Willow Tit

How to recognise it

• Matt black cap and bib, grey-brown back and whitish belly
• Pure white cheeks reaching all the way back to the nape
• Thick neck, often described as a bull neck, and short, stubby black bill
• Pale wing panel on the folded wing, and the sexes look alike

Call and song

The most common call is a nasal "zee, zee, zee", and the alarm call is a drawn-out "tsitsidäää". The song is five to six falling whistled notes that sound melancholy, plaintive piping like "dju-dju-dju-dju-dju".

Where and when

The Willow Tit occurs commonly in almost all of Sweden, except on Gotland and in parts of Skåne. The population was estimated at 542 000 pairs in 2018, but it has declined markedly since the 1970s. It is reported most from November to February, and its share of all bird reports is highest in Norrbotten, Jämtland and Västerbotten.

Food and behaviour

The Willow Tit eats beetles, insects, spiders and their relatives, and seeds. In winter it lives largely on seeds it stored in autumn in bark crevices and under lichens. It keeps to its territory all year, often two pairs share one territory, and it visits bird tables. It often digs out its own nest hole, usually in a rotten stump or a decaying tree.