Apr 122013
 
Bearded tit Panurus biarmicus tit Barkóscinege
Bearded tit Panurus biarmicus

Panurus biarmicus

Names

Also called
Britain: Bearded reedling, Finland: Viiksitimali France: Panure a moustaches Germany: Bartmeise, Hungary:Barkóscinege, Italy: Basettino, Poland: wąsatka, Russia: Усатая синица, Spain: Bigotudo, Sweden: Skäggmes

Cute little bird, not shy at all, it is easy to photograph. The female looks little different, no moustaches as it is normal:). In Hungary I mostly see in fall or in winter. I only see this bird on reeds. They eat there, moving up and down, after some time changing position and fly little further to the next reed.

The pairs live in constant relationships with each other.

Look

Very beautiful bird, the male has two black moustaches, not really beard. The tail of the bird is long, the wings are relatively smaller compare to the length of the bird. The bird has a brown-yellow color, with black and white parts as well. The beak has orange colour. The legs are dark. The birds a bit similar in look like parrots. According to classification this bird is in a class in his own. Earlier they classify this to tits, but recently they think it is a unique bird in its class.
Panurus biarmicus female
No moustache for the female bird, same colors but little less saturated, long tail, and short wings but no mustache

Habitat

Mostly in reedbed.
It is quite wide-spread in Europe, and in Asia as well from Middle East to Northeast China. In Hungary can be found in naturally better places, around National parks and nice lakes usually (Lake Ferto at Austrian border Lake Velence, Hortobágy plain lakes). Not common in densely populated places.

Migration

In Hungary doesn’t migrate as far as I know. In winter changing places but not go far.

Sound

It has a definite sound, much stronger than normal tits. It is quite easy to find a bird when you hear the sound.

Diet

It eats larvae and insects, spiders and seeds as well.

More pictures

One of the bird ringing station in Hungary they caught a male bird, and we make some closeups of the bird with greater detail. After some scientific measurements and photos the bird was released to the wild.

Bearded reedling Panurus biarmicus
Bearded reedling Panurus biarmicus 2

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 Posted by at 4:00 pm