Great Tit look-alikes
Parus major
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Open the appSeveral birds can be mistaken for the Great Tit. Compare the key differences below to confirm your sighting.
Birds to compare
Blue Tit
Cyanistes caeruleus
Key differences
Smaller than Great Tit. Blue Tits have a blue cap, blue wings, and a white face with a black eye-stripe, lacking the Great Tit's black breast stripe and olive-green back. Their underparts are yellow but without the prominent black stripe.
Coal Tit
Periparus ater
Key differences
Smaller and more slender than Great Tit. Coal Tits have a black cap, white cheek patches, and a distinctive white patch on the nape (back of the neck). Their underparts are buffy-white, not yellow, and they lack the black breast stripe. Their back is greyish-olive.
Marsh Tit
Poecile palustris
Key differences
Similar size but lacks the yellow underparts and black breast stripe. Marsh Tits have a plain black cap, plain white cheeks, and buffy-grey underparts. They lack any white wing-bar.
Willow Tit
Poecile montanus
Key differences
Very similar to Marsh Tit, but often distinguished by a slightly larger, duller black cap and a pale panel on the secondary wing feathers (often difficult to see). Like Marsh Tit, it lacks the yellow underparts and black breast stripe of the Great Tit.
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