Coal Tit

Periparus ater

Order: Passeriformes
Family: Paridae
Presence in the Strait: Occasional
Protection in Spain: Special protection (List)
In Spanish: Carbonero garrapinos

Photograph: Luiz Lapa, CC BY, vía iNaturalist

Length: 12 cm
Weight: 9 g

Presence in the Strait

Occasional. It used to breed on Gibraltar at the beginning of the 20th Century. Nine records of isolated birds: At Gibraltar on 21.10.81, 2 & 23.05.82, 30.09.95, 6.10.95 and 24.03.96; at Barbate on 22.01.78; at Guadacorte in June ‘94 and at Ceuta on 30.09.95.

Identification

Aegithalidae Mito Paridae Herrerillo Capuchino Carbonero Garrapinos Smaller than a Great Tit but with a big head, a white nape-patch and brownish-white underparts. Bluegrey back and wings with two white wing-bars. The nearest breeding areas are the Spanish-fir forests of Sierra del Pinar (Grazalema) and Sierra Bermeja (Estepona).

Bioestrecho editorial text. Last revised: 8 September 2026.

Photographs from iNaturalist observations with the licence checked file by file. Those marked “Strait” were taken within the area; place and date are those of each observation.

Calendar in the Strait

23 %

Peak in August. Observations under CC0 or CC BY licences. The distribution also reflects observation effort.

Where it is seen

Open records from the atlas database, in cells of about 3.6 km. Opacity follows the square root of the count, and also reflects where people observe most.

See on the map

First open record: 3 February 1989
Latest record: 8 December 2024

The oldest and the most recent open observation in the extended area. A recent first observation does not mean the species is new: it means nobody had published it openly before.

Conservation

The catalogues, Andalusian and Spanish, are what binds; the Red Book assesses the Spanish population with IUCN criteria, and the global Red List is the context.

LCNTVUENCR

Andalusian Catalogue: Special protection (List)
Spanish Catalogue: Special protection (List)
Red Book of the Birds of Spain 2021: LC · Least concern · breeding
Global Red List (IUCN): LC · Least concern

Andalusian Catalogue: Junta de Andalucía, list of 24 April 2025. Spanish Catalogue: MITECO, table of 30 June 2025. Red Book: SEO/BirdLife, 2021 (Annex I). IUCN: via GBIF, 6 September 2026. Red Book and IUCN categories are assessments; catalogue categories are legal obligations.

Classification

Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Aves
Order: Passeriformes
Family: Paridae
GBIF taxon key: 2487871

Sources

Distribution and calendar: Bioestrecho's own database, ingested from GBIF and OBIS
Photograph: Luiz Lapa, CC BY, vía iNaturalist
Taxonomy: GBIF backbone, pending WoRMS for marine taxa
Editorial text: written by Bioestrecho
Last revised: 8 September 2026

Coal Tit

Presence in the Strait

Identification

Gallery