Too early for young birds?

[violetbakes]

The resident marsh tit that visits our garden has been collecting seed by the beakfull has been coming and going every 5 mins or so, it normally stays and feeds but it appears to me that it is feeding young, I know that long tailed tit mate at this time of the year but I would have assumed it was a little early if not cold for the rest of them.

[RKB]

Marsh Tits (and Willow and Coal) hoard food, like Jays with acorns. They place the seeds in small crevices or under moss, and use them as a long-term resource. Blue and Great Tits don't do this. Marsh Tits start breeding in mid April, have young in May and are all finished by the middle of June.

[Dogghound]

Its more likely its cashing food for the rest of the winter and cold weather. Its common for this species to do this. They tend to lay eggs in early/mid April.

[nightshade]

I have tits seen them looking around the nest boxes already but unless your marsh tit knows something we don't it may be setting up a larder for more cold weather

[violetbakes]

Aaaah thank you, I never knew they stashed food, we had them in our garden for ages and never noticed this habit before, I shall keep my eyes firmly peeled now. I am fairly certain its a marsh tit and not a willow from studying the photo's I know both species are very alike.

[actionfinch]

Interesting... i didn't know coal tits did that , might explain why i have not seen it for a while has stashed enough food not to worry about coming back for a while..

[rossy]

think you will find that lots of birds do stash food, i actually watched a robin doing just that , before the snow came, probably more on the way, rossy.

[nightshade]

Originally Posted by violetbakes

Aaaah thank you, I never knew they stashed food, we had them in our garden for ages and never noticed this habit before, I shall keep my eyes firmly peeled now. I am fairly certain its a marsh tit and not a willow from studying the photo's I know both species are very alike.

I do not think it is a common trait, it is just that I have seen one or two birds other than corvids take seeds and wedge them in the fork of a branch, then return to the bird feeder.

[RKB]

It is 'hard-wired' for some groups of birds, and they have an enlarged area of their brain (hippocampus) to cope with it. In Britain it's mainly the Marsh/Willow/Coal/Crested tit, Nuthatch and corvids. They are a common research subject in memory studies. All of the British Tits are actually in different families from each other, except Marsh and Willow, so they are mostly not related to each other very closely and have different ecologies.

Food caching is related to territoriality. All of these birds evolved in places with cold winters, and they remain on their territories all year. So they store food gluts (e.g. pine seed crops, beech mast, or sunflower seed from feeders!) to help them get through the winter. Blue Tits, for example, simply leave if it gets too cold, and wander off. A Marsh Tit cannot do that or it will lose its territory. That behaviour also explains why a marsh Tit has a territory of about 5 hectares, while a Blue Tit has one of about 1 hectare or less - the Marsh Tit's territory needs to keep it alive throughout the whole year, whereas a Blue tit just breeds in it and then stops defending it.

Most hoariding is done in autumn, when food is most abundant and before winter gets going, but any glut can set them off. I've seen Marsh Tits caching berries and insects, as well as seeds.