What a silly tit

By Ruth D’Alessandro, The Wildlife Gardener The Wildlife Gardener is not usually late doing the school run, but this week, nature landed such an entertaining little display on my car that I just had to sit, wonder and chuckle at it. As I was about to turn the ignition key, a tiny white, black and pink bird with a long tail landed on the window sill next to me. A long-tailed tit (Aegithalos caudatus) was peering in.

I kept very still as it pecked at the glass with its impossibly petite beak, then it hopped onto the door mirror.

It pecked at the mirror and flew off with its characteristic waving flight into a lilac bush. And then it came back. Window, mirror, lilac. Mirror, window, lilac. This went on for about ten minutes, by which time I really had to go. While I was cleaning a bedroom next day I saw the tit was once again doing the window, mirror, lilac thing so I grabbed my camera, and hence these photos.

What was this tit doing? At first I thought it was attacking its reflection. Robins, fiercely territorial, are well known for doing this. But there seemed little aggression in its behaviour. Long”tailed tits are usually gregarious, appearing in flocks of about 20 birds, but this little creature seemed to be on its own. Then it dawned on me: it’s springtime, this little bird may be lonely. Was it trying to court its own reflection? Like this year’s lonesome male frog forlornly burping for very late-arriving females, perhaps this little tit will eventually be rewarded with a lovely non-reflective mate. It certainly has the charm, personality and persistence, if not the sharpest brain.