Coal Tit

The coal tit is a small tit 10–11.5 cm long with a distinctive large white nape spot on a glossy blue-black head, off-white sides of the face tinged grey or yellow depending on subspecies, and white tips to the wing coverts that appear as two wingbars. The black-crested tit is now included in this species. It is a widespread and common resident breeder in forests throughout the temperate to subtropical Palearctic (Wikipedia, general species account).

In Bhutan, for example, coal tits are fairly common residents above the subtropical zone at about 3,000–3,800 m, in forests dominated by Bhutan fir, in those with Himalayan hemlock and in rhododendrons. Flocks keep contact with incessant short dee or see-see calls, and the song is a strident if-he, if-he, if-he, like the great tit's but faster and higher. Seven to eleven eggs are usually laid in May, and it typically breeds once a year, in a nest deep within a hole. SoIB 2023 rates it a Low conservation priority, a resident and altitudinal migrant of forest with a Moderate range of about 120,000 km² and an inconclusive long-term decline (Wikipedia, general species account; SoIB 2023).