Great Tit Diet and Size: Feeding Habits, Predators, and Measurements

If you have a bird feeder or bird table in your garden, you probably have at least one great tit visiting you for food. They are commonly found in gardens all around the UK and have adapted to finding food wherever it has been provided.

Outside of urban settings, the great tit can be found in woodlands and areas of scrubland. These intelligent little birds were in danger of extinction in the UK up until the 1960s when their main predator, the sparrowhawk, became the victim of pesticide poisoning.

Since that time, the great tit population in the UK has increased rapidly and it wasn’t until around 2010 that their numbers stabilised. Great tits are easily recognised by their striking colours and markings. 

They have a blue/green back with a yellow breast that is divided by a black stripe. It can be difficult to separate the sexes of great tits. However, the central black stripe dividing the yellow breast is more pronounced in males.

To find out more about these fascinating and intelligent birds, keep reading.

The Dietary Habits Of The Great Tit

The great tit is an adaptable bird which is part of the reason for the considerable growth in numbers over the past 60 years or so. Let’s look at the typical diet of the great tit.

What Does A Great Tit Eat?

Back in the days when the milkman used to deliver milk to UK households and leave the bottles of milk on door steps, great tits used to peck open the foil top of the milk and steal the cream from the top of the bottle.

That’s just one of the ways that great tits can adapt to the food sources available to them. The days of the milkman delivering milk have long gone and these intelligent birds have had to find different ways to survive.

In the countryside, great tits will eat a wide variety of insects, spiders, caterpillars, moths, butterflies, beetles, ants, flies, wasps, bees, earthworms and other invertebrates. 

During winter months or when there is a reduced number of insects available, great tits will eat seeds, nuts, berries and plant buds. There have even been recorded cases of great tits eating hibernating bats!

What To Feed A Baby Great Tit? 

Female great tits exert a lot of energy when laying eggs. She will lay a clutch of between 6 to 12 eggs (with an average of around 8 eggs) and each egg will weigh around 1.3 to 2.4% of her body weight. Which means the whole clutch of eggs will almost certainly weigh more than she does.

Incubation doesn’t start until all of the eggs have been laid. Once the eggs hatch, each chick will weigh around 1.5 g and by the time it fledges, it will weigh around 16 to 25 g.

That means the chicks increase in weight by a substantial amount over the 3 weeks from hatching to fledging. To facilitate that amount of growth, the amount of food needed is incredible.

In a typical brood, around 10,000 caterpillars are required to rear the young chicks to maturity. In most cases, caterpillars will make up the majority of the food (between 55 to 95%) in woodland and shrubland.

Having access to such a large supply of caterpillars is one of the main reasons why great tits that nest in the countryside have a higher success rate than those that nest in gardens or nesting boxes.  As caterpillars are their primary source of food during the nesting season, great tits tend to time their egg laying and nesting activities to coincide with the abundance of caterpillars.

In recent years great tits tend to nest around 8 days earlier than records show they did in the 1960s. It is assumed that this is due to warmer springs which leads to the caterpillars emerging at an earlier time.

However, in unseasonably cold springs and summers the great tits will be lucky if they manage to fledge just one chick. But even in good years, the survival rate of egg to chick is around 25%.

If the female lays an average of 8 eggs, 2 will be infertile and of the other 6, 4 will die of starvation due to the greed of the remaining 2 dominant chicks. Who will take all of the food offered by the parents.

Breeding Habits Of Great Tits

Now let’s look into the breeding habits of the great tit. We’ll start with whether they mate for life and then look into nest building etc.

Do Great Tits Mate For Life?

In most cases it has been found that great tits form monogamous relationships during the breeding season. However, during the winter months when they form foraging groups with other birds, breeding pairs often split up.

But, they typically pair up again with the same mate the following season. It’s the female that builds the nest and does all of the incubation and brooding. With the male taking food to her during this period.

She will lay anywhere between 6 to 12 eggs (some clutches number as many as 18), but the average clutch is around 8 eggs. If she manages to produce a second brood, clutch sizes are smaller (3 to 5 eggs).

Both the male and the female feed the young chicks with fledging of surviving chicks taking place around 3 weeks after hatching. During the rest of the year, outside of the breeding season, great tits are social birds and often join up with around 40 to 50 others of their species.

The Size & Weight Of Great Tits

Now let’s look at the typical size and weight of the great tit;

How Much Does A Great Tit Weigh?

The average weight of an adult great tit is around 18 g which is roughly the same weight as a field mouse or 18 paperclips. Some great tits will weigh slightly less than this while others will weigh slightly more.

The great tit is the largest of all birds in the tit family. For comparison, an adult blue tit weighs around 10.5 g and is significantly smaller.

How Big Is A Great Tit?

Fully grown adult great tits are around 14 cm in length which is slightly longer than a standard teaspoon, with a wingspan of around 24 cm. For comparison purposes, the great tit is of a similar size and has a similar wingspan to a robin.

This goes to show just how small blue tits and other members of the tit family are when compared to the great tit.

Are Great Tits Under Threat?

There have been a number of reports in recent years that the great tit is under threat of extinction due to climate change. However, there are large populations of great tits all over mainland Europe, from the mediterranean to Scandinavia. As well as from China, India and Malaysia. With a worldwide population of between 430 million to 710 million individual birds. 

Their ability to adapt to many different conditions and environments means they are not under threat of extinction at the moment. The IUCN red list states that the great tit is one of the world’s most studied birds and is of the least concern from a conservation perspective. 

They also state that the population trend of the great tit is increasing and not decreasing. With that said they do face threat from predatory birds and some mammals.

What Eats A Great Tit?

Adult great tits and young fledglings are under threat from sparrowhawks who breed at roughly the same time and take birds and fledglings to feed their young. Great tit nests are also under threat from great spotted woodpeckers and even nest boxes aren’t safe from these larger birds.

The nest can also become subject to attacks from grey squirrels as well as weasels. Weasels can also take the parents as well as the young chicks.

In urban gardens, many great tits are killed by foxes, but more meet their demise due to cats.

Where Can I See Great Tits in the UK?

The great tit is an adaptable bird that can be found in all corners of Great Britain. They are residents all year round meaning it is possible to see great tits from January through to December.

They can be seen in gardens, woodlands, scrublands, heathlands and basically anywhere they can find food. If you want to attract great tits to your garden, place seed feeders, peanut feeders as well as suet out. 

They are also quite partial to sunflower hearts but you will need to keep feeders and bird tables clean to prevent the spread of disease.

SEE ALSO: Blue Tit vs Great Tit: Key Differences Explained

Frequently Asked Questions