Winter birds in the city. Birds that remain to winter in Russia

Elmira Bolshebratskaya

We saw tits and thought that all tits were the same species. We learned that she prefers sunflower seeds rather than oats, as is written in the literature. We tried feeding her strawberries and rowan berries - she ignored them. It feeds readily in a feeder made from a plastic bottle. In cold windy weather it prefers not to feed, but sits out in more comfortable conditions.

We had to come up with a new type of complementary feeding without using feeders, because the feeders were blown away by the wind and gusts reached 30 m/s.

We started making balls from bread crumbs and various seeds - they look so delicious! From the Internet we learned how to manufacture: prepared the balls and froze. The titmice were grateful to us for this and posed immensely!

The bullfinches, on the other hand, liked the berries; they also pecked at bread crumbs and grains. They can withstand frosts down to 35 degrees - they sit on a branch with their feathers fluffed up. The bullfinch has a black cap and a ring near its beak; white rump, ash-gray back, pink-red belly. Females have a gray ventral side. In winter, bullfinches eat well dried rowan and hawthorn, maple, ash and herb seeds.

At the end of January 2013, a grosbeak began to come to us for the night. First we took a picture of it, then determined its name on the Internet, before that we didn’t even know about its existence) Every evening at sunset it appeared, sat down on a birch branch, then pressed itself between the branch and the trunk, hiding from gusts of wind and cold. For about half an hour, he looked around, watching everything that was happening from his hiding place. As darkness fell, the grosbeak fell asleep. At dawn, without waiting for the sun to rise, he woke up and again carefully looked around, studying the situation. Only when he fully awakened from sleep did he fly away, only to return in the evening. This continued until the beginning of March. One morning he flew away for good! But in memory of him we still have photographs, the shots were taken during the evening "inspection".

The most awaited species for us were fieldfares and waxwings. We have been waiting for them since the beginning of frost, hanging frozen berries in the form of bunches of rowan berries.

We saw the fieldfare for the first time last winter, in the yard by chance - noticing bitten berries and broken branches in the snow - we raised our heads and saw unusual birds. We turned to Internet resources and found out that this is a fieldfare. I present to your attention our photo:

By our In my opinion, the waxwing is the most elegant wintering bird. What color she has, you’re amazed at what nature is capable of! Birds They arrive in large flocks. They feed mainly on berries. Waxwings have an excellent appetite. Voracious waxwings eat a lot and quickly. They swallow the berries whole. They arrive at about the same time as the fieldfare. At the beginning of March, the fieldfares flew away - this was a haven for waxwings, here they fed the whole flock to their heart's content! True, this did not last long, about 10 days. They pleased us with their beautiful plumage and left these as a souvenir pictures:

I hope ours photo help someone identify the species birds that they saw in the yard! I wish you pleasant viewing!

The most interesting thing for children is to watch live birds on a walk. Children often have their own favorite birds among the birds, to which they give names and even claim that they can distinguish them from all the other birds in the yard.

Make a feeder and pour food into it. Very soon the birds will get used to the fact that there is always food for them here, and will begin to fly to your feeder. Watch them with your baby. The most useful and interesting thing to do is to carry out a whole series of such observations. A series of observations will give your baby much more for his mental and speech development than just reading a story about wintering birds or watching an educational film. After all, the film will most likely be quickly forgotten without consolidating and applying the information received.

In observations of living nature, the child will learn to compare, draw conclusions, ask questions and look for answers to them, describe, and find the exact words to express his thoughts.

What can we see in such observations? What should children pay attention to?

1. How do birds differ from each other in appearance? How are they similar? (They have a head, eyes, a beak to peck seeds, wings to fly, a body, legs, a tail, the body is covered with feathers)

Compare, for example, a sparrow and a crow - how are they different and how are they similar? (The crows are big. And the sparrows are small, gray-brown, they fly in a flock, they are nimble, they jump on two legs. The crows are gray-black, the crow arrives alone. The crow waddles, important, slowly). How are sparrows and pigeons similar and different? (The sparrow is smaller than the dove, it is a different color. The sparrow jumps, and the dove walks. The sparrow tweets, and the dove coos)

2. How do the habits of different birds differ:

• how they peck at the food in the feeder (they immediately sit on the feeder or are careful and first sit on the bushes, and only then fly up to the feeder),
• whether they quarrel or not, whether they give in to each other,
• how birds fly and walk,
• do they get close to people?
• live alone or in flocks,
• what kind of food do they like (tits and woodpeckers like to eat unsalted lard, lard can be hung on a thread from a feeder, bullfinches and waxwings eat berries, all birds eat seeds, but sparrows and buntings love oats and millet)
• what time of day do they fly to the feeder (when it’s light),
• in what cases do birds make sounds - screaming, calling to each other, and in what cases do they silently peck grains,
• what kind of beak do birds have and is it possible to guess from the shape of the beak what the bird eats (It is possible that birds that feed on insects have a thin and narrow beak, but those birds that feed on grain have a blunter and thicker beak)
• What tracks do birds leave in the snow? (try to sketch them and learn to read “bird stories” from their tracks - which birds flew in, who they met at the feeder, how many birds were there at the feeder?). Children really like this task. They feel like real trackers.
• Why, when a crow flies up, sparrows and doves fly away? (The crow is large, it has a strong beak, and small birds are afraid of it. That is why it is better to feed the crow separately so that it does not take food away from the small birds)

Here are some notes for observing the habits of wintering birds with children.

Sparrows– nimble, cheerful, active, often quarrel. They are bullies, they love to snatch the tit's seeds from under a tit's nose, and they stay in a flock.

Here we are tap dancers. They are noisy and call to each other. They peck at the seeds. Tap dances can be different. There are brown tap dancers with a gray breast, and there are others with a red breast. Tap dancers are our guests. They come to us for the winter from the north.

Pigeons slow, calm, not so timid, approaching people closely.

Bullfinches- calm, sedate birds. And the sound of their voice is special - they whistle quietly (they ring like bells). If they need to fly somewhere, they perk up, call to each other, and fly away in a flock. Bullfinches love to eat berries, grain, ash and maple seeds. They fly to us from the north - they are also our guests.

Crows, magpies, jackdaws - this is all “the crow’s relatives.” They come to us from the forest in winter. In the forest they always fly away from people, but in the city they are less afraid of people. In the evening they fly in flocks over the city, and then fly to the park, sit there on the branches of trees and fall asleep until the morning. Crows are smart, do not come close to humans, are cautious, and waddle. Magpies are large, gray, and have black heads and wings. Her sides are white. That's why magpies are called "pied". The magpie jumps. She loves to eat unsalted lard at the feeder.

Tits have a yellow chest and a black cap on the head, white cheeks. They love to peck lard, swinging on a rope by which the lard is attached to the feeder.

Goldfinches They fly in flocks. They are very beautiful - there is a red spot on the forehead, and yellow stripes on the black wings. They are very active - real gymnasts! Goldfinches are fidgety, noisy, constantly screaming, quarreling, making noise, squatting, eating seeds.

While observing, you can read poems about these birds to children. You will find poems about wintering birds for the youngest and older children in this series of articles. It is very convenient to write out or print out poems on cards (the size of a quarter of a landscape paper) and carry them with you on a walk in your pocket or purse. At any time you can take out a card and read the desired poem or ask a riddle.

Wintering and nomadic birds in fairy tales, games, stories, riddles and tasks for kids

Very often we, adults, don’t know what kind of bird it is, and we can’t tell our children about it in an interesting way or answer our children’s many questions about why. Therefore, I decided to make a kind of anthology for children and adults on the “Native Path”; I prepared pictures of wintering birds, coloring books, games, educational stories and fairy tales, tasks, poems and riddles on this topic. This reader will consist of several parts. and about each wintering or nomadic bird you will find a separate article with fairy tales, stories, pictures and tasks, cartoons.

I deliberately did not distribute this material according to the ages of the children. You can choose your favorite passages, games, tasks, fairy tales, poems and use them to develop your kids and familiarize them with the world around them

Wintering birds. Pictures for children.

Compare the birds in these pictures with your baby. How are the two birds in each picture similar? What is the difference?

Using such paired pictures it is very convenient to guess riddles-descriptions of wintering birds. And all kids love to solve riddles and invent them! You describe the bird (without naming it) - talk about what wings, chest, head it has, how it walks, what it eats, and the baby guesses who you guessed. Then the baby will be able to tell you a riddle himself, describing the bird.

Speech game “Say the opposite”

In this speech game, the child will learn to use words that are opposite in meaning to a given word (we, adults, call such words antonyms).

