Hi abody,

Nice to see you again 🙂

Today’s bird is the great tit.

It is the same family as the bird we met yesterday, the blue tit. If you compare the two, there are quite a few differences in the colour of their feathers.

 

Challenge – can you make a table like this to show their differences?

Bird name	Blue tit	Great tit
Head colour
Tum colour
Wing colour
Song
Anything else?

 

Challenge – can you draw the great tit?

In the video…

It is foraging time – the great tit is finding food for its young. On a cold day, little birds can use up energy very quickly and so they have to eat more often. Little birds like the tits dart about a lot and are hard to see sometimes.

Bird sounds – if you listen carefully, there are lots of bird sounds in the film. There is a great tit calling at 26-29 secs – ‘deje, deje, deje’, can you hear it? See below for more intel.

 

Why do you think the great tit got its name?

Challenge – can you make up a wee tale as to why the great tit got its name? I’d love to hear it 🙂

Time for a Tale

This is a story called ‘The Ugly Queen’ from the telling of Duncan Williamson

 

Extra intel

1 Bird clothes

In Chirpy Challenge 1 we spoke about how some Mr (Male) and Mrs (Female) birds are similar colours – and great tits are an example; both sexes look the same.

In Springtime all birds look very sleek and bright, but as the nesting season progresses, the parent birds are so busy feeding young, that they do not have much time to feed themselves. By July you will notice, the colour of their feathers will have become dull.

Here’s a game about feathers from the nature organisation, RSPB: https://www.rspb.org.uk/fun-and-learning/for-kids/games-and-activities/online-games-for-kids/feather-frenzy/

2 Bird nests and young

In Chirpy Challenge 1 we spoke about birds, having different ways of eating, perching and flying. Another way to learn about birds is to see how and where they nest.

This great tit is nesting in a hollow tree and that is often their favoured kind of site, though they will use nest boxes.

During the nesting season great tits feed mostly on insects and larvae, which are rich in protein and help their babies to grow. But often through winter, when insects are scarce, great tits and other tits will feed on fruit and seeds and they are very glad to be fed by humans. Here is more info if you want to learn more: http://voice.gardenbird.co.uk/all-about-the-great-tit/

3 Bird songs

In Chirpy Challenge 1 we discovered that birds sing for different reasons, but often it is to say, ‘Keep out!’ or “This is my girl! Back off!’ Some birds have longer songs and short calls – some are alarm calls.

A great tit has some loud, varied distinctive calls, one of which I think sounds like a squeaky swing. Can you hear that call in this video? : https: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gdYSB4Z_G0Y

Challenge –can you try and draw the calls you’ve just heard?                                          

Can you describe what the other calls remind you of?

Be great to hear your comments, see your drawings and hear your tales, you can add them to the Woodside or the Silverhaar facebook page 🙂

See you tomorrow 🙂