Food supply and diet of the Bearded Tit

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Abstract
Invertebrates are very scarce in reed beds during the winter and the non-migratory bearded tit takes a high proportion of seeds in the diet. The irregular migrations for which the species is well known are probably related to failures of the reed seed crop. The invertebrate foods taken tend to be the more sedentary forms, since the bearded tit rarely uses active hunting methods. Potential food levels vary within and between sites, which in two places studied, mainly reflected differences in productivity of the aquatic ecosystems. Especially in early summer, a high proportion of the diet of nestlings was chironomids which at 1 predominantly dry site were obtained by long flights to the water''s edge. Later, spiders and beetles were taken and some birds specialized on the larvae and pupae of wainscot moths which may be locally abundant.