Always rely on your child’s experience when coming up with tasks for such games. Show birds in a picture, photo, or real birds on a feeder.

Sample tasks for children on the topic “Wintering Birds”:

• The crow is big, but what kind of sparrow is it? (small)
• The magpie is long-tailed, and what is the sparrow? (short-tailed)
• The woodpecker is long-billed, and what is the sparrow? (short-beaked)
• The crow's beak is large and thick, and what about the sparrow? (small and thin)
• The bullfinch has a red breast, and the titmouse has...?
• The bullfinch flew up to the forest, and the sparrow - ...?
• The bullfinch sits on the top branch, and the sparrow sits on...?

Speech exercise “Call me kindly”

This exercise is aimed at developing a sense of language, which allows the child to experiment with a word and come up with new variations.

You can play this game in a “magic version”. You give the child a “magic wand”, and the baby turns the big one into a small one (a magic wand is an ordinary but beautiful pen or pencil; to get a magic wand, you can wrap the pencil in foil or decorative paper). A wave of the “magic wand” - and a bird will turn into a small bird, and a large tail will turn into a small tail. Here are sample words for a game on the topic “Wintering Birds”

• Bird - bird
• Feather... (feather)
• Wing - ... (wing)
• Tail - ... (tail)
• Beak - ... (beak)
• Titmouse - ... (titmouse)
• Chick - ...(chick)
• Sparrow - ... (sparrow)
• Crow - ... (crow)
• Dove - ... (dove)

We play hide and seek.

Game “Whose? Whose? Whose?"on the topic “Wintering birds”

Tell your child: “You are already familiar with many wintering birds. They decided to play hide and seek with you. Guess who hid from you behind the twig?” (speech grammatical game “Whose? Whose? Whose?” - we learn to use possessive adjectives - dove, sparrow, magpie, raven, titmouse, bullfinch, etc.). It is not necessary to use ready-made pictures. You can hide pictures behind your palm, showing your baby only part of the image - for example, the tail of a bird or only the breast of a bird. And the child will learn from this detail what kind of wintering or nomadic bird it is.

Here are my riddle pictures for kids. All these pictures in good quality and resolution are in the presentation at the end of the article. The presentation can be downloaded for free.

Answers to riddles:

1. Tail, beak and breast bullfinch. Bullfinch tail, bullfinch beak, bullfinch breast. Ask your child how he guessed that this was the beak of a bullfinch, since other birds have very similar beaks? (on the red breast)
2. This passerines The feathers and tail are also sparrow-like. The sparrow is easily recognized by its gray and brown plumage.
3. Head and beak pigeon The pigeon is easily recognized by its gray feathers.

Game task on the topic “Wintering birds” - “Lay out the stamps” (for children 5-7 years old)

In this game, your child will learn to classify pictures and identify three subgroups in a group of birds: wintering birds, nomadic birds and migratory birds.

Tell your child a story. Explain what a stamp is and why it is needed, why without a stamp the letter will not reach the addressee. And then tell the story about the boy Van.

Vanya decided to collect stamps depicting various animals, insects and birds. Here are the brands he has.

Ask the child: “Help Vanya put the stamps in his album.” Vanya came up with this idea. Migratory birds will be on one page of the album. On the other are the wintering ones (those who live next to us both in summer and winter). On the third are nomads (our winter guests). But he was confused about which birds wintered where. Can you help him figure it out?”

• Look, here's Vanya's stamp album. This is a page with a picture of a palm tree. What kind of bird stamps do you think will be on this page? That's right, there will be stamps with migratory birds that fly south and spend the winter there.
• And here is the second page. It depicts rain and snow, summer and winter. So what kind of birds will be on it? (wintering birds that live next to us both in summer and winter).
• And here is an icicle drawn. This is our “Icicle” resort from a fairy tale. Our winter guests will be here - nomadic birds.

Look at Vanya's stamps. What brands would you put on a page with a palm tree? What are these birds called? (These are migratory birds - swallows, storks)

What kind of nomadic birds are there on Vanya’s stamps? (bullfinch, waxwing) On which page of the album should Vanya place these stamps?

What birds live with us both in summer and winter? (sparrow, crow). Which page of the album will we put these stamps on?

You can use other options for playing this game:

1.Print pictures with stamps and an image of the album on a printer. Then you will get a sheet with a task in which the child will draw lines from the bird to the desired page of the album with stamps.

2. Give the child pictures of birds and ask them to sort them into three groups.

3. If the exercise is carried out with a group of children, then you can give each child a picture of a bird. And draw three circles on the floor with chalk. In one circle put a picture with a palm tree, in the second - pictures of summer and winter, in the third a picture with icicles - a sign of nomadic birds that flew to us at the Icicle resort.

Children pretend to be birds. At the signal “day” the birds begin to fly. At the signal “Go home!” children look for their flock and run to the right circle. Migratory birds run into a circle with the image of a palm tree, nomadic birds - into a circle with the image of a flying bird, etc. You need to have time to find your home and your flock of birds before the signal: “Night!” Then the birds fall asleep - each flock in its own house. At the signal “Day,” the birds begin to fly again, peck grains, and flap their wings. Then the signal “Go home!” sounds again. and the birds fly to their flocks.

You can introduce an additional character into the game - a cat or an owl, who will catch birds at night. The rule is that you can only catch those birds that did not have time to hide in their house. If the bird is caught, it becomes a cat (or owl) in the next game.

4. You can introduce a deliberate error into the game - for example, give the child a picture of a squirrel along with pictures of birds. When the baby starts arranging the pictures into three groups, ask where he will put the picture with the squirrel, because she doesn’t live in trees either? This is a problematic situation for a child, because indeed, a squirrel lives in a tree! What to do with this picture?

But is a squirrel like a bird? Does she hatch chicks? Does it have wings? How is it different from birds? Can it be classified as one of these three groups of birds? No!

In such problematic tasks, the child learns to distinguish the main from the unimportant, and this is very important for his intellectual development! He also learns to defend his opinion and not give in to provocations!

Believe it or not, check it.

Folk signs about wintering birds

In the following articles you can get to know wintering birds better. We will talk to each of them, listen to fairy tales about them, solve riddles and learn interesting games. On this topic you can read:

And together with your children, you can look at the pictures of this article in high quality in the form of a presentation here. To view the picture in full screen mode, click the icon in the lower right corner.

Presentation for children “Wintering birds”

You can make a presentation for children with pictures from this article in high quality for printing or showing to children on the screen, as well as in our VKontakte group “Child development from birth to school” (see the group section “Documents” under the community videos).

Get a NEW FREE AUDIO COURSE WITH GAME APPLICATION

"Speech development from 0 to 7 years: what is important to know and what to do. Cheat sheet for parents"

The bullfinch is a bird well known to many. He's a little bigger than a sparrow. Males are striking from a distance with their bright red coloration on the underside of their body. Females have a more modest outfit: their head, wings and tail are black, like the males, but the lower part is gray. On the sunny days of February, you can often hear the soft, creaky song of the bullfinch, which is a leisurely, hoarse whistle played in different tones. In bullfinches, not only males sing, but also females, which is generally not typical for songbirds.

With the onset of autumn, bullfinches begin to appear more and more often in personal plots. With a quiet, hoarse whistling (whew...whee) they sit down on a rowan tree and slowly begin to eat their favorite food. Bullfinches are respectable birds, they don’t fuss, they don’t rush. They are also knights: males. No matter how hungry they are, they will always give up the best bunches of rowan to the female. Having calmly processed one tree, the flock flies to the next one. And he does this at the command of the leader: he will slightly raise his wings. He will show everyone (to do this he will jump on a branch and turn in different directions) a white spot on his lower back. This is the command: Take flight! and the birds obey strictly.

If you carefully observe how bullfinches eat rowan berries, you will see that they throw away the pulp of the berry and eat only the seeds. Therefore, under the tree on which the bullfinches fed, you can always find rowan berries with the middle eaten out. Bullfinches can also be seen feeding on ash or maple trees. Seeds of horse sorrel and wormwood are also collected. Because of their slowness, bullfinches often fall into the clutches of a cat.

Summer will come, and the bullfinches will fly into the forest, there, in May, the bullfinches build nests. They weave them from dry grass on fir trees or cedars. These are cautious and timid birds. If they are disturbed, they easily abandon nests full of clutches. The clutch is incubated by the female. The male takes care of her nutrition. He feeds the female with various insects, seeds collected on branches and in the grass. After leaving the nest, broods of young bullfinches gather in places rich in berries and seeds.

