This species was first described byCarl Linnaeus in his landmark 175810th edition ofSystema Naturae. Linnaeus' primary reference was his earlierFauna Svecica, whose cumbersome pre-binomial nameParus capite nigro: vertice albo, dorso cinereo, pectore albo ("black-headed tit with white nape, ash-grey back, white breast") became the much simpler yet no less unequivocalParus ater. This name – meaning "dusky-black tit" – was simply adopted from olderornithological textbooks, ultimately going back toConrad Gessner's 1555Historia animalium. He gave notype locality except "Europe", but his original description refers to the population inhabitingSweden (which is consequently included in thenominate subspecies today).[2] The current genus name, isAncient Greekperi plus the pre-existing genusParus. The specificater isLatin for "dull black".[3]
Gessner also notes that the coal tit was known asKohlmeiß inGerman – the literal equivalent of itsEnglish name, though in its modernorthographyKohlmeise it refers to thegreat tit (Parus major). That bird was in Gessner's day usually calledSpiegelmeiß ("multicoloured tit"[4]),Brandtmeiß ("burnt tit") orgrosse Meiß ("great tit") in German.Kölmeyß was attested forP. major byWilliam Turner, but Turner does not listP. ater at all, while Gessner notes that his hunters always usedKohlmeiß for the present species. However, this has since changed, and the modern German name ofP. ater isTannenmeise ("fir tit"), after a typicalhabitat. This name is attested (asTannen-Maise) byJohann Leonhard Frisch in the early 18th century already, who furthermore records thatP. ater was also calledKleine Kohl-Maise ("small coal tit") whereasKohl-Maise referred unequivocally toP. major. Frisch collected his data in theBerlin region, where the German dialect wasquite different from that spoken by Gessner'sAlemannic sources 200 years earlier, and heavily influenced byMiddle Low German – the language of the northern German sources of Turner. Regarding that,Tanne is derived from theOld Saxondanna, and thus had spread through the Germandialect continuum from north to south. [5]
In addition, the same data suggest that this species isparaphyletic in regard to the closely related andparapatricspot-winged tit (P. melanolophus) fromSouth Asia, which looks like a slightly crested, darker version ofP. ater. Consequently, the spot-winged tit might have to be included inP. ater, or some coal tits could be considered a distinct species. As occasionalhybridization has been recorded between the two, mtDNA alone (which is inherited only from the mother) is insufficient to determine whether hybridgene flow or another trivial cause (such asincomplete lineage sorting) obfuscates the actual relationships, or whethertaxonomic rearrangement is indeed required. With the range of these titmice encircling theHimalayas, without further study it cannot even be excluded that they constitute aring species – with gene flow occurring inNepal but not inAfghanistan – as has been shown for otherpasserines in the same region.[6][needs update]
A number of coal titsubspecies are distinguished. The differences in colouration are quite pronounced in some of them, while their differences in size are more subtle. Coal tits from Asia followBergmann's rule, being larger in colder regions; those from further west, however, do not, as the birds from the uplands around theMediterranean are larger than those from northern Europe. Across its range, tail length in relation to body length increases along acline running from southwest to northeast.[7]
TheBritish raceP. a. britannicus has anolive hue to its brownish-grey back plumage, distinguishing it from thecontinental Europeannominate subspeciesP. a. ater andP. a. abietum[verification needed] in which the back is bluish grey without a hint of green or brown. The Irish raceP. a. hibernicus is distinguished frombritannicus by the palesulphur-yellow cheeks, breast and belly. It also has a paler rump (due to light fringes of theuppertail coverts) and a larger bill than its relatives from Britain and the Continent.[8]
TheNorth African raceP. a. ledouci has yellow underparts and cheeks, and theCypriotP. a. cypriotes has a buff tinge to its upper parts, and deep buff underparts. Asian subspecies are generally rather dusky brownish except for the black-and-white head;[7] they include among othersP. a. michalowskii of theCaucasus,P. a. phaeonotus ofIran, or the Himalayan coal tit[9]P. a. aemodius of southwesternChina.
Adult continental coal tit,P. a. ater (note blue-grey back)
Cyprus coal tit,P. a. cypriotes (note buff underparts)
Irish coal tit,P. a. hibernicus (note yellowish cheeks and breast)
The coal tit is 10–11.5 cm in length, and has a distinctive large white nape spot on its black head.[10] The head, throat and neck of the adult are glossy blue-black, setting off the off-white sides of the face (tinged grey to yellow depending onsubspecies) and the brilliant white nape; the white tips of thewing coverts appear as two wingbars. The underparts are whitish shading through buff to rufous on the flanks. The bill is black, the legs lead-coloured, andirides dark brown.
The young birds in juvenile plumage are duller than the adults, lacking gloss on the black head, and with the white of nape and cheeks tinged with yellow.[10]
While searching for food, coal tit flocks keep contact with incessant shortdee orsee-see calls. The species' song – if "song" it can be called – is a stridentif-he, if-he, if-he, heard most frequently from January to June, but also in autumn. The song resembles that of the great tit, but much faster and higher in pitch.[11] One variant of this song ends with a sharpichi. North African birds also have acurrr call similar to that of thecrested tit (Lophophanes cristatus) which is not found in Africa.
