Periparus ater
Silhouette: Sheatherius · PhyloPic
In 3 days >90%
The coal tit (Periparus ater) is a passerine bird in the tit family, Paridae. It is a widespread and common resident breeder in forests throughout the temperate to subtropical Palearctic, including North Africa. The black-crested tit is now included in this species.
This species was first described by Carl Linnaeus in his landmark 1758 10th edition of Systema Naturae. Linnaeus' primary reference was his earlier Fauna Svecica, whose pre-binomial name Parus capite nigro: vertice albo, dorso cinereo, pectore albo ("black-headed tit with white nape, ash-grey back, white breast") became Parus ater. This name – meaning "dusky-black tit" – was simply adopted from older ornithological textbooks, ultimately going back to Conrad Gessner's 1555 Historia animalium. He gave no type locality except "Europe", but his original description refers to the population inhabiting Sweden (which is consequently included in the nominate subspecies today). The current genus name, is Ancient Greek peri plus the pre-existing genus Parus. The specific ater is Latin for "dull black".
The coal tit is placed in the genus Periparus, which was formerly widely considered a subgenus of Parus... Wikipedia →
| # | City | Country | Daily sighting probability |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Sapporo | 🇯🇵 Japan | |
| 2 | Madrid | 🇪🇸 Spain | |
| 3 | Manchester | 🇬🇧 United Kingdom | |
| 4 | Ankara | 🇹🇷 Turkey | |
| 5 | Porto | 🇵🇹 Portugal | |
| 6 | Lisbon | 🇵🇹 Portugal | |
| 7 | Dublin | 🇮🇪 Ireland | |
| 8 | Busan | 🇰🇷 South Korea | |
| 9 | Birmingham | 🇬🇧 United Kingdom | |
| 10 | Seoul | 🇰🇷 South Korea |
| # | Zoo / Centre | Country | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Beijing Wildlife Park | 🇨🇳 China | |
| 2 | Ueno Zoo | 🇯🇵 Japan |
Very likely
About 70% of wildlife watchers report a Coal Tit sighting in Cairngorms National Park on a given day, based on 2,508 verified sightings from GBIF citizen-science data from 2019 to 2026. It is the 4th most-seen of the 140 birds we can rate there. Over three days the chance rises to over 90%, if each day is a fresh chance.
January–February, April and August–November
In those months about 80% of wildlife watchers report a Coal Tit in Cairngorms National Park on a given day, against about 60% in May and June, the lowest months.
Between 9 am and noon
Across all the parks we cover, that three-hour window holds the most Coal Tit sightings with a recorded time, and about 9 in 10 of them come between 6 am and 6 pm: it is a daytime animal.
Among the best
Of the 29 parks where we can rate Coal Tit sightings, Cairngorms National Park ranks 3rd at about 70%, level with the leaders once rounded. The best odds are in Tatra National Park (Slovakia, about 70%) and Hohe Tauern National Park (Austria, about 70%). All parks ranked.
Same family: Paridae
The closest relatives of the Coal Tit that you can see in Cairngorms National Park (family Paridae, Tits, Chickadees, and Titmice) are Great Tit (about 70%), Blue Tit (about 70%) and Crested Tit (about 30%), with each one's daily chance of a sighting.
GBIF citizen-science records
It is estimated from how often the Coal Tit is recorded against all the birds logged in Cairngorms National Park (2,508 verified sightings from 2019 to 2026), calibrated against known sighting rates. Figures are rounded to the nearest 10% because citizen-science data supports honest approximations, not decimals, and months with records from fewer than five people show "—". How it works.
