Warble UK
Coal Tit
Photo: Alexis Lours / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY 4.0

Birds / Tits

Coal Tit

Periparus ater
Common All year WoodlandGardens
Test yourself

Recording: Stuart Fisher / xeno-canto

Sounds like

A fast, high, two-note phrase repeated several times: 'pitchoo-pitchoo-pitchoo'. Thinner and quicker than a great tit.

Remember it

A great tit on fast-forward, usually from a conifer.

When and where

Listening for the coal tit

Heard
JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
Jan to Jun
Time of day
Dawn and Day
Where
Woodland, Gardens
In Britain
All year
Family
Tits

Side by side

Often confused with

Play them one after the other and listen for the difference.

Coal Tit

Coal Tit

Periparus ater
JFMAMJJASOND

A great tit on fast-forward, usually from a conifer.

Great Tit

Great Tit

Parus major
JFMAMJJASOND

'Teacher, teacher.' And if you hear a call you can't place, guess great tit.

Marsh Tit

Marsh Tit

Poecile palustris
JFMAMJJASOND

'Pitchoo!' like a sneeze. Despite the name, a bird of dry woodland.

Blue Tit

Blue Tit

Cyanistes caeruleus
JFMAMJJASOND

Two pins dropped on a plate, then a tiny rattle.

Could you pick out a coal tit?

Hear a song, choose from four birds, and build your streak.

Play the quiz

Same habitat

Also in woodland

See all
Blackbird

Blackbird

Turdus merula
JFMAMJJASOND

Slow, rich, fluting phrases that wander about and often trail off into a quiet chuckle.

Chaffinch

Chaffinch

Fringilla coelebs
JFMAMJJASOND

A cheerful, accelerating run of notes that tumbles down and ends in a flourish, repeated over and over.

Dunnock

Dunnock

Prunella modularis
JFMAMJJASOND

A hurried, flat, squeaky warble that stays on one level and stops abruptly, like a squeaky wheel turning.

Jay

Jay

Garrulus glandarius
JFMAMJJASOND

A harsh, tearing scream, 'kschaak', that carries through woodland.