The Tufted Titmouse is a usual inhabitant in The Eastern United States.
This gentle, agile, crested little bird is common all year in eastern timberland, where people may hear its tune even during warm winter thaws. The Tufted Titmouse and chickadees are related. Like the chickadees the titmouse visits back yard feeders. People having yard feeders may help the bird to extend its range. In ten to twenty years the Tufted Titmice continually pushed north.
This little, gray, five to six inch long northern resident with a tufted crest may visit your feeder. Its stomach is off white, reddish brown sides and the eye and beak have a dull white coloring.
In the western part of their reach in Texas, young gray crested birds are so similar, Plain Titmouse birders find it difficult to differentiate between them.
The characteristic call note is a two syllable song, quite melodious and sometimes repeated two, three or four times. To some people it may sound as if they are calling peter, peter, peter. Their song notes are like the chickadees, but more drawn out.
Their habitat ranges from Eastern North America to Western Texas and Northeastern Mexico. Birders see the Tufted Titmouse in Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Connecticut and in New York. In the Central United State birders observe the titmouse in Iowa, Indiana, Illinois, Nebraska and Minnesota. Bird watchers see the titmouse in parts of the Great Plains, The Gulf Coast and in Texas on into Northern Mexico.
The Tufted Titmouse is a year round inhabitant. Young birds may scatter after fledging from their nest site to some new range in any direction. Some young titmouse may even choose to fly north and stay.
The Tufted Titmouse prefers forests and groves with shade trees. The titmouse favors tall leaf trees in preference to evergreens. Bird watchers see them in mixed forests. It is not unusual to see the birds flitting about in orchards, the trees of the suburbs, and city parks if the trees are large and tall enough.
Their diet consists mostly of insects and seeds. About two-thirds of diet are insects, with caterpillars being an important part of their food in the summertime. The Tufted Titmouse also eats wasps, bees, sawfly larvae, beetles and scale insects. In addition they will eat many other insects, spiders and snails. In the winter months seeds, nuts, and berries are an important part of their diet. It likes both sunflower seeds and suet, often carrying away sunflower seeds one at a time.
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