Baeolophus bicolor
Peter May
The Tufted Titmouse is
small bird, about six inches long. It has gray coloring on
the upper parts of its body, with white below. There is some
rust-coloring on its sides. The titmouse also has a small
crest of feathers sticking up on its head. Titmice prefer to live in
swampy, moist woods, however they have becomed accustomed to
people and will live in parks and yards. These birds stay in
our area year-round. Tufted Titmice
breed
from early April to early July. Once a pair gets together,
they mate for life. Titmice build their nests in tree
cavities.
These holes may have been made by woodpeckers,
fungus,
or other causes. Robert Rold
Photography Robert Rold
Photography Mike
Danzenbaker Titmice will build nests
in many different types of trees, including elms, maples,
oaks, pines, and beech. They construct their
nests with a wide variety of materials, including: dead
leaves, moss,
bark strips, grass, hair, fur, feathers, string, cloth, and
snakeskin. Titmice have been known to pull hair or fur from
squirrel's tails, woodchuck's or opossum's backs, and even
the heads of humans. The female usually lays
five or six white eggs with brown spots. Eggs take about two
weeks to hatch. Both parents feed their young, which are
ready to leave the next in about 16 days. Copyright Lang
Elliott/NatureSound Studio, www.naturesound.com Tufted Titmice defend
their territory
all year from other titmice, but in the Winter they will
join mixed flocks
to search for food. These flocks may include other titmice,
Carolina Chickadees, White-breasted Nuthatches, Brown
Creepers, kinglets, and Downy Woodpeckers. Titmice eat a wide
variety of foods, including: spiders and their egg cases,
caterpillars,
wasps, bees, scale insects, ants, beetles, treehoppers,
other insects, snails, acorns,
beechnuts, blackberry, elderberry, blueberry, grape,
serviceberry, ragweed, sunflower seeds, pine seeds, Virginia
Creeper, hackberry, and mulberry. They eat more animal foods
in warmer weather, and nuts, fruits, and seeds in
Winter. Tufted Titmice will
cache
(store) seeds in cracks in trees.
Copyright, R. W. Scott, Birds in Flight