# Long-tailed tit (*Aegithalos caudatus*)

Canonical page: https://creaturedata.com/animals/long-tailed-tit  
Data as of: 2026-11-11

The long-tailed tit (Aegithalos caudatus) is a bird in the songbirds and other perching birds group, belonging to the family Aegithalidae in the order Passeriformes. It is a tiny bird with an adult body mass of 8.6 g and a wingspan of 18 cm. This sedentary, perching invertivore lives in forest habitat and has a geographic range of 18,250,000 km². It lays 1 clutch per year with a clutch size of 9.9, incubates eggs for 15 days, and is listed as Least Concern on the IUCN Red List.

## Quick facts

| Fact | Value |
|---|---|
| Weight | 8.6 g |
| Length | Not recorded |
| Wingspan | 18 cm |
| Lifespan | 10.8 years |
| Diet | Invertivore |
| Longest recorded lifespan | 11.1 years |
| Main food | Not recorded |
| Habitat | forest |
| Egg incubation | 15 days |
| Young per litter or clutch | 9.9 |
| Age at maturity | 12 months |
| Litters or clutches a year | 1 |
| Lifestyle | Perching |
| Migration | Sedentary |
| Conservation status | Least Concern (IUCN) |
| Countries on record | Not recorded |

## Classification

- kingdom: Animalia
- phylum: Chordata
- class: Aves
- order: Passeriformes
- family: Aegithalidae
- genus: Aegithalos
- species: *Aegithalos caudatus* (Linnaeus, 1758)

Synonyms: *Acredula calva*, *Acredula sonans*, *Aegithalos caudatus tyrrhenius*, *Afedula sonans*, *Afedula sonans*, *Mecistura rosea*, *Mecistura swinhoei*, *Mecistura vagans*, *Mecistura vulgaris*, *Parus caudatus*

## Common questions

### How heavy is a long-tailed tit?

A long-tailed tit has an adult body mass of 8.6 g, placing it in the tiny size class. Its wingspan is 18 cm.

### What does the long-tailed tit eat?

The long-tailed tit is an invertivore, and its trophic level is carnivore.

### What habitat does the long-tailed tit live in?

The long-tailed tit lives in forest habitat. It is a sedentary, perching bird.

### Is the long-tailed tit endangered?

No. The long-tailed tit is listed as Least Concern (LC) on the IUCN Red List, which is not a threatened category.

### How long does a long-tailed tit live?

The long-tailed tit has a lifespan of 10.8 years, with up to 11.1 years reported by sources.

### How many eggs does a long-tailed tit lay?

The long-tailed tit has a clutch size of 9.9 and lays 1 clutch per year. Eggs are incubated for 15 days.

### What kind of animal is the long-tailed tit?

The long-tailed tit is a bird in the songbirds and other perching birds group, in the family Aegithalidae and order Passeriformes.

### Who named the long-tailed tit?

The long-tailed tit, Aegithalos caudatus, carries the authority (Linnaeus, 1758).

## Sources

- [An amniote life-history database to perform comparative analyses with birds, mammals, and reptiles](https://doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.3563457.v1), CC0 1.0, E096-269. Myhrvold, N.P., Baldridge, E., Chan, B., Sivam, D., Freeman, D.L. & Ernest, S.K.M. (2015) An amniote life-history database to perform comparative analyses with birds, mammals, and reptiles. Ecology 96: 3109. https://doi.org/10.1890/15-0846R.1. Data: https://doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.3563457.v1
- [AVONET: morphological, ecological and geographical data for all birds](https://doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.16586228.v7), CC BY 4.0, v7. Tobias, J.A. et al. (2022) AVONET: morphological, ecological and geographical data for all birds. Ecology Letters 25: 581–597. https://doi.org/10.1111/ele.13898. Data: https://doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.16586228.v7
- [Catalogue of Life eXtended Release](https://www.checklistbank.org/dataset/316691), CC BY 4.0, 2026-10-16 XR. Catalogue of Life (2026). Catalogue of Life eXtended Release, version 2026-10-16 XR. Catalogue of Life Foundation, Amsterdam, Netherlands. https://doi.org/10.48580/dgzlf
- [Wikimedia Commons](https://commons.wikimedia.org), per file (CC0 / public domain / CC BY green, CC BY-SA amber, anything else not displayed), 2026-11-11. Wikimedia Commons contributors. Wikimedia Commons. https://commons.wikimedia.org (each file credited to its author under its own licence).
- [Wikidata](https://www.wikidata.org), CC0 1.0, 2026-11-11. Wikidata contributors. Wikidata. https://www.wikidata.org (data retrieved via the Wikidata Query Service).
- [Wikipedia (English)](https://en.wikipedia.org), CC BY-SA 4.0, 2026-11-11. Wikipedia contributors. Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. https://en.wikipedia.org (text under CC BY-SA 4.0; each block names its article and revision).

Cite as: Long-tailed tit (Aegithalos caudatus). Retrieved from https://creaturedata.com/animals/long-tailed-tit