Скачать или смотреть Why is this little bird becoming more rare - the Willow Tit

This little bird is becoming more rare. But hey I mentioned the Willow Tit. "This can't be true I see it everywhere." True and false. It is true that the Willow Tit can be seen in many areas - but false that it can be seen everywhere.

Not your normal birding Adventure...alone in the forest looking for a small bird that is hard to identify. This little bird was more numerous when I was a kid, but now has now been in decline ever since the 1970s.

Due to us humans some of our most beloved birds are declining in population.

As a child my Teacher who was an avid bird enthusiast introduced me to this bird - but since then I had not seen it until I stumbled over this forest in the southeast of Norway where it is now nesting. It used to be plenty of these birds in the area I was born - but due to aggressive logging and housing expansion - there is so much less forest in that area that this bird along with the Marsh tit is now all but disappeared in that part of Norway - and this has happened in several European Countries from France to England.

I think everyone gets a thrill out of discovery. We love it when we see something no one has ever seen before or just something that excites us. And here out in the forest small discoveries can be made by anyone.

Meet the Willow Tit - Poecile montanus

The willow tit is approx. 11.5 cm (4.5 in) in length and has a wingspan of 17–20.5 cm
Population Trend = Decreasing

It can often be mistaken for the Marsh Tit.
The best feature of separation is the pale base to the upper mandible of the Marsh Tit.
To help you identify this bird, look closely at the wing - there you will see a pale panel. The cap is also dull black color and it will have a large less clean-cut bib (beard).

What about the call ? That I leave to others as I will likely not remember the song when out into the forest to tell these two species apart with song only.

This forest is located in the South-east of Norway near the city of Drammen - and like so much of the forest here in Norway it is mostly used for timber and after it being cut it will be replanted for the benefit of the next generation.

This video took me more than three weeks to make as I had several issues this time. Some of the issues was: My PC broke - I replaced it with a Mac Mini M1 - marvelous little machine. Next was the sound - so off to the woods again to record it but now with attention to sound apart from all the other moving parts. Third - my recording SSD got almost full and I had to change my video quality from BRAW Q0 4k down to 1080 HD BRAW. And then it was the weather - sun - overcast - rain - snow - then more rain and finally sunshine with the occasional cloud. The last and forth issue - where was this little bird - I looked high and low for hours before spotting a pair of them. In the end it was all worth it. It became a small but not my normal birding adventure - wandering for hours into the forest alone with my binocular at hand and my camera ready.

If you have any questions please leave them in the comments below.

Note: I will remove all negative and spam comments - keep the comments positive and and I will respond as best I can.

If you are concerned about our environment and our birdlife you should consider becoming a member to one of the many nature organizations who support protection of our diverse and wonderful natural world. I am a member of Birdlife International who with its global network help protect birds all around our wonderful world.

As always I hope you and yours are safe wherever you are.

Take care and all the best.
-Duffy

#BirdingAdventure #BirdingIsFun #DuffyRomerica

Music:
Trio for Piano, Cello, and Clarinet by Kevin MacLeod
Link: https://incompetech.filmmusic.io/song...
License: https://filmmusic.io/standard-license

You can learn more about threatened species at:
https://www.iucnredlist.org

To learn more about this bird please read:
https://www.iucnredlist.org/species/1...

Other:
I have updated the thumbnail for this video a few times. This is my 4th thumb by now, and this time I have changed from trip photo to screen capture of this little bird. Maybe I keep this one.