Especially in the winter it can be worth looking a bit closer on Long-tailed Tits, since nordic individuals of the race caudatus are migrating through Germany then. The identication of this subspecies is unfortunately not easy, since not every "white-headed" Long-tailed Tit is a clear candidate for the race caudatus. In the field the on the bottom pictured tits seemed for me almost perfect, since they showed a pure white head, softly pinkish coloured flanks and a well defined black neck. At least till I observed an individual with a less well defined neck and dark feathers in the head, this tit cannot be a caudatus.
I don´t know, if the other Long-tailed Tits are caudatus, after all this subspecies has to be reported to the Bavarian Rarity Committee (BAK) and it does occur rarely here. Finally it would be my first caudatus, so I have no experience in identifying Long-tailed Tits on subspecies-level.
If you have any idea about the below pictured tits, please send me an e-mail (info@birdingfranconia.de).
The pictures were not changed afterwards, only scaled down.
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