During autumn migrations, they fly into gardens where there are weeds, and it happens that they feed there for several days. In late autumn, together with the young ones, they will appear in the city after the first powder. It’s not for nothing that they are called bullfinches - they come with snow.

tits

The tit family is widespread in Eurasia, with small numbers living in North America and Africa. There are 65 species in total, consisting of 10 genera.

The great tit is the most common tit in our district, one of the largest representatives of the family, its body length is 130-165 mm, weight is about 20 g.

The tit catches our eye more often in the fall. She spends the summer in the forests, where she builds a nest in the hollows of old trees. From morning to evening, without stopping for a minute, she flies and flutters from tree to tree, from branch to branch, searching everything, inspecting everything. Climbing, tumbling, hanging upside down, clinging to the thin tip of a branch - the tit is a great master.

Her strong legs, equipped with very sharp and sharply curved claws, serve her as an excellent weapon. Her wings are short, as if severed.

Tits are useful to our forests; they destroy caterpillars during the nesting period, as well as eggs and pupae of insects. The tit collects 500-600 caterpillars per day. A pair of titmice, settling in a garden, can protect up to 40 fruit trees from harmful insects. Even in the cold of December, flocks of tits carefully examine tree after tree in search of wintering insects. It’s not for nothing that flocks of tits are called the winged police of the forest.

Tits nest in hollows or in birdhouses, which are sometimes hung in the forest. Tit chicks are hatched twice a year. The brood in the first period of life usually consists of 10-12 chicks. Tits are also associated with some sins: they sometimes destroy the nests of small songbirds.

The main enemy of our lovely birds is the jay bird and harsh winter. Their thick, fluffy plumage, which is an excellent warm coat for birds, perfectly protects them from severe cold. In the most severe frosts, tits huddle in hollows or crevices and sleep, huddled closely together. It turns out to be a fluffy ball with tails sticking out in different directions. It is, of course, warmer to sleep this way. Much more dangerous than cold for tits is snow and frost, which cover tree branches with a thick layer and deprive tits of the opportunity to feed.

The tit is not a migratory bird, but sometimes wanders very far. Tits ringed near Moscow were caught even in Italy

In addition to the great tit, chickadees, small birds of the tit family, winter with us; they have a black or brown cap, white sides of the head, a dark throat and a light underside. Body length 11.5 - 15 cm, weight 9 - 12 g. Birds live in the forest, outside of which they are found only during migrations. They feed on various insects, in winter they eat seeds of spruce, pine, and fir. In autumn, they store food in cracks in the bark and branches of the middle part of the crown of coniferous trees. There are 2 species in the area. The brown-headed chickadee, or chickadee, nests in all areas, in all types of forests, including floodplain small-leaved ones. A sedentary, partially nomadic bird, the most numerous species of tits. Unlike other species of tits, they often hollow out hollows themselves in trees with soft wood that easily rots in natural conditions (aspen, alder, birch), which are subsequently used by other small birds - hollow nesters (tits, flycatchers, etc.). The gray-headed chickadee nests in hollows, but the female does not hollow them out, but occupies natural or ready-made hollows of woodpeckers or other tits. One of the few insectivorous birds that winter at the northern border of the taiga. a rare species, lives in spruce, larch forests, and pine forests. From September to March, birds migrate first in small family flocks, and then join mixed flocks of tits. Quite silent, the voice is similar to the voice of a brown-headed tit, and the alarming cry is similar to the voice of a great tit. They bring great benefits by destroying huge numbers of insects - pests of coniferous trees. Subject to protection.

Blue tits are birds of the tit warbler family. Body length is 11 - 15 cm. Males and females are colored the same; they differ from other members of the family in their blue tones. The beak is short. The district is represented by one species: the blue tit, or princeling - an active bird that inhabits floodplain bushes and forests with dense undergrowth, swampy areas of deciduous forest overgrown with shrubs, willows, overgrown damp areas of lowlands and swamps. Relatively regularly observed at wintering grounds in the vicinity of Khanty-Mansiysk. It feeds on insects and, in winter, on birch and spruce seeds. It collects food on the branches of trees, and in winter it pecks at the stems of horse sorrel, panicles of reeds, and umbellifers. Autumn migrations are observed in the second half of September - early October. It is beneficial by destroying insects - forest pests.

Moscow, black tit. Body length 11 - 12 cm, weight about 9 g. In the region, it nests in most of its territory to the north to the Vakha basin, the upper reaches of the Tromyegan, and the Malaya Sosva nature reserve (autumn and winter meetings of birds are known also to the north). A common but not numerous sedentary species. It feeds mainly on insects, and in winter on coniferous seeds, and plant foods are consumed to a greater extent, unlike other species of tits. It searches for and collects food on the terminal shoots of trees, hangs from cones, and inspects the forest floor or snow. Stores food for the winter, but because... Muscovite usually migrates; the reserves are consumed by birds arriving from the northern regions. It is beneficial by destroying pests of coniferous trees.

Waxwings

In late autumn or winter, flocks of quite large and very beautiful birds sometimes appear on city streets.

Having settled in the trees, they seem to look around for a while, chirping quietly and melodiously. And suddenly the chirping is interrupted by a loud, sharp scream. Apparently, it was for this cry that the birds got their name - waxwings. In the old Russian language, waxing meant: whistling or shouting loudly and sharply.

Waxwings do not fly away, even when approached close to them. They don’t fly away not because they want people to take a better look at their perky large crests on their heads, beautiful plumage or unusual decorations: shiny, bright corals - keratinized scales in the form of falling drops on their feathers. No, it’s just that in the forest-tundra and taiga - in those places where waxwings nest - people don’t touch them. And the birds are used to trusting them. They trust them even when visiting. In the middle latitudes, where people fly to warm up: after all, it’s warm here, compared to what’s going on at this time in their homeland! And there is much more food here.

Waxwings feed on berries, in particular they love rowan. If there are a lot of rowan trees, they will stay; if there are few, they will fly further south. And closer to spring, on the way home. Will appear again.

Now it has become clear. Where and why waxwings appear. And once upon a time, the appearance of these birds in the middle of winter caused a lot of talk and was considered a bad omen. Even zoologists could not explain where waxwings come from and why. Their nesting sites were not known. The nest of this bird was first discovered in Lapland only in the middle of the last century.

And it is no coincidence that the German scientist A. Brem began his story about the waxwing this way: The extraordinary has always been considered a miracle, for the miraculous begins where understanding ends.

In the spring, waxwings return to their homeland - to the forest-tundra, to the taiga. They build their nests there - massive structures. In which chicks are hatched and fed insects (usually there are five of them). In two weeks of feeding, waxwings destroy a huge number of six-legged animals, especially bloodsuckers. These are extremely useful. And during the rest of the year, although they feed on berries, they bring undoubted benefits by dispersing plants.

Sparrow

Sparrow - there is no other bird that makes as much noise as a sparrow. They shout, quarrel, bawl over every trifle - it’s impossible without this. Sparrows provide great benefits and should therefore be protected rather than persecuted.

Many people do not even suspect that in our country there are not one, but two types of sparrows: urban and field, or village. They can be distinguished by their appearance. The village sparrow is smaller than the city sparrow, but is more elegantly dressed. He has black spots on his white cheeks and a brown cap on his head.

Once upon a time, sparrows were inhabitants of southern countries. They are dressed too lightly for our winter frosts and cannot spend the night in the open air in winter. That's why they stay close to human habitation. And they build themselves a winter nest under the eaves of houses, in attics, and in livestock buildings.

In winter, sparrows are silent and rarely speak. In the morning they feed, then bask somewhere in a warm place, then feed again, and before dusk they rush to their warm nests for the night. And if someone takes someone else's place. Fights break out with chirps and squeaks. If, before sunset, several dozen sparrows, gathered on a tree, chirp vigorously, according to folk signs, frost is approaching.

Sparrows make nests more often in human buildings, less often in hollows and earthen burrows. The sparrow's nest is loose, lined with feathers, down, and wool. Usually the same pair occupies the same nest for several years. In the nest, sparrows lay 5-6 white eggs with purple spots; after 11-13 days, chicks are born. They are fed by both parents. Mainly insects, earthworms. On sunny days they chase dragonflies and butterflies. While guarding the nest, the male often enters into fights with other sparrows flying by. After 10-11 days, the chicks fly out of the nest, leave the parental home and gather in yard flocks. Under the supervision of 2-3 old men, they feed on young grass, rest on fences, and spend the night in dense trees. Birds feed on the outskirts of cities, where there are thickets of nettles, wormwood, and quinoa.

It happens that sparrows cause harm to humans, pecking at fruits in gardens, and damaging grain crops. But the benefits from them are still greater than the harm. And when China decided to exterminate tree sparrows, the number of harmful insects increased many times.

