Callum Macgregor

The species occurs in deciduous and mixed woodland with a substantial shrub layer, favouring edge zones; it occupies a variety of semiopen habitats with scattered trees and bushes, suburban parks, and gardens. Its range extends across the Palearctic region, from W Europe & Scandinavia to Kamchatka & Japan, S to the Middle East (Harrap 2020). It is widespread in Europe, except for N Fennoscandia, SW Russian steppes and some islands (Keller et al. 2020).

Mostly resident species in the temperate and Mediterranean regions, N populations are partially migratory.

Its population trend in Europe is stable. Evaluated as “Least Concern” (BirdLife International 2021).

Season of assessment

B

Population trendStable
Population size
(min-max, best estimate)		16300000-29200000,21500000
Red List categoryLC
Franks, S., Fiedler, W., Arizaga, J., Jiguet, F., Nikolov, B., van der Jeugd, Ambrosini, R, Aizpurua, O., Bairlein, F., Clark, J., Fattorini, N, Hammond, M., Higgins, D, Levering, H., Skellorn, W., Spina, F, Thorup, K. Walker, J., Woodward, I. and Baillie, S.R. (1) (2022) Online Atlas of the movements of European bird populations. https://migrationatlas.org EURING/CMS (1) Principal investigator
Map

Overall Connectivity for Long-tailed Tit

Populations in W, C, and S Europe perform mostly short-distance within-country dispersal movements and movements across neighbouring countries. About 86% of the distant recoveries (>=50 km) are less than 450km away from the ringing site.

There is little connectivity of the British population with continental Europe – ringing data show couple of birds exchanged with Belgium; British Isles are rarely reached by birds from the N populations during irruption years (Wernham et al. 2002)

N European birds undertake irregular – sometimes large-scale, eruptive movements in W & SW direction, reaching Baltic Sea region, Central and even W Europe. During such invasions some birds are encountered as far as Italy (Spina, Volponi, 2008) and Morocco. The movements with longest distance covered are recorded in the populations of N & E Europe.

Recoveries by Condition for Long-tailed Tit

Most encounters are obtained since the late 1990s. They are generally distributed evenly throughout the year, with a prominent peak in Oct (ca. 20% of all cases). The bulk of encounters are recorded in NW Europe (60%).

The encounters based on dead birds almost vanished over the years (from 40% pre-1960 to less than 1% after 1991), while those based on alive birds – markedly increased (from ca. 59% to 99% respectively); the latter is exclusively due to ringing encounters. Shooting was insignificant factor only in the past (ca. 1% before 1960).

Annual Movements for Long-tailed Tit

N populations show prominent post-breeding dispersal and migratory movements. In general, autumn migration lasts from mid-Sep (NW Russia) (Bojarinova et al. 2016) or late Sep (Finland) (Saurola et al. 2013) to Nov. The encounters are most numerous in Oct – by then the dispersing birds have already reached C & W Europe (even Morocco as an extreme). The number of encounters decreases after Nov. During the mass invasion in 2010-11 birds from N populations are found in the Netherlands between mid-Oct and mid-Apr, the numbers being comparatively stable from late Oct to mid-Feb (van Bemmelen 2012).

Spring migration takes place as early as Feb, but it is most evident in Mar-Apr.

The species generally avoids water crossings.

On several occasions birds from the same flock have been controlled together, as the species is known to keep family bonds during migration (Chetverikova et al. 2017).

Connectivity by Month by Region for Long-tailed Tit

The resident populations generally do not show a consistent directional pattern of movement. Post-breeding dispersal movements are very limited, usually within few kilometers.

Dispersal and migratory movements are well expressed in the birds breeding in N Europe. They could start early autumn, peaking in mid-autumn and last until late autumn. Mid-autumn encounters from the wintering grounds around the Baltic Sea, in W & C Europe are most numerous. From late autumn onwards there is an apparent drop in the number of encounters.

Return movements are evident mostly in early to mid-spring.

An increase in the number of irruptions in N Europe has been recorded during the recent decades (Sokolov et al. 2008).

Ringing data from France and SE Europe rather limited.

Boris Nikolov

References

Statistics Map
N records N individuals N recoveries
Mapped data*
Total available data
*Mapped data include only distant (>= 50 km) recoveries
References Map
2002 . The Migration Atlas: movements of the birds of Britain and Ireland. T. & A.D. Poyser, LondonEditor(s): Wernham, C.V., Toms, M.P., Marchant, J.H., Clark, J.A., Siriwardena, G.M., Baillie, S.R.
2020 . European Breeding Bird Atlas 2: Distribution, Abundance and Change. European Bird Census Council & Lynx Edicions, BarcelonaEditor(s): Keller, V., S. Herrando, P. Voříšek, et al.
BirdLife International 2021 . Species factsheet: Aegithalos caudatus. Downloaded from http://www.birdlife.org on 02/09/2021.
Bojarinova, J., Babushkina, O., Shokhrin, V., Valchuk, O.2016 . Autumn migration of the Long-tailed Tit (Aegithalos c. caudatus) at the opposite sides of the Eurasian continent. Ornis Fennica 93: 235–245
Chetverikova, R., Babushkina, O., Galkina, S., Shokhrin, V., Bojarinova, L. 2017 . Special case among passerine birds: long-tailed tits keep family bonds during migration. Behav Ecol Sociobiol 71
Harrap, S. 2020 . Long-tailed Tit (Aegithalos caudatus), version 1.0. In Birds of the World Link to Article (DOI: https://doi.org/10.2173/bow.lottit1.01) Cornell Lab of Ornithology, Ithaca, NY, USA
Saurola, P. Valkama, J., Velmala, W. 2013 . The Finnish Bird Ringing Atlas Vol. I. Finnish Museum of Natural History and Ministry of Environment, Helsinki
Sokolov, L.V., Shapoval, A.P., Yefremov, V.D., Kosarev, V.V., Markovets, M.Y. & Gavrilov, V.V. 2008 . Relationship between irruptions of Long-tailed Tits Aegithalos caudatus in the Eastern Baltic and ambient temperature and North Atlantic Oscillation index. Avian Ecol. Behav. 14: 35–47
Spina, F., Volponi, S. 2008 . Atlante della Migrazione degli Uccelli in Italia. 2. Passeriformi. Ministero dell’Ambiente e della Tutela del Territorio e del Mare, Instituto Superiore per la Protezione e la Ricerca Ambientale (ISPRA), Tipografia SCR-Roma
van Bemmelen, R. S. A., Eggenhuizen, A. H. V., Faveyts, W. 2012 . Invasion of White-headed Long-tailed Tits in the Netherlands in 2010-11: progression, numbers and distribution. Dutch Birding 34: 77–84

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