Milk-thieving tits!

June 14, 2010 in Tits with 2 comments

Blue Tits are small passerine birds that live in parts of Europe and Asia. They are acrobatic little birds, entertaining to watch in garden feeding stations. In the United Kingdom in the 1960's, Blue Tits became known for their intelligence when they would open foil tops on milk bottles to eat the cream inside. Both Blue Tits and (European) Robins had already been stealing cream out of bottles prior to WWII, when the milk was delivered without lids. With the advent of the foil tops, Blue Tits figured out how to pull off the foil to continue stealing the creamy treat. This learned behavior was passed down from generation to generation in the Blue Tits, but the Robins never figured it out. Today the behavior is not nearly as common due to a number of factors - including a sharp decline in home milk delivery!

The Blue Tit has been on Birdorable since August 2007. Be sure to check out our great collection of Blue Tit t-shirts & gifts!

Comments

Tessa on November 10, 2020 at 9:55 PM wrote:

that is so cute!

baby bird on December 18, 2020 at 8:03 PM wrote:

I also thought European robins were smart, cuz they are so cute!

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