By the beginning of autumn, when the worries about the kids are over, the sparrows gather in large flocks and stay close to human dwellings all winter, until the onset of spring.

The sparrow is the first visitor to the feeders. He is very smart - he lives next to a person. But it is more difficult to catch than many wild birds.

Crows

There is, perhaps, no bird in the world with a more gloomy reputation. In folk tales and legends, she is both wise and cunning, but very rarely kind. But he often acts as a fortune teller. Why the raven has such a reputation is difficult to say. Maybe because of the appearance? Really,

Ravens are massive, large birds (some weigh up to one and a half kilograms) with large black beaks and are completely black themselves. Maybe this is the reason? But there are a lot of black animals, and no one is afraid of them (the exception is black cats, but there are other reasons). It is said that the raven, because it feeds on carrion, has a premonition of the death of animals. And at the same time he can call her out. Not convincing either. There are many animals that feed exclusively on carrion, but they are not afraid, but ravens, which feed not only on carrion, are afraid. But the fact is a fact: ravens are disliked and feared. But these birds are amazing!

It is believed that all raven relatives (crows and jackdaws, jays and rooks, nutcrackers and magpies) are the smartest birds. And among the relatives, the smartest is the raven.

Legends tell about his intelligence. And the experiments carried out by scientists confirmed: these birds are truly outstanding. Crows found a way out of situations in which not only other birds, but also many mammals would be at a dead end, they solved problems that were puzzling for animals and amazed people more than once.

But not only in intelligence, but also in character, these birds are unusual. No, crows are not gloomy, as they are said to be. The young are easily tamed, know and love their owners, many are capable of onomatopoeia and often reproduce human speech. And in their affections they are distinguished by constancy.

Crows form pairs for life. And since these birds live a long time (three hundred years, as popular rumor says, is unlikely, but they live up to seventy), many could celebrate golden weddings. They show the same constancy in relation to nests. Crows have two nests: they settle in each after a year and can occupy them for decades, regularly repairing or adding to them. The raven nests on inaccessible rocks and tall trees. The crow's house is large in size and can support the weight of an adult. Birds build their homes from large branches and grass, the central part is coated with clay and insulated with a thick layer of wool, pieces of animal skins and other soft materials. They are the first among all birds (except for crossbills) to begin building nests and preparing for breeding. The snow has not yet completely melted, but the female is already sitting on her eggs. The raven is always there, leaving only to get food for himself and his friend. At the beginning of spring, the chicks hatch, and the parents carry food to the voracious offspring for three weeks.

They are also attached to their chicks (ravens often have four to six of them), and the children reciprocate - once they become adults, they do not leave their parents for a long time.

These birds are excellent flyers. It seems that they have no equal in this. While playing, they rapidly rush through the air, dive with half-folded wings, make turns, loops, corkscrews, candles and other aerobatics.

The raven is able to soar for hours, looking for food for its family from above. Crows are primarily predators and scavengers. They are masters of both: they hunt well and have an excellent ability to detect carrion. In the first case, they destroy many rodent pests of fields and forests, in the second, they clear the forests of the corpses of dead and dead animals that could become sources of various epidemics, for which he is called a natural orderly.

Jay

The crow's younger sister, the jay, belongs to the same family. Lives in the forest all year round, making small migrations in winter to forest parks and to the outskirts of populated areas. The color of the jay is bright, the general background is red, the wings and tail are black, and there are blue and white mirrors on the bend of the wing. The voice of this noisy bird is a sharp gee...gee...gee, loud keey...keey-keey. Singing is a patter of various sounds, including various imitated sounds: the voices of birds, the barking of a dog, the creaking of a door. She has a strong black beak with a tooth at the end, and sharp claws on her feet.

Like all corvids, it feeds on plant and animal food. Jay food - spruce and sunflower seeds, oat grains. In summer, she catches beetles, hornets, lizards, mice, frogs, and attacks the chicks of other birds. In the fall, it stores food for the winter, mainly acorns and cedar seeds, and in winter it will give them out from under the snow. When there is an abundance of food, it makes significant reserves in the forest litter and tree hollows. The nest is hidden in the forest, located in the middle part of the crown of a tree or tall bush. For construction, he uses thin branches, roots and grass, and lines the tray with wool. Both birds build their nests in trees from twigs. 5-8 eggs laid in April are incubated for 17 days. At the age of 20 days, the chicks leave the nest.

It stays hidden near the nest, so it is difficult to see the jay family.

Magpie

White-sided magpie is the friendliest nickname for this bird. But she’s also a chatterbox, a gossip, a thief, and even a robber.

Of course, there are some reasons for such offensive nicknames. Not a single forest incident is complete without a magpie - it will definitely appear, look at everything, find out, and immediately rush off to notify the entire area. Well, isn't she a gossip? And what annoyance magpies sometimes cause hunters! The magpie does not take a single step away from a man with a gun, it chatters without stopping, informing animals and birds about the danger.

It’s not for nothing that the magpie is called a thief - it loves to grab what’s lying badly. And edibles would be nice. And then she drags nails, and coins, and keys, and bright pieces of paper, and fragments of colored glass into the nest... and it’s not for nothing that they call her a robber: either she will raid someone else’s nest, or she will grab a chicken, or she will manage the melon patch.

People know this well. But they don’t know much else. Because this ratchet doesn't really reveal its secrets to people. For example, she spins and spins in front of everyone, but she hides the nest in such a way that even an experienced hunter will not always find it. But if he finds it, he’s unlikely to guess. That this shapeless pile of branches on a tree is an excellent architectural structure, made to last. Thick twigs and branches are fastened with grass and cemented with clay, the entrance is plastered, the interior decoration is made of thin twigs, the nest is lined with wool, moss, and dry blades of grass. On top, magpies build a roof of thick twigs and branches. True, such a roof does not protect from rain, but it protects perfectly from predators. And very few people know that these frivolous gossips are friendly and faithful spouses. They build the nest together, and when the female sits on the eggs, the male is always nearby on guard. The chicks are born so weak and helpless that the mother does not leave them for the first days, warming them all the time. And the male brings them food. Then both parents feed the voracious and loud-mouthed magpies.

The spouses do not part with each other even in winter - they fly together to human habitation, chat and gossip together, and in early spring they return to the nest to repair it and prepare it for future offspring: in March the female already lays eggs. And the usual chores begin. So they don’t have much time left for robbery and theft. But magpies have time to do good deeds - all spring, summer, and autumn they destroy a large number of insects and rodents. They destroy so much that they cover many times the harm that they sometimes cause.

Here's a white-sided magpie for you! By the way, it really is white-sided: its white feathers are always clean and smooth. Somehow the magpie manages not to get dirty in any conditions.

Shchur

These birds of taiga forests are not often encountered by hobbyists, since they migrate in the central regions in the autumn-winter, and migrations occur in large numbers only in some years. Large. About the size of a starling, the male bee-eater is very elegant; the head, neck, chest and back are orange-red, and in older individuals - crimson; wings and tail are grayish-black; The white outer webs of the flight feathers and wing coverts form two rows of longitudinal stripes. In juveniles and females, the main background of the plumage is grayish-orange. For its short, hook-shaped beak curved in front, the common bee-eater received the name Finnish parrot. The tail is slightly notched. In winter, shuras, uniting in flocks, migrate gradually to the south and stick to coniferous forests. The food of the pike-perch consists mainly of seeds of coniferous trees. Nests. Twisted from coniferous branches, from stems and lichens, placed on the branches near the trunk. A complete clutch consists of 3-4 greenish-blue eggs with dark spots. The common bee-eater is a circumpolar bird, the indigenous inhabitants of the coniferous taiga, even its northern outskirts. In Russia, they nest on the Kola Peninsula, near the White Sea, on the lower Pechora, and beyond the Urals - throughout Northern Siberia to Kamchatka and in the cedar forests of the Baikal region and Altai.

Goldfinch

The goldfinch is a very active bird that does not stay in one place for a long time, sings a lot, especially during an inviting flight, and, of course, attracts attention. The goldfinch does not like to sit on the ground; it prefers to fly.

The goldfinch is distinguished by its red, black and yellow coloration; it can hardly be confused with any other bird.

