Great Tit : An Agile & Vocal Bird

Great Tit : An Agile & Vocal Bird

Great Tit

Great Tit with Twigs

·         One morning while walking along the lush green Civil Aerodrome Kanpur Cantt. , we sighted a pair of black & white birds flying with twigs in their beaks and placing them inside the opening of an electric pole. Out of curiosity, we watched their activities and have some photos capturing these beautiful movements. Later on we identified them as ‘Great Tit’ – sighting of which is very rare at Kanpur and adjoining areas. Normally they are found in foothills of the Himalayas, North – east region , Central India and the Western Ghats.

              Salient Features of Great Tit :

·         A small passerine bird. It is very agile, having distinctive white cheeks, black cap, black neck & throat, greyish mantle & white wing bars.

·        They are highly vocal .Their calls include a loud, clear whistling ‘weeter - weeter - weeter’ ,

‘wreet - chee - chee’.

·         They are mainly sighted in woods, forest, parks, gardens and farmland.

·         They feed mainly on insects, spiders, grasshoppers, berries, seeds etc. 

·         Its scientific name is ‘Parus Major’ and belongs to ‘Paridae’ family.

·         Its Hindi name is ‘रामगंगारा ‘.

·         IUCN conservation status: Least Concern (LC).

Great Tit

# Sight of Great Tit at Kanpur is rare. We should make endeavour in conservation of such bird species - sighting of which imparts peace & tranquility.