Common Blackbird vs Great Tit
Turdus merula compared with Parus major
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Attribute | Common Blackbird | Great Tit |
|---|---|---|
| Scientific Name | Turdus merula | Parus major |
| Order | Passeriformes | Passeriformes |
| Family | Turdidae | Paridae |
| Conservation Status | Least Concern | Least Concern |
| Length | 25.0 cm (9.8 in) | 14.0 cm (5.5 in) |
| Wingspan | 36.0 cm (14.2 in) | 24.0 cm (9.4 in) |
| Weight | 100.0 g (3.53 oz) | 18.0 g (0.63 oz) |
| Diet | Earthworms, insects, berries, and fruit. Forages on the ground, turning over leaf litter. Famously pulls … | Insects and spiders in summer, seeds and nuts in winter. A frequent and dominant visitor … |
| Clutch Size | 3-5 | 3-18 |
| Population Trend | — | — |
Size Comparison
Habitat Comparison
Common Blackbird
Woodland, hedgerows, gardens, and parks. One of the most common garden birds across Europe.
Great Tit
Deciduous and mixed woodland, parks, gardens, and hedgerows. Readily uses nest boxes. Highly adaptable to human environments.
Song & Call Comparison
Common Blackbird
Arguably Britain's finest songster: rich, flute-like phrases with deep, mellow quality. Sings persistently at dusk. Alarm is a sharp 'chook-chook'. Song includes liquid 'pew' notes.
Great Tit
A repetitive, teacher-teacher 'tee-cher, tee-cher, tee-cher'. Also gives ringing 'pink-pink' alarm. Highly versatile singer; over 40 song variants recorded from a single male.
Geographic Range & Migration
Common Blackbird
Europe, Asia, and North Africa. Introduced to Australia and New Zealand. Northern populations are migratory.
Great Tit
Widespread across Europe and Asia from Britain to Japan, and south to North Africa and Southeast Asia.
Conservation Status
Common Blackbird
Great Tit
How to Tell Them Apart
Common Blackbird
Males are jet black with a bright yellow-orange bill and eye-ring. Females are dark brown with mottled underparts and a dull yellowish bill.
Bright yellow-orange bill in males, dull brownish in females
Great Tit
Blue-black head with white cheeks. Olive-green back, yellow underparts with a broad black central stripe. White wing bar and blue-grey tail.
Short, stout, dark bill
About These Birds
Common Blackbird
The common blackbird is one of Europe's most familiar and best-loved songbirds, celebrated for its rich, fluting song delivered from rooftop and treetop perches at dawn and dusk. Originally a shy woodland bird, it has colonized urban environments over the past two centuries and become one of the most successful urban adapters.
Great Tit
The great tit is the largest European tit and one of the most studied wild birds in the world. Research at Wytham Woods in Oxford has monitored great tit populations since the 1940s, contributing enormously to ecology and evolution. These innovative birds famously learned to open milk bottle tops in 20th-century Britain.