Coal Tit
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Cavity Nester ⌀ 1.1" Small

Coal Tit

Periparus ater

Eurasia's smallest tit - a tiny conifer specialist with a black cap, white cheeks, and a diagnostic white stripe running down the back of the neck. Weighs about as much as a US penny.

IUCN Red List
Least Concern

Widespread and abundant; no known immediate threats to the population.

Floor
4" × 4"
Interior height
8"
Entrance hole
⌀ 1.1"
Mount height
5–15 ft
Breeds
Apr–Jun
Broods / yr
1–2
Cool Facts

Things you didn't know about the Coal Tit

01

Smallest tit in Eurasia - weighs only 8–10 g, about the same as a US penny.

02

Caches seeds and insects obsessively in autumn, hiding food in bark crevices, moss, and lichen. A single bird can stash several thousand items and remember the locations through winter.

03

Specialised conifer feeder, with a needle-thin bill tuned for picking seeds out of spruce and pine cones. In mixed flocks they work the highest, thinnest branches that no other tit can reach.

04

Has a diagnostic white nape patch - a vertical white stripe running down the back of the head, visible even from below. No other Eurasian tit has this marking.

Attract Them

How to bring the Coal Tit to your yard

Coal Tits are easy garden visitors anywhere their preferred conifer habitat is nearby. They'll come to standard feeders and adopt small nest boxes readily.

Food

Sunflower hearts, peanut granules, suet pellets, and mealworms. They prefer to grab a single seed and fly off to cache it rather than perch and eat at the feeder.

Box placement

Mount a 25 mm-hole nest box 1.5–4 m up on a tree trunk or wall, ideally sheltered by a nearby conifer. Coal Tits prefer boxes set well into mature trees rather than open-fronted suburban gardens.

Cover & landscaping

A mature spruce, fir, or pine within 10 m of the box makes a huge difference. They use conifers for foraging, caching, roosting, and predator escape.

Competitors

A strict 25 mm hole excludes Great Tit and House Sparrow. They'll also lose to Blue Tit when both want the same box, so put up multiple boxes if your garden already has Blue Tits.

Water

A shallow bird bath under cover of the conifer canopy. They visit briefly to drink and bathe but are warier than Blue Tits.

Avoid

Don't fell or 'tidy' mature conifers. Conifer canopy is the habitat - without it, Coal Tits drop out of a garden entirely.

Range & Habitat

Where you'll find them

A widespread Palearctic conifer specialist, resident from Ireland to Japan. Found wherever there's mature spruce, fir, or pine forest, plus mature parks and gardens with conifers.

By region
  • British Isles & Western Europe

    Common year-round in coniferous and mixed woodland from Scotland and Ireland south through France, the Low Countries, and Iberia. Quietly numerous in mature gardens with old conifers.

  • Northern & Central Europe

    Resident across Scandinavia and the boreal forest belt; one of the typical 'spruce-canopy' species. Often the dominant tit in pure conifer plantations where Blue and Great Tit are scarce.

  • Mediterranean Mountains

    Resident in the conifer zones of the Alps, Pyrenees, Apennines, Balkans, and Atlas Mountains. Descends to lower elevations in winter.

  • East Asia

    Resident through Russia, northern China, the Koreas, and Japan, mostly in upland conifer forest. The Japanese subspecies (P. a. insperatus) has a distinct buffy belly.

Habitat preferences

Strongly tied to conifers - spruce and fir especially. Will use mixed deciduous-conifer woodland and mature gardens, but avoids pure broadleaf forest and treeless habitats.

coniferous forests mixed woodland gardens with mature conifers parks
10-year local observation heatmap. Click a season above to isolate one band.
Fledgemade Kit

The right house for the Coal Tit

Size S

Small body + 1⅛" panel

Body sized to 4"×4" floor. The 1⅛" panel locks out larger nest competitors while letting the Coal Tit pass cleanly.

Multi-color presets
Color
Entrance hole size
$39
Customize colors - +$5
Seasonal Care

When to install. When to clean.

Install by
Autumn (Sep–Nov) for the following spring
Cleaning
September–October, between broods if double-brooded
Winter use
Yes, overnight roosts
Continental Europe (Northern)
Resident year-round; communal roosting in nest boxes during the coldest weeks.
Mediterranean
Resident in montane conifer forests; lower elevation in winter.
Asia (Japan, China)
Resident in mixed conifer-deciduous woodland; rarely seen at low elevations.

Caches seeds and insects in bark crevices through autumn; remembers thousands of cache sites across winter.