UK Great Tit - unusual colouring or hybrid? (1 Viewer)

[Pitvar]

Hello all, I know there can be some variation in Blue Tits [witness the dark blue headed pictures on here recently] but today I spotted the attached Great Tit - my feeling is that its just an unusual colouration on its left side but given:

[a] the pronounced white patch at the rear of the cap/nape
the very weak centre stripe
[c] the uniform colour of the upper wing and back feathers - I'd expect to see more blue/grey coverts above the wing bar?

I wondered of there's any chance of it being a hybrid with a blue tit - although I can't find any reference to this and guess the size difference between Blue and Great would make it impossible?

Any comments appreciated. Apologies for the poor shots - it was a dark snowy morning in Cheshire!

 

[Motmot]

Female Great Tit

 

[KnockerNorton]

Wild hybrids among passerines (perching birds) of different genera are extremely rare. Out of all the millions of Blue and Great Tits ringed in the UK over the last 50 years, I don't think there has been a single record of a hybrid.

But this bird is a first-winter female Great Tit. The only thing slightly odd about it is the left flank. But this is a well-known condition, and is caused by a parasite (probably insects) eating away the ends of the feathers. This occurs on many small cavity-roosting birds, such as the tits and Nuthatches, and so probably happens at night while they're roosting. The featehrs are fluffed up in a ball, and the belly is probably in contact with the surface where the insects have been hiding. This might be an old nest in a hole, with the insects otherwise eating the fibres and feathers in that. It doesn't do them any favours, but some survive.

I don't think anyone has tracked down the exact culprit, but it's the same principle as having your woolly jumper nibbled by critters in the wardrobe.

 

[Apodemus]

.... I don't think anyone has tracked down the exact culprit, but it's the same principle as having your woolly jumper nibbled by critters in the wardrobe.

Quite. And before there were such things as houses and wardrobes, those same critters originated in birds' nests, nibbling feathers.

 

[Gwynn]

I agree that this is a Great Tit this thread http://www.birdforum.net/showthread.php?t=153721 maybe of interest to you

Gwynn

 

[KnockerNorton]

I agree that this is a Great Tit this thread http://www.birdforum.net/showthread.php?t=153721 maybe of interest to you

Gwynn

That's typical of many of the 'records' of hybrids. The bird is clearly a slightly dark Blue Tit. It shows no Great Tit characters at all. The weight is fine for a large Blue Tit. People tend to jump to the 'hybrid' conclusion before considering the 'extreme variation' one, but solid irrefutable evidence of hybrids is extremely rare. Blue and Great Tits are in totally different genera and quite distantly related - it would be be like a Reed Bunting hybridising with a Linnet. And probably as common.

 

[Pitvar]

Thanks very much all, my initial guess was nearly right and fascinating stuff!

 

[stonedandy]

Hello all, I know there can be some variation in Blue Tits [witness the dark blue headed pictures on here recently] but today I spotted the attached Great Tit - my feeling is that its just an unusual colouration on its left side but given:

[a] the pronounced white patch at the rear of the cap/nape
the very weak centre stripe
[c] the uniform colour of the upper wing and back feathers - I'd expect to see more blue/grey coverts above the wing bar?

I wondered of there's any chance of it being a hybrid with a blue tit - although I can't find any reference to this and guess the size difference between Blue and Great would make it impossible?

Any comments appreciated. Apologies for the poor shots - it was a dark snowy morning in Cheshire!

I have seen a Great tit in my garden a few times recently that has a broad white stripe down the back of it's black cap, I'm thinking this must be a natural colour variation?

 

[dantheman]

I have seen a Great tit in my garden a few times recently that has a broad white stripe down the back of it's black cap, I'm thinking this must be a natural colour variation?

Have you checked out Coal Tit? White stripes in Great Tits isn't within normal variation as well as I'm aware ... but ...

Welcome to BF btw.