In autumn and winter, flocks of goldfinches wander from field to field, through abandoned meadows and fields, where they collect seeds of thistles, burdocks and other weeds, or they deftly climb the thinnest branches of birch and alder, taking seeds from small cones. Some goldfinches roam near nesting sites. The rest go on long journeys to the south of Europe in October-November. From there they return in March-April and settle in an open landscape with woody vegetation, gardens, and alleys. And also in rare deciduous and mixed forests. Goldfinches make most nests on deciduous, often fruit trees, usually at the end of a branch, away from the trunk. The female uses light roots, dry grass, moss and various grasses as building material. Then she covers the nests with cobwebs from the surrounding trees. There are 4 - 5 eggs in a clutch. In a nest covered with down, wool, horsehair and feathers, the female incubates the eggs alone, giving the male the opportunity to take care of food for her. The male stays close to the nest all the time, diligently feeds his girlfriend and sings songs to her. The song is a beautiful ringing trill (more than 20 variants), consisting of loud exclamations, whistles, knocking and crackling sounds with a slowing rhythm. After the chicks hatch, the male also helps the female feed the offspring.

White owl

Owls are called feathered cats because they destroy hordes of rodents. A sharp hooked beak, long claws, large eyes and keen hearing help in catching prey. They hunt at dusk and at night. These are rare and beautiful birds that require careful treatment and widespread protection.

A white owl nests in the tundra. But during the long polar night it is difficult to obtain food, and it migrates further south. It is found in winter in open areas: in fields, near swamps, in forest-steppe areas, near power lines. They say that an owl calls when it's cold. The owl's eyes are motionless and located not on the sides of the head, but in front, so the owl has to turn its head in different directions. But it is convenient for her to determine the distance to the victim. The owl rests during the day and flies at night. Owls see well day and night. They have very sensitive hearing. More than a hundred meters away, an owl hears the rustle of a mouse running by. Owls do not build their own nests, but occupy hollows and other people’s homes. The owl is listed in the Red Book.

Owl

The eagle owl is the largest owl in our region. The color is red, the eyes are orange, and there are tufts of ear feathers on the head. Lives in a deep forest, far from populated areas. The hooting and laughter of eagle owls can be heard for several kilometers. The nest is located on a rocky ledge, in the shelter of dense branches, under a fallen tree. Incubation begins in early spring, with a clutch of up to five white eggs. The number of chicks in the brood directly depends on the amount of food. Eagle owls feed on mouse-like rodents, gophers, chipmunks, hares, hazel grouse, and wood grouse. The species is especially protected, small in number, and included in the Red Book of Russia.

Tawny Owl

Tawny owls are a genus of the owl family. Large forest owls without ears. Body length is from 30 to 84 cm. The facial disc is well developed. The beak is high, laterally compressed. The fingers are feathered. Of the 12 species in the district - 2.

The great gray owl is the largest (body length 60 - 70 cm) owl with a dark motley color, yellow eyes, and a black spot under the beak. The Great Gray Owl inhabits old forests, forest swamps, and taiga thickets. It flies relatively slowly. It hunts in the evening and at night, and in winter, on cloudy days, sometimes during the day. It feeds mainly on mouse-like rodents, sometimes attacks medium-sized birds - cuckoos, hazel grouse, etc. It uses old nests of birds of prey for nesting. There are four to five white eggs in the clutch. Incubation lasts about a month, the male feeds the female, bringing prey to the nest. These owls selflessly protect the chicks; near the nest they can even attack a bear and a person.

The long-tailed or Ural owl nests in all areas. In autumn and winter in some years, some individuals migrate to the south of the district. This type of owl is slightly smaller than the previous one. The color of the plumage is gray with streaks, the eyes are black, the tail is long, clearly visible from a distance. It is often found near human habitation. Owls hunt at dusk; in winter, they often fly during the day, when predators look for prey from above. The flight is smooth, silent, the long tail sags downward during flight. Tawny owls inhabit any forest, staying near forest edges, clearings and other open places. Nests are located in hollows, half-hollows or in old nests of large birds. A clutch appears in early spring of three to four eggs. The male feeds the brooding female near the nest. The tawny owl feeds on rodents and small animals up to the size of hazel grouse.

Kedrovka

The nutcracker, or nutcracker, is a bird slightly larger than a jackdaw, with dark brownish-brown plumage decorated with whitish spots on the tops of the feathers. The bird is widespread in taiga forests. In fruitful years, the number of nutcrackers increases and they successfully survive the winter. In lean years, most birds leave their homeland, and those that remain to spend the winter without food lead a hungry existence. In search of food, they sometimes end up near landfills or in populated areas.

When the nut ripens, nutcrackers store it from morning to evening. They take only full nuts from the cones, leaving empty ones. They carry nuts to their pantries in special bags that can hold up to 100 pieces. Nuts are usually buried in piles of up to 20-30 pieces under moss, at the bottom of an ice-free swamp stream.

The reserves begin to be used as soon as snow falls. But those nuts that the nutcracker does not find are not wasted: they give rise to new cedars, so these birds help the tree to spread and occupy new areas.

In autumn, nutcrackers are noisy, and in spring they are silent. During nesting time, they stay hidden in remote areas of the forest. The nest is built together, over 8 - 10 days, from dry branches, pieces of rotten stumps, lichens, and grasses. It turns out warm and dense, since during this period there is still a lot of snow in the forest and it can be cold. Incubation lasts 18 - 20 days. For about 10 days, the parents take turns warming the chicks and feeding them pine nut kernels. After 24-25 days, the chicks begin independent life. During the flowering of bird cherry, you can meet summer broods of nutcrackers. And by the time the pine nuts ripen, the young are already indistinguishable from their parents.

Man has been studying nature for a long time and persistently and penetrates even the most revealing secrets. And yet, nature constantly presents him with surprises where, it would seem, there is nothing to expect. It seems that everything is clear on some issue, everything has been calculated, measured, verified. And then it turns out that everything is wrong, everything is the other way around. This happens both in large issues and in private ones, as, for example, with the nutcracker bird. There seems to be nothing to think about here: this bird feeds on pine nuts and eats a lot of them. This alone is bad. But she also makes storage rooms in hollows, in the ground, and under moss - stocking up on food for the winter. And she has more than one closet.

Well, everything is clear: the nutcracker steals the nuts. Both squirrels and other inhabitants of the taiga, for whom nuts are an important product, get much less. It was even believed that where there are a lot of nutcrackers, the number of squirrels decreases. This means that the nutcracker is a harmful bird.

But relatively recently it became clear: the nutcracker not only does not harm, but in many ways it is thanks to this bird that cedar forests exist at all.

Nutcrackers are indeed very thrifty, but also very forgetful. They get to some of their storerooms in winter, even making deep tunnels in the snow to do this. But others are forgotten or cannot be found. And now, in blind clearings and burnt areas, young shoots of cedar pine appear. Where did they come from? Who planted them? It turns out that it is nutcracker! Foresters believe that the regeneration of cedar in burnt areas is the merit of nutcrackers alone. Trees appear from sown, that is, hidden and not used by the bird, nuts.

But nutcrackers feed not only on the seeds of coniferous trees; they also readily eat insects. The chicks are also fed insects. There are usually three or four chicks. Nutcrackers incubate, feed and raise their offspring in remote parts of the forest. At this time, birds lead a hidden lifestyle. But the chicks have grown up, and in any part of the coniferous taiga, where there is cedar, pine, spruce, you can see these birds.

Crossbills

Crossbill - settles only in coniferous forests. Crossbills nest on spruce and pine trees; they feed on spruce and pine seeds and feed their chicks. The ends of the upper and lower parts of the beak of crossbills intersect. This structure allows them to easily bend the tightly pressed scales of the cone and remove the seeds from under them.

Walking through the forest, you can see how from time to time cones fall from the fir trees. These are crossbills having breakfast. In some cases, while obtaining seeds, they hang upside down on the cones. In others, they pick off cones and sit with them on thick branches. During the short winter period, red-breasted crossbills sort through many cones, but do not completely clean each one.

In fruitful years, crossbills live all year round in the same place and even nest in winter. When building a winter nest, crossbills make it massive and thick so that it does not freeze. Both parents build the nest, but the male brings more building material. They place the nest closer to the trunk, under good protection of an overhanging branch, at a height of 2-10 meters.

The clutch consists of 4-5 eggs, incubating from the first egg. The female sits on the nest without leaving for 13-14 days until the chicks appear. The pubescent ones are much better. Than in birds of other species. The whole family is first fed by one male father with seeds softened in the crop, of which up to 200 pieces accumulate, then the female joins him. Chicks that fly out of the nest initially have a beak without crossing ends, so they cannot get seeds from the cones for some time and their parents continue to feed them.

The most common species in our area is the spruce crossbill. It is small (slightly larger than a sparrow). Brightly colored bird: old males are crimson-red, females are greenish-yellow. Young birds are brown with dark oblong streaks below. During the years when spruce seeds are harvested, these birds appear in large numbers; in lean years, they are almost invisible - they migrate to other areas rich in food.

