UPDATE - Italy bird for ID

[Ramon Quisumbing]

Yesterday, I was surprised to find this pair of tiny birds nesting in a deep hole in the root base/ground of a bush in scrub forest near Lake Bracciano, Italy. For ID please.





Canon 1D Mark IV camera, 800 mm lens, tripod, remote shutter. F/5.6, ISO-10000, 1/320 second, manual exposure. The hole was in the deep shade of leaves, and it was a gloomy day. I had to go up to ISO-10000 in order to have a faster shutter speed, because the birds were constantly moving fast.

[steve pryor]

Hi Ramon,
They are Blue Tit (Cyanistes caeruleus). I have them coming out of my ears here in the foothills east of Rome.

[Ramon Quisumbing]

Thanks for the ID, Steve. This is a lifer for me.

Do Blue Tits usually nest in holes in the ground?

[Ramon Quisumbing]

Steve, I went back to the nest/hole today and saw this Tit fly out of the same bush and up a nearby tree, which allowed me to photograph it in good light. I assumed it was one of the nesting Blue Tits. But looking at it now, while it has many similarities to the Blue Tits, the head looks different. It has a black head with no white feathers above the eye-stripe. Is this a Great Tit (Parus major)?


Canon 1D Mark IV camera, 800 mm lens, tripod. F/5.6, ISO-800, 1/640 second, manual exposure.

[paulbourdin]

Yes, Great Tit.

[Ramon Quisumbing]

Thanks for the confirmation, Paul.