Blue Tit or Coal Tit?
These two get mixed up constantly. Here is what actually separates them, taken from each bird's own page.
Blue Tit
Cyanistes caeruleus
The coal tit has a black head with a white patch on the nape — visible from behind — and is buff below with no yellow or blue anywhere. If the bird looks grey and dull rather than blue and yellow, it is a coal tit.
Coal Tit
Periparus ater
A blue tit has a blue cap, blue wings and tail, and a yellow breast. A coal tit has none of those — black cap, olive-grey wings, buff underparts — and is visibly smaller.
Side by side
| Blue Tit | Coal Tit | |
|---|---|---|
| Size | Smaller than a robin at about 12cm — one of the smallest birds at most feeders | About 11cm — the smallest UK tit, clearly smaller than a blue tit and much smaller than a robin. |
| Where you'll see it | Feeders, the outer twigs of trees and shrubs, and any hole it can peer into | Briefly at feeders, and in conifers and tall trees; it seldom stays put for more than a second or two. |
| What it eats | Insects and caterpillars in summer; seeds, nuts and fat in winter | Insects and spiders in summer, conifer seed in winter, plus sunflower hearts and peanut fragments it carries away. |
| When | Resident, all twelve months | Resident all year; most obvious in autumn and winter when it is actively hoarding food. |
| Status | Green listed | Green listed |
Still not sure? Describe what you saw and we will rank every garden bird against it — including these two.
Both descriptions are taken from the species pages, which cite the BTO and RSPB. Reviewed 2026-09-20.