Really Silly Question

[May]

Sorry for the ridiculous question but there's a bird that comes to our bird table that looks exactly like a coal tit but it has a really long beak and from all the pictures I have ever seen of them and indeed we have had coal tits here before, I don't recall and don't see their beaks being that long.

Could it be another bird?

Each time I see it, I'm stunned at how long its beak is compared to all the coal tit pictures I have seen.

[Gill Catton]

Originally Posted by May

Sorry for the ridiculous question but there's a bird that comes to our bird table that looks exactly like a coal tit but it has a really long beak and from all the pictures I have ever seen of them and indeed we have had coal tits here before, I don't recall and don't see their beaks being that long.

Could it be another bird?

Each time I see it, I'm stunned at how long its beak is compared to all the coal tit pictures I have seen.

maybe it's just a mutation? is the bird the same size as a coal tit etc?

[May]

It looks to be the same size, but I haven't seen any coal tits (with regular length beaks) here for a while and I find it hard to recall the size of them. This little thing is very tiny and behaves in the same manner as a coal tit, ie - swooping in, grabbing a black sunflower then zipping off again.

I'm guessing then that it just has a longer beak than most .. it just throws me every time I happen to catch the arrival then sudden departure - "How long is your beak!" heh.

[Gaina]

Ok this is just a suggestion because I've never seen a Marsh or Willow Tit 'in the flesh' as it were...

I'm just having a look in my book and these two look similar and I can see from the photos I have in front of me how someone could mistake them for a coal tit if they are zipping around your garden. my book says the Marsh tit is more common than the Willow tit in Britain.

...but then again I've seen some very funny plumage on regular visitors to my garden this year so I might well me talking out of my neck

[aeshna5]

Coal Tits have diagnostic white nape + also has a wingbar which is lacking in Marsh/Willow Tits. Sounds like your bird may have a deformed bill.

[Diane E]

Maybe you have discovered a new species, May

I miss the rather scruffy lone coal tit who used to come to my garden. His industrious zipping between the hedge and feeder was always a bird highlight for me. And how many seeds did he have to inspect before he found JUST the right one to take away? I hope he has found a nice flock to hang around in

I suppose it would be difficult to take a photo of your new visitor wouldn't it - they don't seem to keep still very long, do they? If it had been a greenfinch it would have been a lot easier, don't you think? You see one on the feeder.......you go make a cup of tea.......and its still there, munching away, when you come back!

[mrs fish]

Lol re the greenfinch, they have to be one of the most biggest eaters on the feeder

[May]

Originally Posted by Gaina

Ok this is just a suggestion because I've never seen a Marsh or Willow Tit 'in the flesh' as it were...

I'm just having a look in my book and these two look similar and I can see from the photos I have in front of me how someone could mistake them for a coal tit if they are zipping around your garden. my book says the Marsh tit is more common than the Willow tit in Britain.

...but then again I've seen some very funny plumage on regular visitors to my garden this year so I might well me talking out of my neck

I had thought that myself, that it might be another of the tits, but I really don't know. It's just so reminiscant of the coal tit but has the wrong beak!

My husband was commenting that a lot of the birds we get in the garden don't look like the pictures in the books!

[May]

Originally Posted by Diane E

Maybe you have discovered a new species, May

I miss the rather scruffy lone coal tit who used to come to my garden. His industrious zipping between the hedge and feeder was always a bird highlight for me. And how many seeds did he have to inspect before he found JUST the right one to take away? I hope he has found a nice flock to hang around in

I suppose it would be difficult to take a photo of your new visitor wouldn't it - they don't seem to keep still very long, do they? If it had been a greenfinch it would have been a lot easier, don't you think? You see one on the feeder.......you go make a cup of tea.......and its still there, munching away, when you come back!

Hehe, that would be fun!

I couldn't possibly manage a picture, the little thing is so fast! Swoops in, perches on the side of the table, grabs a sunflower seed and before you know it, gone!

[May]

I have taken it for granted that it's a coal tit as I'm so used to getting the same birds all of the time. If something different did come along, my brain probably wouldn't accept it! "No, it's a variation on a sparrow .."