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When do blue tits lose the yellow face?

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  • When do blue tits lose the yellow face?

    Good morning folks!

    Four or five days ago I noticed a bird with a bright yellow face on one of the feeders, and when it eventually sat still long enough it turned out to be a juvenile blue tit. Over the last few days I've noticed a few more.

    We've been wondering if these might be early chicks from this year (googling makes me think this unlikely as eggs should only be being laid around now???) or if they are from later last year.

    So the questions are -At what age do juvenile blue tits lose the yellow coloured face? and, How long does this process (yellow to white face) take?

    Thanks!

  • #2
    As blue tits have a life expectancy of only 1.5 years these are quite likely this years chicks and should lose their yellow cheeks very soon.
    I have had blackbird and magpie youngsters in my garden already this year and the long tailed tit flock is a lot bigger than it was earlier on this year.
    Last edited by weekendwellies; 13-04-2010, 11:29 AM.

    “If your knees aren't green by the end of the day, you ought to seriously re-examine your life.”

    "What lies behind us and what lies before us are tiny matters compared to what lies within us." Ralph Waldo Emerson

    Charles Churchill : A dog will look up on you; a cat will look down on you; however, a pig will see you eye to eye and know it has found an equal
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    • #3
      Thanks! So these may be the first chicks whose parents we helped out by feeding. Cool!

      Had a close look at some yesterday and if they are the same birds they are losing the yellow colour fairly rapidly - their cheeks are white now with the yellow colour retreating to just around the beak.

      Unfortunately one of the youngsters has a useless right leg, but she didn't seem too bothered by it as she was hanging upside down from the peanut feeder yesterday. She should be easy to tell apart from the others and fingers crossed I'll get an idea of how quickly her face turns from yellow to white over the next days/weeks.

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      • #4
        They molt at about 8weeks- so I imagine that'd be when the yellow turns white???? ( just a guess!)
        "Nicos, Queen of Gooooogle" and... GYO's own Miss Marple

        Location....Normandy France

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        • #5
          These youngsters don't look as if they are moulting, but there again ... "I know nothing"

          I've grabbed a few frames from some video I took on Monday 12th -





          Good old Hopalong -

          Attached Files

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          • #6
            I saw Hopalong again last Friday and Saturday and her face had lost a little more of the yellow and also looked as if she was starting to moult. Saw her again on Wednesday and she just has the tiniest bit of yellow above her beak. From what I've seen it appears that the young blue tits start to lose the yellow in their faces before they moult. (I could be completely wrong, of course!)

            Also, Hopalong's right leg doesn't appear completely useless - I saw her use it to scratch the side of her head so she does seem to have some control over it. She definitely can't grip with her toes though so she can't hold seeds between her feet to eat like all the other tits can. Still, she seems to be doing pretty well and looks healthy apart from the dodgy leg.

            NB - 'she' may well be a 'he', I can't tell the difference!

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