Friends of Salter Grove logo
Menu

Tufted Titmouse

Baeolophus bicolor
Paridae
Bluish gray on top, white below
Breast sometimes dingy
Rusty flank evident as feathers fluffed for warmth
Has chickadee-like postures
Quite acrobatic while foraging
Calls echo far and wide even when bird not visible
Prefers to nest in tree holes but cannot dig its own
Clutch consists of 3-9 eggs; nest placed in tree hole or nest box
New family in old woodpecker hole
Newly fledged titmouse has adult coloring
Eats insects while breeding; switches to seeds ...
... and berry-like cones of Eastern Red Cedar after breeding
A southern species that expanded northwards after...
... wintering birds had increasing access to ...
... reliable food at feeders including ...
... large items that could be hoarded in tree holes

The non-migratory Tufted Titmouse is seen throughout the year at Salter Grove but never more than three individuals at a time.  Its song is a clear whistle that sounds like "peter-peter-peter" and echos through the sparse woodland of the park.

It is reminiscent of chickadees, which are smaller members in the same family.  The Tufted Titmouse is distinguished by a prominent crest but shares in having a bluish gray upper body with rust-colored flanks, and light underparts.  It also assumes some of the same foraging postures as chickadees--clinging sideways to vertical trunks or hanging upside down from branches.

It probably does not nest in the park since the tree holes it favors are relatively rare and the more aggressive European Starling or Downy Woodpecker tend to commandeer available nesting cavities.  However, the park's vegetation offers a veritable supermarket of foods, prompting visits of titmice throughout the year.

It probably does not nest in the park since the tree holes it favors are relatively rare and the more aggressive European Starling or Downy Woodpecker tend to commandeer available nesting cavities.  However, the park's vegetation offers a veritable supermarket of foods, prompting visits of titmice throughout the year.  Although it focuses on finding caterpillars during the summer months while it is breeding, it is otherwise quite the omnivore and feeds on seeds and small fruits besides insects and other invertebrates.

Given its current abundance in forests, woodland, parks, and gardens across the state, it is hard to believe that the Tufted Titmouse was not even recorded in Rhode Island until the 1930's.  It was considered to be a southern species with a historic range confined to the Ohio and Mississippi River basin with Pennsylvania considered the northern limits of its range.

Bird feeders became popular in the 1920's and enabled the northward expansion of the Tufted Titmouse.  It has the habit of hoarding food during the fall and winter months, and the "unlimited" supply of seeds at feeders has allowed birds to adapt to wintry conditions north of its historic range.  It now breeds in Ontario and Quebec in southern Canada and no doubt the current warming trends will only help to move its range yet further north.

For more information:

https://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/Tufted_Titmouse
https://www.audubon.org/field-guide/bird/tufted-titmouse
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tufted_titmouse
https://www.birdsbybent.com///////ch21-30/titmouse.html
Clarkson, C. E., Osenkowski, J. E., Steen, V. A., Duhaime, R. J., and Paton, W.C. (2023) The Second Atlas of Breeding Birds in Rhode Island.  Rhode Island Department of Environmental Management Division of Fish and Wildlife.  pp. 260-261.
Howe, Jr., R.H. and Sturtevant, E. (1899) The Birds of Rhode Island.  Not listed.