Eurasian Blue Tit Life History

Habitat

Eurasian Blue Tits inhabit deciduous and mixed woodlands, as well as city parks, suburban gardens, orchards, thickets, hedgerows, and other habitats. They are common in gardens, where the combination of nest boxes and bird feeders contributes to high breeding success. Outside of the breeding season, they also forage frequently in reedbeds.

Food

Eurasian Blue Tits feed mainly on insects, spiders, and other invertebrates, but they eat some seeds and berries and regularly visit bird feeders. During the spring, they also take advantage of nectar and pollen sources. They forage largely in trees and may spend up to 30 minutes carefully inspecting a single tree for food. Blue Tits are very active, agile foragers, hopping through trees, using their bill or legs to flip over leaves and twigs, and frequently hanging upside down (sometimes by a single leg) to glean adult insects, larvae, and pupae from the underside of vegetation.

Nesting

Nest Placement

Nest is placed in a cavity, including natural tree holes, nest boxes, or holes in walls, poles, etc.

Nest Description

The nest is cup shaped, placed in the bottom of the cavity or nest box, and often built on a base of moss and dry grass or straw. The cup is lined with fine materials including hair, grass, wool, and feathers.

Nesting Facts

Behavior

Eurasian Blue Tits are bold, active birds that readily nest in walls or pipes and take advantage of offerings at bird feeders. Outside of the breeding season, they are social birds, with family groups merging to form large groups, which in turn join mixed-species flocks that include Long-tailed Tit, Goldcrest, and Eurasian Treecreeper.

Eurasian Blue Tits are generally monogamous, with pairs usually staying together for life. Pair bonding involves “moth display flights” with shallow, rapid wingbeats; “butterfly display flights” with deep, slow wingbeats; “high display flights” that involve flying as high as 6 meters (20 feet) and then diving back down; and “dance displays” in which males hop about near the nest cavity while showcasing their rich blue crown, wings, and tail. Some males are polygamous, mating with more than one female. These females all nest within the male’s territory, and he attends to each of their nests. The female builds the nest and is responsible for all incubation and brooding. Both sexes feed the nestlings, which typically leave the nest after about three weeks.

Conservation

The International Union for Conservation of Nature lists Eurasian Blue Tit’s conservation status as Least Concern, due to an extremely large range, an increasing population trend, and an extremely large population size. BirdLife International’s 2020 assessment of this species in Europe estimated the European breeding population at 59.7–95.1 million mature individuals.

Credits

BirdLife International. 2021. Cyanistes caeruleus (Europe assessment). The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species 2021: e.T103761667A200218007. https://dx.doi.org/10.2305/IUCN.UK.2021-3.RLTS.T103761667A200218007.en.

Cramp, S., and C. M. Perrins (1993). The Birds of the Western Palearctic. Volume 7. Flycatchers to Shrikes. Oxford University Press, Oxford, UK.

Gosler, A., P. Clement, and D. A. Christie (2020). Eurasian Blue Tit (Cyanistes caeruleus), version 1.0. In Birds of the World (J. del Hoyo, A. Elliott, J. Sargatal, D. A. Christie, and E. de Juana, Editors). Cornell Lab of Ornithology, Ithaca, NY, USA. https://doi.org/10.2173/bow.blutit.01

International Union for Conservation of Nature (2022). The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. Version 2022-2. https://www.iucnredlist.org.

Jonsson, L. (1992). Birds of Europe: with North Africa and the Middle East. Christopher Helm, London, United Kingdom.

Matthysen, E., Adriaensen, F. and Dhondt, A.A. (2011). Multiple responses to increasing spring temperatures in the breeding cycle of Blue and Great Tits (Cyanistes caeruleus, Parus major). Global Change Biol. 17: 1-16.

Svensson, L., K. Mullarney, and D. Zetterström (2009). Collins Bird Guide. Second edition. HarperCollins, London, UK.

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