Marsh Tit

How to identify

Field marks

1. Crown and nape black
2. A small patch of black feathers below base of the bill, like a goatee
3. Cheeks and throat white, with white extending to the back of the neck
4. Upperparts gray-brown; underparts dirty white

Male, female and young

Sexes alike in shape and color; juveniles resemble adults but have a duller black crown and black chin patch, grayer upperparts and paler underparts.

Voice

Calls resemble those of Cinereous Tit but are higher and more piercing; when excited, it bursts into a “pitchou”.

Similar species

Willow Tit

Very similar; compare how far the white extends onto the back of the neck and the width of the black crown, though the call is more reliable.

Where and when it's recorded

Marsh Tit has been recorded at 904 of the 8,171 birding hotspots we track, in 44 countries and regions.

Records by month Northern Hemisphere

Where it's recorded most

1. Minsmere RSPB ReserveUnited Kingdom1,792 records
2. Leighton Moss RSPB ReserveUnited Kingdom1,185 records
3. Hoces Ebro Rudrón PNat – Molino del CantoSpain1,077 records

Countries and regions with the most records

ChinaSouth KoreaUnited KingdomGermanySwitzerlandCzechiaSpainPoland

eBird records via GBIF up to 2024-12-31. A record means someone listed it; more records partly mean more birders, not more birds.

About

The marsh tit (Poecile palustris) is a Eurasian passerine bird in the tit family Paridae and genus Poecile, closely related to the willow tit, Père David's and Songar tits. Between 8 and 11 subspecies are recognised. Its close resemblance to the willow tit can cause identification problems, especially in the United Kingdom where the local subspecies of the two are very similar; they were not recognised as separate species until 1897.

Excerpt from Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0 · authors · Read more on Wikipedia

Questions