African Blue Tit Cyanistes teneriffae
(aka Parus teneriffae)
Blue Tit, Ourika Valley, Morocco - click for larger image Ourika Valley, Morocco

The African Blue Tit is distributed in north-west Africa from Morocco to Tunisia and in the Canaries. See the distribution map at Birdlife International. It is found in deciduous or mixed woodland, parks and gardens provided that suitable nest holes are available. Nest sites are typically a hole in a tree or a wall.

Blue Tit, Ourika Valley, Morocco - click for larger image It feeds mainly on insects and spiders but also eats seeds, fruit, nectar and pollen.

The North African races were previously included as a sub-species of European Blue Tit C. caeruleus but molecular and acoustic evidence shows them to be sub-species of C. teneriffae. Visually it is noted for its bluish rather than greenish back and its darker crown.

Previous Page Back to Index Next Page

If you do not see a menu on the left, you may have arrived at this page from another site. Please click Home to get to my main page.
Fatbirder's Top 1000 Birding Websites

Valid HTML 4.0 Transitional