Birds / Tits

Long-tailed Tit

Aegithalos caudatus

Also known as Bottle tit

Common All year Woodland Gardens

Test yourself

Recording: Patrik Åberg / xeno-canto

Sounds like

Thin, high 'see-see-see' notes and buzzing 'tsirrup' calls as a family flock moves through the trees.

Remember it

A travelling party: tiny buzzes and squeaks passing from tree to tree.

When and where

Listening for the long-tailed tit

Heard: JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
All year round
Time of day: 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.

Long-tailed Tit

Aegithalos caudatus

JFMAMJJASOND

A travelling party: tiny buzzes and squeaks passing from tree to tree.

Blue Tit

Cyanistes caeruleus

JFMAMJJASOND

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

Coal Tit

Periparus ater

JFMAMJJASOND

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

Could you pick out a long-tailed tit?

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

Play the quiz

Same habitat

Also in woodland

See all

Blackbird

Turdus merula

JFMAMJJASOND

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

Chaffinch

Fringilla coelebs

JFMAMJJASOND

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

Dunnock

Prunella modularis

JFMAMJJASOND

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

Great Tit

Parus major

JFMAMJJASOND

A loud, ringing, two-note 'tea-cher, tea-cher, tea-cher', plus a huge range of other calls.