Great tit
species of bird
The great tit (Parus major) is a small passerine bird in the tit family Paridae. It is widespread and common throughout Europe, the Middle East, Central Asia and as far east as the Amur River. It also occurs in parts of North Africa where it is generally resident in any sort of woodland. Most great tits do not migrate, except in extremely harsh winters. Until 2005 this species was lumped with numerous other subspecies. However, DNA studies have revealed that these subspecies are distinct from the great tit, and they have now been classified as two distinct species, the cinereous tit (Parus cinereus) of southern Asia, and the Japanese tit (Parus minor) of East Asia. The great tit remains the most widespread species in the genus Parus.
The great tit is a distinctive bird with a black head and neck, prominent white cheeks, olive-coloured upperparts and yellow underparts. There is some variation amongst the numerous subspecies. Predominantly insectivorous in the summer, the species consumes a wider range of food items in the winter months, including small hibernating bats.
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Datasets, specimens, observations and peer-reviewed methods provide the appropriate test for the technical claims summarized here. The source revision retrieved here is dated Sep 11, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q25485. The Library of Congress control number is sh85057015. 1 of 1 selected statements include explicit references; 1 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 2005.
Current terminology should not be projected backward without checking the classification used when the underlying evidence was created. The source lead contains qualifying language; that uncertainty should survive quotation, summary and reuse. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.
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This entry incorporates text from “Great tit” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.