ChickadeesEurasian Blue TitCyanistes caeruleus
- ORDER: Passeriformes
- FAMILY: Paridae
Basic Description
Beautifully adorned in soft blue and yellow tones, Eurasian Blue Tits are delightful denizens of woodlands, parks, and backyard gardens, where they are familiar sights at bird feeders and nest boxes. These energetic little birds call frequently as they move about trees, acrobatically probing leaves and branches for adult insects and larvae. They're curious and intelligent, too: in the 1900s, some enterprising Eurasian Blue Tits learned how to puncture the tops of home-delivered milk bottles to drink the cream at the top.
More ID InfoOther Names
- Herrerillo Común (Spanish)
- Mésange bleue (French)
- Cool Facts
- Climate change seems to be accelerating the breeding season of Eurasian Blue Tits and Great Tits in Belgium. Between 1979 and 2007, as spring temperatures warmed, the two species sped up their nesting cycles by 2–3 days and made fewer second breeding attempts each year.
- In 20th-century Europe, when milk was delivered in glass bottles to the doorsteps of homes, Eurasian Blue Tits and Great Tits learned to puncture the bottles’ foil caps to drink the high-fat cream that floated to the top.
- For a species that weighs barely more than a 2-euro coin, Eurasian Blue Tits can live a long time—the oldest recorded individual lived 12 years and 4 months.