pale great tit in Merseyside, England (2 Viewers)

[ste]

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/

 

[Frenchy]

Hi Ste

Bird like this do turn up from time to time in every part of the country i've ever lived in. I'm not sure if they are Scandinavian or not, but they are not that unusual, and it may just be a variation. There is a similar bird at Titchwell at the moment, and there was one in my garden a few weeks ago.Having said that, a bird i saw on Unst that was undoubtedly Scandanavian in origin was very similar to this, and i can't recall whether i've ever seen pale birds like this during the breeding season, or just in winter.

As an additional point, i once caught a blue tit in Staffs that had all of the yellow replaced with white, and all of the green replaced with frosty blue. Now that was a weird bird. I have photo's of it, but they're on slide and i don't have a scanner.

 

[Xenospiza]

From the first picture, I guess it's "just" a (scary!) Great Tit with too little yellow (for one reason or another).
There are pale far eastern "Great Tits", but the colouration is not right for those.

 

[luke]

there is a bird exactly the same visiting a feeding station me and another member (mike from ebbw) set up in a local woodland

 

[garry1366]

As an additional point, i once caught a blue tit in Staffs that had all of the yellow replaced with white, and all of the green replaced with frosty blue. Now that was a weird bird. I have photo's of it, but they're on slide and i don't have a scanner.

It didn't have white in the tail and two white wing bars did it?

G

 

[pinky & rosie]

was just wondering sorry where about it is u go birding and could u please help me out with some directions i live in knowsley not too far from prescott.

Thanx Rosie

 

[ste]

Thanks for the replies,
I just seem to remember seeing an article in one of the birding mags a few years ago that this type of great tit were continental birds. I suppose we do get an influx of great tits in the winter from scandinavia?
Ste

 

[Macswede]

Quite a large proportion of the Great Tits here in the Stockholm area look fairly similar to these pale birds but by no means all of them. Must admit I've wondered myself what the explanation is.
Graham

 

[Pete Mella]

It didn't have white in the tail and two white wing bars did it?

G

Was wondering that meself!

 

[KnockerNorton]

It's almost certainly a 1st winter female. They often look like this. I ringed plenty the other day.

 

[Frenchy]

It didn't have white in the tail and two white wing bars did it?

G

It was wearing Russian underpants. Didn't think much of it at the time.... :-O

 

[ste]

Quite a large proportion of the Great Tits here in the Stockholm area look fairly similar to these pale birds but by no means all of them. Must admit I've wondered myself what the explanation is.
Graham

Thats very interesting Macswede. When you say a large proportion what percentage would you estimate are pale birds.

 

[Colin Key]

Hi Ste

As an additional point, i once caught a blue tit in Staffs that had all of the yellow replaced with white, and all of the green replaced with frosty blue. Now that was a weird bird. I have photo's of it, but they're on slide and i don't have a scanner.

I saw a Great Tit like this a couple of years ago here in Algarve; the yellow was off-white and the black was grey - weird bird, and it was just the call which made me realise what it was.

Colin

 

[Macswede]

Thats very interesting Macswede. When you say a large proportion what percentage would you estimate are pale birds.

After conferring with the wife we've arrived at the totally unscientific figure of 25%
Graham

 

[Pete Mella]

It was wearing Russian underpants. Didn't think much of it at the time.... :-O

You should never wear Russian underpants. Chernobyl fallout.

 

[ste]

After conferring with the wife we've arrived at the totally unscientific figure of 25%
Graham

Well If nothing else it suggests that there are more of these pale birds in your part of the world (scandinavia) than over here in britain.We certainly dont have 25 % here.

 

[Steven Astley]

admittedly I have had a few beers tonight but this just looks like a normal female great tit. Lots look like this get some feeders and see. god bless

 

[ste]

OK. I give in!

First winter female it is then.

Thanks for all the replies

Ste

 

[garry1366]

A Great Tit was trapped at Spurn a couple of weeks ago that had previously been rung in the Netherlands. Barry Spence (the old warden) commented that to his knowledge there are only a couple of previous records of Great Tits trapped in Britain wearing foreign rings with so many pale birds about in Britain it seems unlikely that they are from the north or east otherwise surely they would be trapped regularly.

G

 

[ste]

An excellent peice of information Garry.It seems that mainland europe great tits are fairly sedentary making these pale great tits British females.
Ste