The Tufted Tit reappeared during the 16th edition of the breeding project carried out within the territory of the FEIN Ornithological Observatory of Arosio, in the province of Como.
The observation of two young subjects on the morning of Sunday 8 July 2012 confirms once again how this paris has nested in the area and how, for some time, it has moved its nesting area to low altitudes.
The Tufted Tit is a typical species of coniferous forests that prefers pure or mixed spruce woods, where it often coexists with the Coal Tit. It also nests in artificial plants and in pure or mixed broad-leaved Scots pine woods. The nest is mainly located in plant cavities, in abandoned woodpecker nests, but also in holes between the roots or in the ground.
During the breeding season it feeds especially on invertebrates, but in the other seasons 50% of its diet consists of seeds, especially spruce and larch. The species, however, is not only present in the Alpine areas, but also in the areas of the high plain covered by pure or mixed broad-leaved Scots pine forests.
While in Europe the species mainly nests between 45 ° N and 65 ° N, in Italy it is sedentary and subject only to altitudinal shifts in autumn-winter. Its distribution area, however, includes only the Alpine and pre-Alpine arc and central-western Liguria.
In Lombardy the species has higher densities in the spruce woods of Bresciano and Alta Valtellina between 1.200 and 2.000 m., But is also present in suitable environments of the Prealps, of the high plain, as in the Pineta of Appiano Gentile and Tradate, in the Park of the Brughiera Briantea, in the Groane Regional Park and in the Oltrepo Pavese.
Rather sedentary, in winter it moves towards the valley and can also be found in parks and gardens where there are ornamental conifers. The observation during the nesting period of the species at the Arosian structure, already occurred with ringing and recapturing of young in the years 1999 (1), 2000 (2) and 2007 (1), is therefore nothing more than a pleasant reappearance .
ANUU Migrators