Crossbills usually live in flocks of 15-20 birds. Most often we see them flying over the forest. They fly in an undulating flight, all the time calling to each other in high, abrupt voices: tick-tick-tick. When the crossbills sit on the top of the spruce tree, hung with cones, and start feeding, their voice becomes lower, clattering: tsk-tsk-tsk. Sometimes crossbills also feed on pines and larches.

Nuthatch

Many people know this bird. A small, short-tailed bird with a bluish back, white belly, red sides and a black stripe running across the eye. She always amazes with her ability to quickly climb tree trunks in any direction. The nuthatch's paws and toes are very strong and mobile and are armed with sharp, steeply curved claws.

The nuthatch's beak is long and sharp. A nuthatch can even crush a hazelnut with it. He rarely chisels the bark, but he checks all the cracks in the bark, and picks out other cracks.

Nuthatch chicks do not crawl out of the hollow prematurely. They sit there until their wings grow. The chick will get out of the hollow and immediately fly.

Before you see the nuthatch, you can hear the characteristic cry of this bird, twut-twut-twut or sit-sit-sit, then you can find the bird itself by the voice.

Nuthatches live mainly in deciduous forests. There are especially many of them in oak forests. In the northern regions, nuthatches nest almost exclusively in parks where there are deciduous trees. For nesting, hollows with a very narrow entrance hole are chosen. If the entrance to the hollow is wide, the nuthatch narrows it, coating the edges with clay. Breeds early. Chicks usually leave the nest in late May - early June.

This bird is usually lively, while singing it sits motionless in a visible place, from time to time producing a very loud, extended, rather low-pitched whistle, repeated several times in a row kui-kui-kui.... Apparently, it is precisely for this powerful Whistling, the people called the nuthatch a coachman.

Yellow-headed wren

They are the smallest birds in our hemisphere. Only in the Western Hemisphere are there birds smaller than kings - hummingbirds. Therefore, kinglets are sometimes even called northern hummingbirds. The yellow-headed wren has a distinctive pattern on the top of its head and a compact build; the top is gray-green, the bottom is whitish, with a brownish-yellow tint. The cap on the male's head is decorated with an orange longitudinal stripe (yellow in the female), bordered on the sides with black. Juveniles do not have multi-colored head decoration.

These birds are typical inhabitants of coniferous forests, including quite harsh ones. But kinglets are hardy birds. They are not afraid of winter frosts, and often in the forest in winter you can hear and see a thin squeak. How kings fly from tree to tree. It is difficult to see them from a distance, but up close their bright crests are clearly visible. These crests, which the birds sometimes raise and then lower, gave them a name. When the birds raise their crests, it looks like they have crowns on their heads. Crowns, as you know, belong to kings. But the birds are very small, they can’t catch the kings. What kind of kings are there if they are smaller than dragonflies? So, kings.

True, there is such a legend. Once upon a time, the birds decided to choose as their king the one who would rise highest into the air. Of course, the eagle rose highest. But when he, making sure that his rivals remained far below, was about to descend, a small bird jumped out from under his wing and rose higher than everyone else.

However, a commission chaired by a wise owl noticed the deception and, of course, the eagle was declared the king of birds. And the deceiver received the playful nickname little king.

Legend is legend, and kinglets, if, for example, they need to fly from one forest to another, they rise to such a height that other small birds do not rise to. And on trees they are almost always at the tops of the crowns. The kings spend whole days scurrying around there, examining every crevice, every crack. In winter, the days are short, and you need to have time to eat, and in order to eat, you need to find insect larvae hiding somewhere, overwintering eggs. And the hard work of the kinglets is rewarded: where other birds despair of finding anything edible, the kinglets find food. During the day, the kinglet eats six to seven grams of insects and their larvae - that much. How much does he weigh? This means that in a year he will eat more than three kilograms or approximately eight million small insects, their eggs and larvae.

There is also a lot of trouble in summer. The nest of the kinglet is spherical in shape, made of moss, compacted with fibers, hairs, cobwebs and feathers, usually located on the edge of coniferous branches, at a height of four, often ten to twelve meters. There are 9-11 eggs in the clutch, which the female incubates for approximately 16 days. Chicks appear, like all birds, they want to eat constantly. So the wren works all year round. In winter - for yourself, in summer - for yourself and your family. After all, kinglets have two clutches a year.

Kinglets feed their chicks for fifteen to seventeen days, arriving three hundred times a day to feed their offspring. The chicks leave the nest 17-22 days after birth.

The yellow-headed kinglet rarely descends to the ground, looking for small spiders and insects, their eggs and larvae in the foliage, examining every small twig. It is often suspended from the branches below and hovers in front of them, fluttering its wings. It makes a quiet ringing call, less strong and lasting than that of the red-headed kinglet. And it’s not without reason that kinglets are considered one of the most useful birds for the forest.

Tap dancing

The tap dancer is a bird of the finch family. There are two species found in the area: the common redpoll and the ashy redpoll. The common tap dance is common in all regions. It got its name for its ringing cry, conveyed by the sound combination yachet-cheta. Very small birds of a dense build, gray-brown color, with a cut tail. Slightly smaller than a sparrow (body length up to 14 cm). Females are colored the same as males, but the red and pink colors are replaced by white, and there are dark spots and stripes on the crop, chest and sides. Inhabits shrub tundra, forest-tundra and forest zone of coniferous forests. Nomadic bird. In summer, tap dancers nest in the taiga and forest-tundra zones; in winter, they migrate south to the zone of mixed forests and forest-steppe in search of birch, alder and weed seeds. During non-breeding times they stay in small flocks. Tap dancers continuously chirp and call to each other, fluttering along the branches of trees, competing in their agility and mobility with tits and siskins. They often hang upside down to reach food. They feed on seeds and insects. The diet is dominated by seeds of birch, alder, lingonberry, and cereals; they even eat aphids. Having found a birch tree with a large number of catkins, tap dancers stick around it and sometimes feed for two or three days on one tree. The nest is built on bushes and trees low above the ground, sometimes in crevices between stones. It is constructed from dry grass and thin twigs, and the tray is lined with feathers. The clutch contains 4-5 bluish eggs with brown specks. The female incubates for 12-14 days, and the birds spend the same number of days in the nest. The male guards his girlfriend and brings them food. They shed once a year.

Breeds on the right bank of the Ob, in the river basin. Vakh, Agan, Tromyegan, M. and Northern Sosva, Kazym, during autumn and spring migrations it is found in all areas. Birds migrate north at the end of March - April - May. They nest in floodplain mixed and deciduous forests, willow thickets along the banks of lakes and streams. Nests are in bushes or on the lower branches of trees, usually 0.5 - 2 m from the ground. There are from 3 to 6 eggs in a clutch. A common and in some years numerous bird. Autumn migrations begin in September, but are especially intense in November - early December. Birds migrate to the south in large flocks. There are noticeable fluctuations in numbers over the years. During the autumn-winter and spring migrations, the ashy redpoll is found. Their singing is highly prized by songbird lovers. Subject to protection.

Chizh

In summer you can see many birds in the forest, you can find or accidentally stumble upon someone’s nest. Some birds themselves are not very hiding, and do not try to hide their nests, such as the oriole. But you won’t see the siskin’s nest, even if you want to find it - the birds hide it very carefully among the thick spruce paws. And it is difficult to see the siskins themselves - the male is greenish with a yellow breast and a black cap, the female is grayish-brown with streaks. There are yellow stripes on the wings and on the sides of the base of the tail. The beak is conical, like that of granivorous birds, short, sharp, noticeably thinner than that of tap dancers. Length on average 12 cm, weight 11 - 14 g. And their character is kind, peaceful, non-scandalous. And the song is very pleasant, quiet. It happens that in early spring, somewhere in a garden or grove, not far from human habitation, this song will join the spring drops. The song is a murmuring trill consisting of crackling, chirping hasty sounds. I just want to shout to the little birdie: Hello, little siskin, welcome back! The siskins did not arrive from across the blue sea, nor from distant lands (only a small part of the siskins fly away to wintering grounds). They wander. When it’s cold, they migrate a little south of their permanent place of residence. And some simply move from the forest closer to human habitation, it is easier to feed themselves here.

And then, if they survive until spring, they go back to the forest. And definitely coniferous. Only there they build their neat nests, only there they hatch and feed their chicks. It often makes nests in dense branches, no lower than 10 m from the ground. There are 5 - 6 eggs in a clutch. They are fed insects and plant seeds softened in the crop.

