Sombre Tit

How to recognise it

• Very large black bib that leaves the white cheek as only a narrow wedge
• Brown-tinged greyish black cap reaching far down the head
• Male sooty brownish black on crown and nape, female more chocolate brown there
• Size and proportions of a Great Tit, with a fairly strong bill

Call and song

The simple song resembles a Marsh Tit's but with an impure voice, roughly "tjriv-tjriv-tjriv". Calls are Blue Tit-like and scolding like a sparrow, sometimes with a harsher tone. A characteristic call is a buzzing "tschrrrr", and the alarm is a fairly deep, Great Tit-like "tchetchetche".

Where and when

The Sombre Tit does not occur in Sweden, and there are no reports in Artportalen from 2016 to 2025. It is resident but may move to lower areas in parts of its range. It occurs from sea level up to 2 300 metres.

Food and behaviour

It feeds mainly on insects, especially caterpillars and other larvae, searching on the ground and in lower branches. Compared with other tits it is fairly quiet and retiring. It breeds from March to early August in holes in rotting fruit trees, in nest boxes or in rock crevices. The female alone incubates five to seven eggs for 12 to 14 days, and both parents feed the young.