Richard Collins: Why do some urban birds have paler feathers than ones in the country?

City great tits may be less bright than their rural cousins but are they less healthy? Researchers have been looking into the matter...

New research has revealed that some great tits may be more brightly coloured that others, with urban birds found to have paler plumage than their countryside counterparts

Researchers from Lund University collected great tit feathers from urban and rural locations in Europe. The colours of feathers from city birds, they found, tended to be duller than those of forest-dwelling ones.

The choice of the great it for the study isn’t surprising; it is said to be the world’s most researched bird. The largest member of the tit family, it has a distinctive black crown, conspicuous white cheek patches, and a black bib. The breast and belly are yellow and the rhythmic ‘chee-u chee-u’ song is distinctive. Found throughout Europe and Asia, from Ireland to Japan, the great tit is highly adaptive; up to three dozen potential sub-species have been described.