• 

  Profile

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  In flight

Songbirds

Crested Tit

Lophophanes cristatus

• rare
• 55 km/h
• Least Concern

Pines only. The little punk of the boreal forest, delivering messages from the spruce tops.

Population

Global population estimated at roughly 9.7–17.4 million mature individuals (BirdLife International 2021; Europe alone holds 9.23–16.5 million mature individuals / 4.61–8.22 million breeding pairs and comprises ~95% of global range). UK is a small outlying population: ~1,000 breeding pairs (BTO, 2007 estimate), confined to Scottish Caledonian pinewoods.

Habitat

Coniferous forests (pine, spruce); also deciduous and mixed woodland in parts of France and the Iberian Peninsula

Fun fact

The Crested Tit is named for its pointed, erectile black-and-white speckled crest — a feature unique among European tits — reflected directly in its genus name Lophophanes, from Greek "lophos" (crest) + "phaino" (to show/display).

Range

Central, northern and parts of southern Europe, from Iberia and France east to Scandinavia and Russia; in Great Britain restricted mainly to ancient Caledonian pinewoods around Inverness and Strathspey, Scotland

Diet

Insects and other invertebrates (including caterpillars) in summer; seeds, especially pine/conifer seeds, in winter, which it also caches for later retrieval

Size

0.115 m

Wingspan

0.185 m

Lifespan

8 years