THE ANIMAL FILES

Great tit

Parus major

Small feet can become a food-holding tool.

Great tits can pin large seeds with one or both feet and hammer them with the bill. Their menu shifts toward seeds and fruit in winter, while breeding birds carry protein-rich caterpillars to their young.[1]

Follow the evidence ↓
Great tit
Image: Frank Vassen from Brussels, Belgium · Commons · CC BY 2.0
More than one song
Calls serve contact, alarm and territorial roles.[1]
Menus follow the season
Winter brings more seeds and fruit.[1]
Hold, then hammer
Feet hold food while the bill strikes.[1]

More than one song

Different notes and songs occur in different social settings, including contact between birds and territorial disputes.[1]

Menus follow the season

Summer feeding centres on insects and spiders, and caterpillars are important food carried to young. When insect prey becomes scarcer in autumn and winter, seeds and fruit contribute more.[1]

Hold, then hammer

For a large seed or other substantial item, the bird can hold it with one or both feet and strike with the bill. The technique separates gripping from opening, allowing coordinated movements rather than swallowing every item whole.[1]

A COMMON MIX-UP

Does a winter seed feeder show what nestlings mainly eat?

No. Breeding adults carry animal food such as caterpillars to young, and diet varies with season and life stage.[1]

TRY A LITTLE REASONING

What problem does pinning a seed with a foot solve?

Reveal the explanation

It stabilises the item while the bill strikes, letting the bird open food that is not ready to swallow whole.[1]

Sources & editorial notes

Adapted and translated from the cited Wikipedia revisions, with source-linked reasoning. Image credit and licence are listed separately above.

Adapted and translated from Wikipedia contributors; exact revisions are linked below. CC BY-SA 4.0

  1. Wikipedia contributors — Great tit (cited revision)
  2. NCBI Taxonomy — Parus major

Last fact check:

One discovery leads to another

Common starlingA moving cloud of starlings is built from neighbours reacting to neighbours.Sturnus vulgaris ↗Common blackbirdA black male does not make every blackbird black.Turdus merula ↗Blue jayBlue feathers can be blue without blue pigment.Cyanocitta cristata ↗