British wildlife recordings
Parus major : Great Tit - Paridae
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Type
sound
Duration
00:01:00
Shelf mark
W1CDR0001509 BD22
Subjects
Birds
Recording date
1977/06/12
Recording locations
Old Dean Common, Camberley, Surrey: OS Grid Reference(488500,160500)
Recordist
Williams, Aubrey John
Species
Great Tit, Parus major
Description
The song of the great tit recorded on Old Dean Common, near Camberley, Surrey. This handsome woodland bird is a regular visitor to gardens throughout Britain. It is our largest tit, many races of which are known across the globe. When feeding with other birds it always likes to demonstrate who's boss, having a tendency of being a bully. Both sexes look similar although the male is brighter in colour, with a sulphur-yellow belly, divided by a broad black stripe. The black head possesses large white face patches, a quality earning the bird the alternative name, 'ox-eye'. As well as its see-sawing 'tee-cher, tee-cher' and 'peetoo, peetoo, peetoo' songs, this bird also has a large repertoire of short calls. It consumes various delicacies, such as fruit, berries, spiders, insects and household scraps. Although the Great tit uses tree holes to site its nest, it will readily use nest boxes, letter- boxes and even drainpipes. The hen incubates a clutch of up to twelve eggs, which hatch after two weeks. Both parents feed the often large and demanding bundle of nestlings. A numerous and widely distributed resident, the Great tit's breeding numbers are currently stable at 1,700,000 pairs.
Metadata record: