Willow Tit

The Willow Tit is a small, rather dull brownish-grey bird. It can be told apart from the very similar Marsh Tit by its thick neck, sooty-black cap that extends onto the back of the neck, and a pale patch on the closed wing made by lighter edges on the wing feathers. Its call is a distinctive nasal "tchay tchay tchay," unlike the Marsh Tit's sharp "pitchoo." The feathers on the top of its head look slightly dull rather than shiny. In Britain, the Willow Tit has declined sharply and is now mostly found in a few scattered places in northern England, Wales, and southern Scotland. It prefers damp woodland with willow, birch, and alder trees. Across Europe and Asia, it lives in similar scrubby woodland and mountain forests. Unlike the Marsh Tit, the Willow Tit digs its own nest holes in rotting wood.