The great tit is nuts!
Thursday, January 28th, 2010
Great tit | Photo of Daniel Montanus
I am a great friend of the virtuosic singing of the elite of our domestic songbirds as wood larks, nightingales or song thrushes. I love listening to the diverse and beautiful melancholically whistling of these masterful singers for hours – getting inspired by them, just as they instruct humans to make music and write poetry since primeval times. But there are also some guys among the feathered friends whose singing just can be declared as an annoying noise. Who, for example enjoys the crow‘s croaking? There is one bird who really has lost my favour: The great titmouse. Its sharp and loud „zi-zi däh, zi-zi däh“ has robbed me of my nerves and sleep many times at the crack of dawn. Not only its horrible penetrant „singing“ turns the cute and gracious birdie into a real villain. They are also false and tainted – chasing their fellows away by simulating warning cries, so they have all the food for themselves. Or they sing with changed voices to claim several districts for themselves, so newcomers think that these districts are already occupied and that there is such a great rivalry so settling down in that area is not worth the trouble. The smart thieves possess a repertoire of eight different ways of singing. In Germany one uses the term „to have a tit“ for people who you think are crazy or nuts. This expression can be lead back to a widely spread popular belief according which a mental disease is caused by animals nestling in one‘s head. Another German expression for insane people is „It‘s peeping in your head“, which can also be lead back to nestling birds.