The coal tit is an all-year resident throughout almost all range, making only local movements in response to particularly severe weather; only theSiberian birds have a more regularmigration. Very rarely, vagrants may cross longer distances; for example thenominate subspecies ofcontinental Europe was recorded inIreland once in 1960 and once before that, but apparently not since then.
Coal tits will form small flocks in winter with other tits. This species resembles other tits in acrobatic skill and restless activity, though it more frequently pitches on a trunk, and in little hops resembles atreecreeper (Certhia). Its food is similar to that of the others; it is keen onbeechmast, picks out the seeds fromfir (Abies) andlarch (Larix) cones, and joinsCarduelisredpolls andsiskins inalders (Alnus) andbirches (Betula). It will also visitgardens to feed on a variety of foods put out, particularlysunflower seeds.
Coal tits in the laboratory prefer to forage at a variable feeding site when they are in a negative energy budget.[13] They increase evening body mass in response to tawny owl calls.[14] After dawn the coal tits increases body mass as soon as possible if food is obtained at a low rate, increasing body mass exponentially until an inflection point when the increase of body mass is slower.[15] The inflection point of the body mass trajectory is 16.7% delayed compared to a high food availability.[15] Subordinate coal tits are excluded from feeding sites by dominants more often in the early morning than in the rest of the day, and they showed more variability in daily mass gain and body mass at dawn than dominant coal tits.[16] In winter, the red blood cells of coal tits have been shown to contain more mitochondria, which consume oxygen and produce heat.[17][18]
The coal tit has the dubious distinction of having the largest number of bird fleas (Ceratophyllus gallinae) reported from a single nest, 5,754 fleas.[20]
A favourite nesting site is a hole in a rotting tree-stump, often low down, and the nest is deep within the hole; holes in the ground, burrows ofmice orrabbits, chinks between the stones in walls, old nests ofPica magpies or other large birds, andsquirrel dreys are also occupied. The materials, moss, hair and grass, are closely felted together, and rabbit fur or feathers added for lining. Seven to eleven red-spotted whiteeggs are laid, usually in May; this species breeds usually once per year.
^Literally "mirror tit" (though its feathers are notiridescent), perhaps rather "wing-stripe tit", as in GermanornithologySpiegel means a wing-stripe or -patch. The interpretation referring to its colorful plumage, though somewhat unusual, is the one given by Gesner however:a colorum pulchritudine quibus distinguitur – "for the beauty of its colors, which distinguish it"
^abSvensson, Lars; Mullarney, Killian; Zetterström, Dan; Graszka-Petrykowski, Dariusz; Stawarczyk, Tadeusz (2023).Ptaki Europy i obszaru śródziemnomorskiego. Przewodnik Collinsa (Wydanie III, poprawione i zaktualizowane ed.). Warszawa: Multico Oficyna Wydawnicza. p. 358,359.ISBN978-83-7763-647-3.
Frisch, Johann Leonhard (1720[verification needed]): Der II.ten Hauptart I.te Abtheilung von den Maisen – I.te Platte ["First division of the second primary species, the titmice – Plate 1"].In: Vorstellung der Vögel in Teutschland, und beyläuffig auch einiger fremden, mit ihren natürlichen Farben, etc. (vol. 2): plate 13 [German with Latin and French captions]. F.H.Frisch, Berlin ("Berolinum").Digitized version[permanent dead link]
Gill, Frank B.; Slikas, Beth &Sheldon, Frederick H. (2005): Phylogeny of titmice (Paridae): II. Species relationships based on sequences of the mitochondrial cytochrome-b gene.Auk122: 121–143.DOI: 10.1642/0004-8038(2005)122[0121:POTPIS]2.0.CO;2HTML abstract
Inskipp, Carol; Inskipp, Tim & Sherub (2000): The ornithological importance of Thrumshingla National Park, Bhutan.Forktail14: 147–162.PDF fulltext
Linnaeus, Carl (1746): 241.Parus capite nigro: vertice albo, dorso cinereo, pectore albo. In: Fauna Svecica Sistens Animalia Sveciæ Regni, etc. (1st ed.): 89 [Latin book]. Conrad & Georg Jacob Wishoff, Leiden ("Lugdunum Batavorum").Digitized version
Linnaeus, Carl (1758): 100.5.Parus ater. In:Systema naturae per regna tria naturae, secundum classes, ordines, genera, species, cum characteribus, differentiis, synonymis, locis (10th ed., vol. 1): 190 [Latin book]. Lars Salvius, Stockholm ("Holmius").Digitized versionArchived 13 June 2017 at theWayback Machine
Snow, D.W. (1954): Trends in geographical variation in Palearctic members of the genusParus.Evolution8 (1): 19–28.First page image
Turner, William (1544a): De paris ["Of the titmice"].In: Avium praecipuarum, quarum apud Plinium et Aristotelem mentio est, brevis et succincta historia, etc.: 94–95 [Latin book]. Johann Gymnich, Cologne ("Colonia").Digitized version
Turner, William (1544b): [List of German bird names].In: van Langerack, Gijsbert:Dialogus de avibus, et earum nominibus Graecis, Latinis, et Germanicis, etc.: 95–97 [Latin book]. Johann Gymnich, Cologne ("Colonia").Digitized version
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