Great Tit

Parus major

The great tit is a small passerine bird in the tit family Paridae. It is widespread and common throughout Europe, the Middle East, Central Asia and as far east as the Amur River. It also occurs in parts of North Africa where it is generally resident in any sort of woodland. Most great tits do not migrate, except in extremely harsh winters. Until 2005 this species was lumped with numerous other subspecies. However, DNA studies have revealed that these subspecies are distinct from the great tit, and they have now been classified as two distinct species, the cinereous tit of southern Asia, and the Japanese tit of East Asia. The great tit remains the most widespread species in the genus Parus. Source

Where it is now

In the last 8 weeks this bird was recorded 6,197,331 times across 66 areas (each area is a 5 degree square).

See the Great Tit on the live map

Movement and weather

Each season it is first heard regularly where daytime highs are around 22°C (typically 16 to 27°C, from 24 areas). That range is wide, so temperature alone does not explain when it turns up.

Over the weeks it was present in the past year, its centre in Europe ranged from 50°N in January to 59°N in November, about 900 km apart.

Arrival dates

The week it was first heard regularly in each region, after at least six weeks away. Dates differ from south to north, so a region has a range.

Download every area as CSV

Figures are effort corrected and come from automatic sound identification, which makes mistakes. How this is measured and how it compares with human observers.