlands offer an ideal habitat for breeding and foraging long-tailed tits, with nest sites commonly chosen in brambles, thorny hedgerows and trees with dense summer foliage, such as blackthorn and hawthorn, as these are less likely to be accessed by predators.
Long-tailed tits are also regularly spotted in residential areas, visiting parks, gardens and hedgerows alongside rivers and footbaths.
Woodland and forests are two of the best places to spot Long-tailed tits
How rare are Long-tailed Tits?
An estimated 380,000 breeding pairs of long-tailed tits live in the UK, with birdwatch records reporting the species as a visitor to between 36 percent and 50 percent of all gardens.
Where can you see Long-tailed Tits in the UK?
Long-tailed tits are widespread across the UK all year round. Only the most isolated, mountainous regions of northern Scotland and the Scottish islands do not have any native populations.
They are common in parks, gardens, and hedgerows, and early spring is a good time to spot them, as they energetically collect nesting materials and begin constructing their intricate domed nests.
Long-tailed Tit perched on a branch
Lifespan & predation
How long do Long-tailed Tits live?
On average, the lifespan in the wild for long-tailed tits is between two and three years. However, the oldest known individual bird recorded was 8 years and 11 months, identified through a ringing scheme.
What are the predators of Long-tailed Tits?
Sparrowhawks are among the chief predators of adult long-tailed tits, while their nests, eggs and young are frequently targeted by crows, jays and magpies, as well as occasionally weasels.
Are Long-tailed Tits protected?
Like all of our wild bird species here in the UK, long-tailed tits are protected under the Wildlife and Countryside Act, 1981. It’s an offence to deliberately kill or injure a long-tailed tit, and this legislation also safeguards their eggs and nest site from damage or destruction.
Are Long-tailed Tits endangered?
Long-tailed tits are classed as a species of least concern. They are widespread and common across Europe and found throughout the UK, apart from in the most inhospitable regions of the Highlands of Scotland and its offshore islands.
Long-tailed tits are protected under the Wildlife and Countryside Act, 1981
Breeding
Where do Long-tailed Tits nest?
Male and female long-tailed tits work together to construct their nests, which are typically found no more than 3 m (9.8 ft) above the ground. Nests are usually tucked inside thorny bushes, hedgerows or built in a fork between the branches of a tree, particularly hawthorn or blackthorn.
Long-tailed tits’ nests are oval cup-like structures, crafted from moss and spiders’ webs and covered in lichen, and topped with a protective roof. Thousands of tiny, downy feathers are added to the nest as a soft lining on which the eggs are laid.
For more information on Long-tailed Tit nesting, check out this guide.
What do Long-tailed Tit eggs look like?
A typical long-tailed tit clutch consists of anywhere between 6 to 15 smooth, glossy white eggs, marked with red-purple speckles. Eggs measure 14 mm by 10 mm (0.6 in by 0.4 in), barely larger than a peanut. Eight to twelve is the most common number of hatchlings in a brood.
Females alone incubate the eggs – laid from April onwards – for between 12 and 14 days.
Do Long-tailed Tits mate for life?
Long-tailed tits form pairs early in spring and remain together throughout the breeding season. Once breeding is over, they spend winters in large flocks known as ‘parties’, and frequently huddle together to conserve warmth during overnight roosts.
Close up of a perched juvenile Long-tailed tit
Behaviour
Are Long-tailed Tits aggressive?
A highly sociable species, long-tailed tits live in loose flocks all year round. Helper birds are commonly recruited to assist with nest building and care of young, which in turn gives them a headstart when they are ready to breed.
Outside the breeding season, long-tailed tits will often join mixed-species groups with other small birds, including great tits and blue tits.
They are a lively, energetic species, and are tolerant of the presence of other similar-sized birds, although they seem less enthusiastic at being in close proximity to humans.
Migration
Do Long-tailed Tits migrate?
Long-tailed tits are largely sedentary birds, and do not travel far from their breeding grounds throughout the year. Winters are particularly harsh for these tiny birds, who gather in communal family roosts to take advantage of shared body heat on the coldest nights.
