pale great tit in Merseyside, England (1 Viewer)

[Jos Stratford]

It seems that mainland europe great tits are fairly sedentary making these pale great tits British females.
Ste

Not quite so, birds at least in the north and east of the continent are highly migratory, just might not make it as far as Britain. Visit a coastal observation point in Lithuania in October and it is entirely possible to have hundreds of Great Tits (and Blue Tits, Coal Tits, etc) moving - the biggest movement I have personally recorded was approximately 5500 Great Tits/hour. Additionally, ringing Great Tits at my feeding stations in winter reveals an added detail - almost all Great Tits present are adult males, the majority of females and young having migrated south. Quite probably many of these males are also migrants, having come in from further north.


PS pale birds, as in your photo, are not very common out here, quite the opposite. I would guess I see such less than once or twice a year.

 

[Upland Birder]

Hi All

A great tit caught my eye yesterday whilst birding at Prescot reservoirs. It was a lot paler than the other great tits present. Its breast was a pale buff and the mantle was a grey blue as opposed to the other great tits present having yellow breasts and green mantles.
Is this a scandinavian race of great tit? Does it have a name?

Thanks Ste

http://stevesbirding.blogspot.com/

Hi Ste and and all,

I saw 2 Great Tits with the same features two weekends ago when surveying a feeding station on a farm near Marton in Cheshire for the RSPB Operation Tree Sparrow project.

I was quite surprised by their prescence as I had not seen them before and watched them for a while. I thought I am going to have to get the field ID guide out and have a look.


Thanks Dean

 

[Penny Pickle]

You should never wear Russian underpants. Chernobyl fallout.

Perfect,never heard that one! 😂🤣😂
Mine is a very delayed reaction as I'm just reading the thread about pale Great Tits, having just
seen one at a garden feeder in June 2022!!