Scheming great tits, bats on the menu

I recently read something remarkable. Something I never expected. The sweet little great tits, for which I faithfully hang peanut nets and suet balls in the garden every winter, turn out to sometimes turn into predators. What animals could possibly fall prey to such a small songbird? And I don't mean the spiders and caterpillars that the great tit eats. The answer: pipistrelles Researchers studied the behavior of the great tit in the Bükk Mountains for two winters. The parus major, shown above on a postage stamp from Yugoslavia (1974) and next to it on one from Palestine (1997), is about 14 centimeters long and lives mainly in wooded areas. The Bükk Mountains are one such wooded area. There are also at least 800 caves. Pipistrelle bats hibernate in those caves. The researchers discovered that the great tits listen closely to the sounds coming from the caves. Once they have spotted the bats, they fly inside and emerge after about ten minutes with a small bat in their beaks. Bat carcasses with traces of bird beaks were also found. Such a small pipistrelle (Pipistrellusis approximately 3 1/2 to 5 centimeters long and weighs a maximum of 8,5 grams. The great tit's menu When you see the terrifying pipistrelle on the Romanian stamp (2006), you can hardly imagine that it is being devoured by the cute Hungarian (1961) great tit next to it. Normally, great tits eat nuts, berries, seeds, and small insects. On the stamp (1996) above, Andorra shows a great tit eating berries, and Sweden (2004) depicts a great tit eating seeds. The great tit stores seeds and fats in its body for the winter. It also hides food in the trees. However, during snowfall, this food is difficult to find. Presumably, this is the reason why these little birds go hunting for bats. The oldest stamp, the newest, and are these really great tits? The oldest stamp featuring a great tit that I could find is from Romania from 1959, and the youngest was issued by Spain in 2009. According to Japan (1997) and Korea (2006), these should be great tits. But I am missing the characteristic yellow belly of the little songbird here. Looking at the stamps of Belgium (1992 André Buzin) and Monaco (2002) above, I really can't imagine that these cheerful little birds hunt bats. To keep my image of this cute little bird from becoming completely clouded, I will just hold on to the statement of one of the researchers: 'It has nothing to do with aggression. It is purely a way to survive.' So, great tits: you are once again very welcome in my garden restaurant this winter.