How to attract the Tufted Titmouse

Keep feeders loaded with Black Oil Sunflower and a supply of suet

It’s not hard to fall in love with the Tufted Titmouse and if you provide them with plenty of black oil sunflower seeds there’s a good chance they’ll be regular visitors to your winter bird feeders.

These sparrow-sized birds – close relatives to chickadees – love the small black oil sunflower seeds, but they’ll also readily eat, nuts and berries when they are available.

Black oil sunflower is the perfect food source for these little hoarders. You’ll notice that they take the seed, fly away from the feeder and often store it in the bark of a nearby tree for later consumption.

If the Titmouse is hungry, it will take the seed away to a nearby branch, hold the seed in its feet before opening its shell by pounding it with its strong, rounded little beak.

These gray birds are easily identified by the crested head feathers and soft orange flank feathers are also regulars at our suet feeders and, of course, are included in the long lineup of birds that can’t resist Wild Birds Unlimited’s Bark Butter, either the spreadable butter or the nuggets. (Check out my full report on bark butter here.)

This beautiful little Tufted Titmouse waits out a winter storm near our bird feeder where it feasts primarily on black oil sunflower seeds.

Tufted Titmouse habitat: Encouraging them in your garden year round

All that said, Tufted Titmouse need more than black oil sunflower seeds to call your woodland garden home.

If you have, or live near, a heavily wooded area throughout the Eastern U.S., through Ontario and into Quebec, your chances are much better to have these birds in your garden year round. The birds were once thought of as a southern species, but have steadily expanded its range northward until today when it reaches southern Quebec and Ontario.

Tufted Titmice are primarily foragers of deciduous and mixed forests. They’ll fill your garden with their distinct peter-peter-peter song in spring during the spring breeding season.

(Be sure to check out my story on attracting Nuthatches to your feeder and my article on attracting colourful birds to your backyard.)

Although they rely on seeds during the winter months, their primary food source throughout the remaining seasons are insects, spiders and caterpillars.

They are also regular visitors to our many bird baths throughout the warmer months, particularly our regular cement bird bath located in a secluded area of the garden under one of our Flowering dogwood trees.

Ensure a good supply of insects in spring and summer

Providing this essential food source that the Tufted Titmouse depends on to feed its young requires a number of factors, including using more native plants in the garden to encourage insects that feed on those native plants, as well as removing pesticides from the environment. We can’t kill all the insects, spiders and caterpillars and expect to encourage birds to set up homes in our yards. Try to control insect infestations naturally, either by picking them off your plants or encouraging predators, such as birds, to control them for us.

For a detailed list of native flowers, shrubs and trees to attract birds, be sure to check out my article on Attracting Birds Naturally.

The Tufted Titmouse family is made up of a mating pair that stays together for a lifetime and raises three to five offspring at a time usually in a tree cavity, but often in a bird house, including blue bird houses.

Tufted Titmice are regulars to our bird baths and especially enjoy one that is secluded in the back of the garden beneath a Flowering Dogwood.

Tufted Titmouse use fur and moss in nests and bird houses

Their nests often include a combination of mosses, grasses and animal fur, but they will readily use a bird house in your garden as well. The tufted titmouse birdhouse share many of the same requirements as those of the nuthatches and chickadees.

The spunky little birds have been known to steal fur from sleeping foxes and dogs. They also have been known to pull hair from unsuspecting humans.

Most woodlands have at least some moss in the garden, but it’s never a bad idea to have a ready source available in the garden for the birds to use to line their nests.

Besides the Tufted Titmouse that we enjoy in our yards, more westerly residents enjoy the antics of the black-crested titmouse and bridled titmouse.

Along the Pacific Coast, woodland gardeners can enjoy the oak titmice, while Juniper titmice stay in the interior where they forage in the dry woodlands.