Family: Paridae, Chickadees and Titmice view all from this family

Description 6" (15 cm). Sparrow-sized. Gray above and whitish below, with rust-colored sides and conspicuous gray crest. Black-crested Titmouse (B. atricristatus), found in southwestern Oklahoma and Texas, is similar but has black crest.

Habitat Swampy or moist woodlands, and shade trees in villages and city parks; in winter, at feeders.

Nesting 5 or 6 brown-dotted white eggs in a tree cavity or bird box stuffed with leaves and moss.

Range Resident from eastern Nebraska, southern Michigan, and Maine south to Texas, Gulf Coast, and central Florida.

Voice   A whistled series of 4 to 8 notes sounding like Peter-Peter, repeated over and over.

Discussion Titmice are social birds and, especially in winter, join with small mixed flocks of chickadees, nuthatches, kinglets, creepers, and the smaller woodpeckers. Although a frequent visitor at feeders, the titmouse is not as tame or confiding as a chickadee. It often clings to the bark of trees and turns upside down to pick spiders and insects from the underside of a twig or leaf. The Black-crested Titmouse, found from southwestern Oklahoma and northern Texas south into Mexico, was until recently considered a subspecies of Tufted Titmouse.