And when the chicks grow up, the whole family will move to a deciduous or mixed forest. In autumn and winter they feed mainly on alder seeds, choosing them from the cones and collecting those that have fallen off in the snow, in the spring - on birch and spruce seeds, and in the summer they eat large quantities of spruce aphids and cutworm caterpillars (they get them in the crowns of spruce and birch trees), spiders, dipterans, weevils and other small beetles. When the harvest of alder, birch and spruce seeds fails, flocks of tap dancers wander and are found in open landscapes, where they feed on the seeds of weeds and other types of grasses. They spend the entire autumn, possibly even winter, in a mixed forest. And those that migrate to the south or move closer to people will delight us with their ringing, cheerful song in early spring. And we will want to shout again: Hello, little siskin! Hello, cheerful, kind bird! We are glad to see you! .

In the district it is distributed in the western and southern regions. Found on a nesting site in the Malaya Sosva basin, summer finds and encounters of nomadic birds are known in the vicinity of the village of Berezovo, the village of Kazym, in the basin of the Konda and Bolshoy Salym rivers. Spring movements are observed in March - April - May. It is beneficial by destroying harmful insects. Siskin is one of the most common songbirds. To be protected.

Kuksha

Kuksha, or ronja, is a bird of the raven family. Body length 25 - 30 cm, weight 73 - 97 g. Kuksha is half the size of a crow, large-headed, with loose and fluffy plumage, grayish below, a blackish cap on the head, a long red tail with a longitudinal dark stripe. Its black beak is slightly pointed and slightly curved. Young birds have a lighter head and a darker back.

Kuksha leads a sedentary lifestyle and is active during daylight hours. It stays deep in the forest, in the middle tiers, and goes down. It flies easily, silently, and during flight the tail opens like a fan. An unwary, mobile bird. Not afraid of man. The voice is loud kzheei and low kuut. In the singing one can hear muttering and grumbling interspersed with whistles.

Kuksha is widespread in the taiga from the Kola Peninsula to Sakhalin. In the Autonomous Okrug it is more often found deep in the forest. In spruce-fir and cedar-larch forests it forms permanent pairs. The nest is made in trees of different heights, arranging it between the trunk and an outgoing branch, composing it from dry twigs, lined with lichens, feathers, and stems. The female incubates 3-4 greenish eggs with markings for up to 17 days.

The jayfish feeds on small animals, birds, conifer seeds, berries, and also eats garbage. It stores food for the winter, hiding it in the crevices of tree bark.

The population of this common taiga bird is low everywhere, but in some other parts of its range it has become a rare and gradually disappearing species. To be protected.

Common pika

The little gray lump quickly rolled up the tree. But it rolled in some unusual way - in a spiral. That's how mice don't run. And why would a mouse climb a tree?

Meanwhile, he got almost to the crown and suddenly... fell. No, it turns out he didn’t fall, but flew and sat on a nearby tree. Right at the butt. And again the little gray lump rolled up in a spiral.

This is not a mouse, this is a bird. And what it’s called can be easily understood if you listen. A bird sits - squeaks, flies - squeaks. Well, clearly - a pika! A small bird with a protective color that matches the color of tree trunks. The upper part is brown with light spots, the lower part is white. The beak is thin and long, curved downwards. The voice is a soft squeak and a melodic trill.

However, the squeaking does not prevent her from working all the time - searching for and pulling out insects and their larvae from the cracks in the bark. This is why the pika runs along tree trunks. The pika is very mobile, it is constantly searching for insects and spiraling along tree trunks, leaning on its tail.

This is how the pika works in the summer, and she works just as tirelessly in the winter. And when there are chicks in the nest, they work even more actively.

Inhabits large forest areas, avoids forest belts and city parks. In winter, it often accompanies flocks of tits, but mostly stays apart.

In early May, a pair of pikas builds a nest in crevices and hollows on tree trunks, in cracks and behind loose bark. Nesting materials include thin twigs, blades of grass, moss, pieces of bark, feathers and wool. Up to six eggs are laid, which are incubated by the female. When the chicks hatch, pikas fly to them two hundred and fifty to three hundred times a day.

Need I say how useful these little mice are?

Rare and scarce species.

Large lentils

Great lenticels are the only local birds who are so skillful in breaking apart acacia seeds, extracting nutritious peas. Having picked a pod, the bird lifts its head, peels it - and the peas roll along the flaps, as if along a chute, into the beak. Sometimes lentils fly under a bush and pick up fallen seeds from the surface of the snow. Lentil buds are plucked from thin branches and rowan berries. They feed directly above the heads of passers-by, allowing humans to come within arm's length. The birds probably live in family groups. Flocks are always small, up to six individuals, and consist of adult and young birds. Males show off in a crimson outfit with white speckles, and young ones - in a brown-red outfit with slight speckling. Females are painted a modest gray-green color. When they are about to fly, the birds begin to call to each other with frequent calls: vzhi-vzhi-vzhi. And they take off almost simultaneously, quickly gaining altitude.

Woodpecker

A forest bird leading a tree-climbing lifestyle. Woodpeckers move freely along a tree trunk, clinging to uneven bark with their claws. The legs are short with strong toes: two toes point forward, two point back. The tail feathers are elastic, the vanes taper towards the apex. A tail of this shape is an additional point of support when climbing trunks. A straight, strong beak and a sharp tongue help the bird remove seeds from cones, search for and extract insects from bark and wood.

The Great Spotted Woodpecker is the most common. The top of the head, back and wings are black, the ventral side is white with an ocher coating. The undertail and nape are red; the female has no red spot on the nape. The black woodpecker has black plumage. The male has a red cap on the crown and the back of the head, while the female has a red cap only on the back of the head.

The Gray Woodpecker is slightly larger than the Great Spotted Woodpecker. The general color tone is grayish-olive-green. The head is greyish. The male has a red spot on the forehead and the front of the crown; the female has no red color.

Woodpeckers are sedentary birds, that is, they live in our forests constantly, making feeding migrations. In winter they move to pine forests. This is evidenced by the forges of woodpeckers, a heap of spent pine cones near individual trees. In summer, woodpeckers feed themselves and feed their chicks with various insects, which are more abundant in mixed forests. The more stem pests, the more woodpeckers in this area of ​​the forest. In March, on sunny days, you can hear a drum trill in the forest. The male chooses a dry tree and hammers on it. This is his mating song. They nest in hollows.

With the onset of cold weather, nature freezes. Where you could previously hear the cheerful singing of birds, it becomes quiet. Black swifts, nightingales, chiffchaffs fly away to warmer climes. Other bird species, despite the cold, remain in their native lands. They do not hibernate, like some mammals, but stay awake all winter and lead an active lifestyle. What kind of birds are these? How do they cope with difficult weather conditions and lack of food during the winter? And why don’t they leave their homeland even in winter?

Why don't birds freeze in winter?

Birds, being warm-blooded animals, due to the mobility of their feathers, are able to maintain a constant body temperature in the region of 38-43.5°C. The degree of ruffled plumage varies depending on the ambient temperature. And this is no coincidence: ruffled feathers, taking the shape of a ball in relation to the surface of the body, increase the thickness of the heat-insulating air layer, therefore reducing heat loss. The plumage in this case works on the same principle as the down filling in warm jackets.

A special function of regulating heat transfer is also inherent in the unfeathered limbs of birds. The blood entering the paws immediately gives up some of its heat to the returning venous blood, while cooling the limbs to almost zero degrees. This explains the fact that mallards do not freeze in icy water.

Moreover, birds can be “charged with solar energy.” This is possible due to the presence of darker areas at the base of the plumage, which catch the sun's rays and warm the birds.

Also, on cold nights, birds can independently lower their body temperature. They fall into a state of torpor, which significantly slows down their metabolism, and with it their energy consumption.

What do birds eat in winter?

To stay warm, birds primarily need a constant supply of energy through food consumption. Many insectivorous birds include in their diet fat-rich seeds, nuts, and grains, which are high-calorie food. In autumn, berries and fruits ripen on trees and shrubs, which in winter will serve as an additional, and for some species of birds, the main type of food.

Also in winter, the diet of birds includes spiders and small insects with their larvae, living under the bark of trees, between plant roots or in a compost heap. Since daylight hours in winter are much shorter than nights, birds often do not have enough time to search for food. That is why they stock up in the summer: jays bury acorns in the ground, chickadees, nuthatches And tufted tits They hide seeds and grains in the cracks of tree bark.

