The most famous titmouse in the world is the so-called big tit, which lives in Europe, the Middle East, North and Central Asia, and also in some regions of North Africa. Have you ever wondered why a titmouse was called a titmouse? Were these feathered creatures once blue? What is this name for a bird painted in yellow, green and gray? Let's try to figure it out.
Who is this titmouse bird?
From a scientific point of view, a titmouse (a photo of a titmouse is presented in the article) is a representative of the order of passerine birds that belong to the family of the same name. The most famous tit is the largest. It can be found in the gardens and parks of Europe, Central and North Asia, in the Middle East and even in northern Africa.
What do tits eat?
These are mobile and nimble birds. In the summer, they feed exclusively on animal feed, and in the winter they switch to plant foods. In search of their favorite food - insects - they climb along the branches, rummage through all the cracks and holes there.
The titmouse, the photo of which you now see, is a non-migratory bird. In other words, in the cold season, she does not leave her native land, wintering side by side with a man. In search of food during this period, whole flocks of bluebirds fly from one place to another. Where there is a lot of necessary food, they linger for a long time.
A tit is a useful bird!
Before we learn about why a titmouse was called a titmouse, it is necessary to note the invaluable benefit that it brings. Tits - these are real helpers gardeners. The fact is that they destroy harmful insects that cause irreparable damage to parks and gardens.
For example, in a day, a great tit eats an equal amount of insect pests equal to its own mass. That is why it is customary to call these birds to their garden plots. This can be done by feeding. So you can keep in your garden more than one generation of these funny birds.
Why was a titmouse called a titmouse?
Just one glance at these feathered creatures is enough to understand that they are not blue at all, but yellow-green with shades of black. There are many versions of the origin of their name, and almost all of them came from the people.
For example, it is widely believed that such a name was given to these birds by a person who suffered from color blindness. Some versions are generally funny: the meat of this bird has a blue color, supposedly from here its name.
There are no jokes, but there is still no single version of why they called the titmouse! Currently, there are two most plausible and generally accepted explanations. One of them may soon be true.
- The first version says that the singing of these birds is very similar to two human words - “zin-zin”. It is believed that at first, on the basis of the harmony of these birds, they began to call znitsy, and after that - titmouse. However, even here one can argue, because different people hear something different in the singing of these birds. For example, in Europe, it is believed that the tits do not pronounce “zin-zin”, but “pin-pin-tararah”. Ukrainians, on the other hand, hear in this "value-for-price-tarara."
- According to the second version, the name "titmouse" is still associated with the color cast of this creature. Linguists, together with historians, believe that in the Old Russian language the word "blue" meant a slightly different shade of color than at present. The fact is that the concept of “blue” was then more extensive than now. In Russia, black with a bluish tint was considered blue, and in a tit just the so-called “cap” has this particular shade.
The funniest titmouse
It’s impossible to be silent about her. The most amusing bird of the Sinitsevye family is the crested tit (photo 3), or grenadier. This is a small songbird that inhabits almost the whole of Europe. Her favorite habitats are middle and northern latitudes with coniferous and mixed forests. She got her name for a reason. Its distinctive conical crest crowning a small head resembles the hats of elite foot soldiers of the XVII-XVIII centuries - the grenadiers.
How much does this miracle weigh?
Tufted Titmouse (photo 4) is a small, but mobile and cute feathered creature. In its size, the grenadier is noticeably inferior to the famous great tit. The body length of a crested bird does not exceed 13 cm, and the wingspan is 20 cm. This miracle weighs no more than 12 g. The black-and-white tuft raised on the head is a distinguishing feature of these birds.
What does the crested titmouse eat?
The bird titmouse, like its brethren, is carnivorous. Its main food in the spring and summer is small invertebrate animals (crustaceans, mollusks, insects) and their larvae. Crested birds love to feast on leaf beetles and weevils, as well as butterflies and spiders. Willingly they eat flies and mosquitoes, wasps and bees, dragonflies, aphids, ants.
In the autumn-winter period, crested tits switch to pasture plant food. They feed on the seeds of fir, pine, alder, birch and spruce, and also eat berries of juniper, mountain ash, hawthorn and dogwood. In early spring, when the insects have not yet woken up, the "Khokhlushka" feed on anthers of aspen and drink birch and maple juice.