African Blue Tit

How to recognise it

• Blackish-blue crown framed by white forehead and eyebrow, grey-blue back without green
• White cheeks bordered by black chin, black collar and blackish eye-stripe
• Dark yellow underparts with a black lengthwise stripe on the belly
• Sexes alike, young birds have a yellow eyebrow and nape and usually lack the belly stripe

Call and song

The song is a varied repetition of one or two notes. Some calls recall those of the Great Tit, others those of the Crested Tit.

Where and when

The African Blue Tit does not occur in Sweden and has no reports in Artportalen 2016 to 2025. It lives in various woodland, from laurel forest and tree heath to mountain pine forest, and in parks and gardens, especially with fruit trees. On Fuerteventura and Lanzarote it breeds mostly in low scrub woodland with Tamarix and Phoenix. Breeding is from February to July, possibly also October to January.

Food and behaviour

It is seen alone, in pairs or in small groups and is often easy to approach. It forages at all levels in trees and bushes and sometimes hangs upside down from branches, cones and leaves. Its food is aphids, small moths and beetles and their larvae, including many different caterpillars.