Great tits are common, widely distributed, cavity nesting passerines. The range of this super-species spans Europe across Asia to the Pacific, including populations in the Middle East, and North West Africa. From this distribution area four species groups have been identified: major (whole Europe, Siberia and north-west Africa), cinereus (from Iran to India and south-east Asia), minor (China, Japan and eastern Russia) and bokharensis (central Asia). Most studies have concentrated on the north-west European Parus major subspecies and our sequenced bird belongs to this subspecies.