Birds are migratory and sedentary and not only

Not all birds remain in their homeland all year round. If house sparrow And big tit belong to the so-called “sedentary” birds, then waxwing and crossbill They are already considered “nomadic” - they move from place to place when adverse weather conditions occur. There are also “partially migratory” birds, for example, blackbird And fieldfare. Some individuals or even entire populations fly to distant lands due to their genetic predisposition. At the same time, several different populations can winter in one place at once, or northern relatives can take a liking to the territory of southern individuals remaining in their homeland. So, for example, birds from northern and eastern natural zones fly to our region.

During the cold season, when nature falls into a state of deep dormancy, a strict mechanism of natural selection begins to operate. Weak individuals of one population that cannot withstand cold winters mate with individuals from other nesting sites that are more resistant to adverse natural conditions in order to be able to reproduce further.

Migratory birds become sedentary

Despite such strict selection, it cannot be said that migratory birds tolerate the winter period much better. For some birds, a long flight takes a lot of time and effort, for others it poses a great danger: a change of habitat during wintering, bad weather conditions and hunting in Southern Europe and North Africa often complicate migration.

Global warming and the growing world population have led to the fact that today more and more birds are no longer migrating over long distances. For example, gray cranes stay in France for the winter instead of flying to Southern Spain. Redstarts, robins and various waterfowl species began to stay in Moscow for the winter. The migration route of migratory birds in general has decreased by three times compared to previous years. Some species even become sedentary or make only minor movements during periods of severe cold. For genetically strong migratory birds flying long distances during the period of migratory activity, this can become a real problem. Indeed, by the time they return from Africa to their native lands, the best nesting places will already be occupied by those who remained.

See tables.

List of migratory bird species

1. Gray Heron - Ardea cinerea

30. Fieldfare - Turdus pilaris

2. Buzzard - Buteo buteo

31. Deryaba - Turdus viscivorus

3. Harrier - Circus cyaneus

32. White-browed - Turdus iliacus

4. Hobby - Falco subbuteo

33. Song Thrush - Turdus philomelos

5. Kestrel - Falco tinnunculus

34. Blackbird - Turdus merula

6. Quail - Coturnix coturnix

35. Meadow stonechat - Saxicola rubetra

7. Crake - Crex crex

36. Common redstart - Phoenicurus phoenicurus

8. Coot - Fulica atra

37. Robin - Erithacus rubecula

9. Lapwing - Vanellus vanellus

38. Common nightingale - Luscinia luscinia

10. Tie - Charadrius hiaticula

39. Bluethroat - Luscinia svecica

11. Blackling - Tringa ochropus

40. Garden warbler - Sylvia borin

12. Woodcock - Skolopax rusticola

41. Gray warbler - Sylvia communis

13. Black-headed gull - Larus ridibundus

42. Whitethroat - Sylvia curruca

14. Common tern - Sterna hirundo

43. Black-headed Warbler - Sylvia atricapilla

15. Klintukh - Columbia oenas

44. Willow warbler - Phylloscopus trochilus

16. Common cuckoo - Cuculus canorus

45. Chiffchaff - Phylloscopus collibita

17. Common nightjar - Caprimulgus europaeus

46. ​​Warbler - Phylloscopus sibilatrix

18. Black swift - Apus apus

47. Green warbler - Phylloscopus trochiloides

19. Spinner - Junx torquilla

48. Marsh warbler - Acrocephalus palustris

20. Barn Swallow - Hirundo rustica

49. Garden warbler - Acrocephalus dumetorum

21. City swallow - Delichon urbica

50. Badger warbler - Acrocephalus schoenobaenus

22. Shoreline - Riparia riparia

51. Common cricket - Locustella naevia

23. Sky lark - Alauda arvensis

52. River cricket - Locustella fluviatilis

24. Forest Pipit - Anthus trivialis

53. Gray flycatcher - Muscicapa striata

25. White wagtail - Motacilla alba

54. Pied Flycatcher - Ficedula hypoleuca

26. Common shrike - Lanius collurio

55. Lesser flycatcher - Ficedula parva

27. Common oriole - Oreolus oreolus

56. Finch - Fringila coelebs

28. Wren - Troglodytes troglodytes

57. Common lentil - Carpodacus erythrinus

29. Wood Accentor - Prunella modularis

58. Reed Bunting - Emberiza schoeniculus

Birds. Ornithology in pictures. An invitation to the world of birds. Why do birds need feathers and beaks? Why do they fly to distant lands? How should you care for birds in winter? This book was created by people who sincerely love nature: the wonderful writer Nikolai Sladkov and the artist Ruben Varshamov. The book is here. And here.

Animal world. Migratory and wintering birds of Russia. Thematic dictionary in pictures. Flashcards. Available here. And here.

Birds of the world. This book is a gallery where the author of the text (a zoologist, candidate of biological sciences) and animal photographers decided to show the reader the diversity of birds and popularly tell about the most amazing things that exist in the kingdom of birds. Available here. Dear book.

Birds. The book is dedicated to birds living on different continents of the planet. A book on thick cardboard with opening windows, funny drawings and details from the life of birds. The book is here. Book from AST.

Birds. Encyclopedia from Rosman. The book tells about the diversity of the world of birds: from huge ostriches that have lost the ability to fly, to small, inconspicuous birds that captivate us with their singing. Birds have mastered all continents and oceans, all earthly elements and landscapes. You will learn a lot of interesting things about the lifestyle, characteristics and habits of many representatives of the class of birds. Available here.

Birds. Complete encyclopedia. This book is about loving parents and faithful spouses, skillful builders and thrifty owners, ruthless predators and nectar connoisseurs, great singers and amazing dancers, knights and pirates - about those who conquered the sky millions of years ago. Available here. And here.

List of wintering bird species

1. Mallard - Anas platyrhynchos

26. Magpie - Pica pica

2. Rough-legged Buzzard - Buteo lagopus

27. Fieldfare - Turdus pilaris

3. Goshawk - Accipiter gentilis

28. Blackbird - Turdus merula

4. Sparrowhawk - Accipiter nisus

29. Polovinka - Aegithalos caudatus

5. Hazel grouse - Bonasia bonasia

30. Yellow-headed kinglet - Regulus regulus

6. Rock pigeon - Columba livia

31. Great tit - Parus major

7. Gray owl - Strix aluco

32. Blue Tit - Parus caeruleus

8. Great-footed owl - Aegolius funereus

33. Blue tit - Rarus cyanus

9. Little Owl - Athene noctua

34. Moskovka - Parus ater

10. Sparrow owlet - Glaucidium passerinum

35. Puffball - Parus montanus

11. Zhelna - Dryocopus martius

36. Tufted tit - Parus cristatus

12. Gray-haired woodpecker - Picus canus

37. Common nuthatch - Sitta europaea

13. Three-toed woodpecker - Picoides tridactylus

38. Common pika - Certhia familiaris

14. Great spotted woodpecker -Dendrocopos major

39. Goldfinch - Carduelis carduelis

15. White-backed Woodpecker - Dendrocopos leucotos

40. Common greenfinch - Сarduelis chloris

16. Lesser Spotted Woodpecker - Dendrocopos minor

41. Siskin - Carduelis spinus

17. Gray shrike - Lanius excubitor

42. Common Redpoll - Carduelis flammea

18. Common waxwing - Bombycilla garrulus

43. Schur - Pinicola enucleator

19. Common starling - Sturnus vulgaris

44. Spruce crossbill - Loxia curvirostra

20. Raven - Corvus corax

45. Pine crossbill - Loxia pyttyopsittacus

21. Hoodie - Corvus cornix

46. ​​Common bullfinch - Purrhula purrhula

22. Rook - Corvus frugilegus

47. Common Grosbeak - Coccothraustes coccothraustes

23. Common jackdaw - Corvus monedula

48. Tree sparrow - Passer montanus

24. Nutcracker - Nucifraga caryocatactes

49. House sparrow - Passer domesticus

25. Jay - Garrulus glandarius

50. Common bunting - Emberiza citrinella

The manual contains 28 subject pictures on cardboard, original poems and riddles for them, and didactic games.

Card index of subject pictures. Issue 9. Domestic, migratory, wintering birds. Found in ozone.

Migratory and wintering birds. 50 didactic games dedicated to the lexical topic "Migratory and wintering birds." Colored illustrative material is contained in the middle of the manual, can be easily removed from the book and can serve as demonstration or handout material.

Is the bullfinch a migratory bird?

No, not migratory!

Although we constantly see bullfinches only in winter, they are not migratory. In summer they live in forests where there is plenty of food. And in winter, bullfinches begin to fly long distances from forests in search of food and remain to spend the winter in the urban area. Also in winter, bullfinches peck the berries left on the trees, for example, hawthorn or rowan.