Crested Tit

[Kenn]

After much perusing of web sites and bird books am 95% convinced that I saw one on the edge of Brough village last week.
I was some what surprised as associate them with pine forests and although there are a few stands in the area, nothing of any size.
If any one else knows of a small brown backed bird with a definite crest and buff underside I would be very interested to hear about it, or if any one can confirm that they are this far north.

[nemosia]

Hi Lizz,

Crested Tit is pretty unlikely. AFAIK it has never been recorded in Caithness. It certainly isn't mentioned in Birds of Caithness (SAMM 2008) which summarises historical records from the statistical accounts of the 18th Century up to the present day. Neither has Crested Tit been reported in the data received for the new BTO Atlas, fieldwork for which has been underway since 2007.

http://www.bto.org/birdatlas/index.htm

Crested Tit is extremely sedentary amd in the UK is rarely reported outside of it's core range of Caledonian forest though there are a few extralimital records. Here's a link to the distribution data held on NBN.

http://data.nbn.org.uk/interactive/map.jsp?srchSp=NHMSYS0001688298

The closest I've seen one was at Balblair Wood just South of Golspie and that was some time ago (20/10/96). Many species that do not have obvious crests can appear to show a crest particularly if alarmed. But you never know, maybe you have a first for the county.

[Kenn]

Thanks,you have confirmed what I was thinking but I just have n't been able to find another bird that looks anything like what we saw hence the question.

[Rheghead]

Could it be a waxwing, Lizz? Now is the time to see them.

[nirofo]

After much perusing of web sites and bird books am 95% convinced that I saw one on the edge of Brough village last week.
I was some what surprised as associate them with pine forests and although there are a few stands in the area, nothing of any size.
If any one else knows of a small brown backed bird with a definite crest and buff underside I would be very interested to hear about it, or if any one can confirm that they are this far north.

It sounds to me like a Coal Tit which has caught a gust of wind which ruffled it's head feathers, or sometimes when they've been bathing their feathers can take on a spikey appearance; Coal Tit is very similar in appearance and is quite common in these areas. On the other hand, although not impossible and adverse conditions can cause birds to end up anywhere, it's unlikely to have been a migrating Crested Tit as these birds are usually very sedentary in their movements and are not known to travel very far.

nirofo.

[Kenn]

Think you might be right nirofo.....had obviously used too much "Shock waves," on it's plumage to conteract the Caithness breeze!