Marsh tit (Parus palustris) is a bird, dressed in plumage of subdued pastel colors. Its gleaming black head and small black 'beard' under a short, pointed black bill stand out prominently. The cheeks are white; the chest, flanks and belly are softly pinkish to brownish gray; the wings, back and tail are uniformly grayish brown. Unlike the very similar mountain tit, the marsh tit does not have a bright stripe along the midline of the wing. It is a little over 11 cm long and thus noticeably smaller than its relative, the great tit.
Contrary to its name, the marsh tit prefers to stay in deciduous and mixed forests rather than in open marshes. Still, it likes proximity to water, so it is common in riparian groves and in wet hornbeam or beech forests. During autumn and winter, however, it mainly feeds on small seeds, which it eats; you can also observe it in a park or in a larger garden.
In Slovenia, the marsh tit is a common and widely distributed nesting bird. It is regarded as a lowland species, but from time to time it can also be found higher above sea level, in the mountain belt. In our country it nests in April and May in a nest that it weaves in a tree hollow from meadow grasses and other plant debris. It is a resident, so you can see it here year-round.
