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Tufted Titmouse

Baeolophus bicolorOrder: PASSERIFORMESFamily: Titmice and Chickadees (Paridae)

Tufted Titmouse Portrait
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General

Tufted Titmouse: Large titmouse with gray upperparts, pale gray underparts, and rust-brown flanks. Head has dark gray cap and crest, pale gray face, and white eye-ring. Wings and tail are gray. Sexes are similar. Juvenile is duller.

Range and Habitat

Tufted Titmouse: Breeds from eastern Nebraska, southern Michigan, and Maine south to Texas, the Gulf Coast, and central Florida. Preferred habitats include swampy or moist woodlands, and urban shade trees.

Listen to Call

Voice Text

"peter-peter-peter", "peto-peto-peto"

Interesting Facts

  • Most Tufted Titmice live their entire life within a few kilometers of their birthplace.
  • They only occur in areas where rainfall is greater than 24 inches per year, and are more common where rainfall exceeds 32 inches per year.
  • In Cherokee legend, they are regarded as messengers.
  • A group of titmice are collectively known as a "banditry" and a "dissimulation" of titmice.


Author

Gary Owen Dick

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Range Map for Tufted Titmouse
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Bird Call Credits: The Macaulay Library of Natural Sounds at the Cornell Lab of Ornithology. Martyn Stewart, http://www.naturesound.org, Redmond, Washington USA. The reuse or copying of bird calls in this database is strictly forbidden.
Family
Species Baeolophus bicolor
Length6.5 Inches
Wingspan10.75 Inches

Tufted Titmouse

Tufted Titmouse: The largest titmouse, it has gray upperparts, pale gray underparts, rust-brown flanks. Head has dark gray cap and crest, pale gray face, and white eye-ring. Bill is black. Wings and tail are gray. Legs and feet are gray. Most spend their entire lives not far from their birthplace.

● Song: "peter-peter-peter", "peto-peto-peto"

● Foraging & Feeding: Tufted Titmouse: Eats insects, spiders, snails, various berries, acorns, and seeds. Forages in trees, sometimes upside down; often in mixed species flocks

● Breeding & nesting: Tufted Titmouse: Four to eight brown-speckled, creamy white eggs are laid in a natural cavity, bird box, or woodpecker hole lined with bark, leaves, soft grass, moss, snakeskin, and bits of animal fur. Incubation ranges from 13 to 14 days and is carried out by the female.

● Similar species: Tufted Titmouse: Phainopepla is larger and dull gray overall.

Flight Pattern

Weak fluttering short flights with shallow rapid wing beats., Flittering flight with several quick wing beats alternating with wings drawn to sides, then repeated.
Tufted Titmouse Body Illustration
● Range & Habitat: Tufted Titmouse: Breeds from eastern Nebraska, southern Michigan, and Maine south to Texas, the Gulf Coast, and central Florida. Preferred habitats include swampy or moist woodlands, and urban shade trees.
BreedingMonogamous, Solitary nester
Population
MigrationNonmigratory
Weight0.8 Ounces