Tufted Titmouse

Tufted Titmouse Range

Tufted Titmouse Images

They are common in the eastern region of the Great Plains in the woodlands of the eastern, south-eastern, and mid-western US, and in southern Ontario. Since the 1940’s they have also expanded throughout the eastern seaboard and are still now continuing to expand their distribution range northwards into Canada.

These birds prefer living in woodlands, shade trees, groves, primarily in the deciduous forests with tall trees, and sometimes even in mixed forests. In the suburbs or countryside, they choose to live in orchards, suburbs, or even city parks provided there are a number of large trees.

The Black-crested Titmouse of Texas and Mexico has at times been considered just a subspecies of the Tufted Titmouse, but they are now considered as a different species.

They have slight differences in the quality of their calls, as also display genetic differences. Also, the black-crested is bolder and more confident than the tufted.

Social Behavior

The Tufted Titmice are territorial and would defend their territory all year round from the intrusion of other titmice. In the winter months, the different territories of birds would join together in mixed flocks to forage for food. However, by February, the pairs would separate from the winter flocks before they get ready for mating. It has also been noticed that, during their search for food, not just other titmice, but birds of other species like Brown Creepers, Kinglets, Carolina Chickadees, White-breasted Nuthatches, and Downy Woodpeckers also join their flocks.

Tufted titmice are energetic and active birds that are seen hopping around on the outer branches of trees and sometimes even hovering momentarily. Though, they would search for food in the ground as well. While eating, the birds would open seeds and acorns holding them with feet and pounding with the beak. These are diurnal birds and are not active after sundown. Titmice do not migrate extensively, but stay in their territory, inside their nest throughout the winter months. The birds would communicate with each other by sounds, movements, and postures.

Picture of Tufted Titmouse

Tufted Titmouse Photos

Feeding Behavior

The tufted titmice store seeds in cavities and cracks in trees or even under objects on the ground. They would often be lured by sunflower seeds offered by humans, and would carry them to their nests, one at a time. These birds are fairly confident and can even be trained to come for food when called for, recognizing human voices, and would consume food from their hands. However, the black-capped titmice are prompter in this regard.

Video: Tufted Titmouse Bird Feeder

Diet: What Do Tufted Titmice Eat

Insects and seeds mostly make up their daily selection of foods, with insects covering almost 2/3^rd of their diet, with the caterpillars topping their summer diet chart, while small fruits, nuts, seeds and berries top the winter chart. They also feast upon sawfly larvae, snails, beetles, true bugs, wasps, spiders, bees, scale insects, insect eggs and pupae.

Tufted Titmouse Pictures

Tufted Titmouse Size

Reproduction and Life Cycle

These birds are monogamous and form pairs. The mating season of the tufted titmice is in summer, between March and May. Though most chickadees flock around in large groups outside the breeding season, the tufted titmouse does not. They usually live within their own territory forming a pair. These birds nestle in different cavities of trees, as also in manmade nest box and birdhouse. However, they are not able to dig the holes themselves for building their nests. They live inside cavities made by woodpeckers. Lining the inner cup of their nest with hair is a very common behavior of the tufted titmice. The types of hair they use to line their nest include those of opossums, mice, woodchucks, squirrels, raccoons, rabbits, livestock, pets, and even humans.

Tufted Titmouse Female

Baby Tufted Titmouse

After the female would lay its eggs, the eggs usually hatch between 12 and 14 days of incubation, but mostly on the 13^th day. The males do not help in incubation. The female spends about 70-78% of the time on the nest, while raising the babies. Eggs hatched at a time are mostly 5-6 in number (but also 3-9). The eggs are white with fine reddish, purple or brown dots.

Tufted Titmouse Eggs

Tufted Titmouse Nest

During the early days of the nestlings, the mother stays mostly with the young, while the father moves out to bring foods. Both the parents help in feeding the young ones. The babies take almost 15-16 days to move out of the nest after they are hatched out. The eggs hatch within 10-18 (or sometimes even 24 hours) of each other, while the eggshells are removed while hatching.

The fledging time of these birds is 15-16 days after hatching. It has often been noticed that, one of the young ones from that year remains with the parents, and at times, other juveniles from different other places would also join them. Sometimes the young titmice will even stick around to help their parents bring up their next brood.

Sounds and Calls

Titmice are garrulous, and call frequently. Their calls sound like: “peto, peto, peto” or “peter, peter, peter“, and “day-day-day“. At least ten independent calls of these birds have yet been identified that are differentiated into two types, the higher frequency call and the lower frequency call. While displaying aggressive behavior, these birds emit the three calls from the group of high-frequency.

Audio: You can hear the songs and calls of the Tufted Titmouse here.

Adaptations

• While protecting their territories (as in, their nest boxes, etc.) and removing nesting materials placed by other competing birds (like Eastern Bluebirds or Black-capped Chickadees), they may do a lunging and hissing ‘snake display’ in order to ward them off.
• They are capable of hanging upside down while searching underneath the branches and the twigs for insects.
• Their bills are short but hardy enough to break open nuts.

Tufted Titmouse Flying

Tufted Titmouse Feathers

Predators

The primary predators of these titmice are common crow, barred owl, great horned owl, sharp-shinned hawk, red-tailed hawk, blue jay, and black rat snake.

Conservation Status

The tufted titmouse is not a threatened species. The IUCN 3.1 has categorized them under the ‘LC’ (Least Concern) species list.

Tufted Titmouse Birdhouse

Tufted Titmouse Bird

Top-10 Interesting Facts

1. In a legend of the Cherokees, these birds are considered as messengers.
2. The two close species, the Black-crested Titmouse and the Tufted Titmouse, hybridize where they meet. However, their hybrid zone is narrow and becomes stable over time.
3. Most of these birds spend their entire life within a few kilometers of their birthplace.
4. The oldest recorded longevity of the wild Tufted Titmouse is 13 years and 3 months old.
5. During incubation of the eggs, since the last one is incubated a day less than the other eggs, it often does not hatch, or else, hatch into a runt.
6. These birds are found only in areas where rainfall is more than 24 inches/year, and are even more common in such areas where the precipitation of rain exceeds 32 inches/year.
7. While nesting, these birds have been known to pluck hairs from live squirrels, opossums, woodchucks, and humans near nest sites.
8. The male bird is dominant over the female and form pairs that lasts until the demise of one of the mates.
9. A group of titmice is known as a ‘banditry’ or a ‘dissimulation’ of titmice.
10. You can imitate the call or song of the titmice to call them to you.

• Video

• References

  • https://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/Tufted_Titmouse/lifehistory

    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tufted_titmouse

    http://animals.nationalgeographic.com/animals/birding/tufted-titmouse/

    http://www.sialis.org/titmice.htm