The long-tailed tit is a relatively small bird, distinguished by beautiful, slightly rounded wings, as well as a long, as if “stepped” tail. Her beak is short enough, slightly swollen and slightly curved. This indicates that the titmouse is a predominantly insectivorous creature. The Latin name is Aegithalos caudatus.
As for the geography of distribution, it is extremely large: the species is found in the vicinity of Arkhangelsk, it can always be seen in Ukraine. These birds are spread all the way to Sakhalin, but are interesting in their desire to stay close to humans, since they do not fly into the deep taiga. It should be noted that the titmouse does not occur in Central Asia.
All northern populations are nomadic, while closer to the southern regions they are increasingly becoming a fully settled species. Nomad (depending on the area) can begin in September, sometimes continuing almost until the end of March.
Usually long-tailed tit prefers to stay in deciduous and mixed forests, it can often be found in urban parks and green spaces. Prefers those massifs where there is a dense shrubby "canopy" in which the young of these birds is hiding.
Mostly for the titted birds of the mentioned species, flocking behavior is characteristic, but occasionally they can be seen in pairs. Fluttering and jumping from branch to branch, tits all the time have something in common. The flight of the “long-tailed” is peculiar: it is short and undulating. Sitting on a tree, the birds quickly begin to move on it, climbing into the most inaccessible corners in search of food.
They immediately eat up everything they find. In the works of many authors one can find the statement that the long-tailed tit is not mixed with other representatives of its family. This is not true.
Often you can see large tit flocks, which include this species. It should be noted that the long-tailed tits, even in such assemblies, are kept a bit apart, trying to gather in small groups by species.
The breeding season begins around March. Feathered birds try to twist their nests on trees standing near the edges of the forest or in dense undergrowth. In the vast majority of cases, they settle on deciduous trees. It is very rare to find dwellings of these tits in floodplain thickets of willow and other shrubs.
Like any bird, the tit pays a lot of attention to the issue of building its nest. The walls are neatly laid out from a mixture of cobwebs of plant fibers densely covered with shreds of wool, fluff and dry grass.
Occasionally, whole feathers of other birds, impellers from tree seeds, are found among building materials. Most of the lining is the feathers and feathers of the hostess herself, laid in a thick and warm pillow.
As already mentioned, by the nature of its nutrition, it belongs to insectivores. Very often eats weevils, bugs, turtles and other forest pests. Thus, the long-tailed tit, the photo of which is in our article, is extremely useful for the forest bird.
By the way, its ancient Russian name is Apollonovka. Stalkers believed that it was more beautiful not to find birds more beautifully, and therefore they picked up such an exquisite name that fully reflects all its charm.