Redstart (lat. Phoenicurus)- a small bird from the passerine family. Males have a gray back, a rusty-red belly and sides, and a bright red plumage on the tail - which is why the redstart got its name. The wings are brown, the forehead area is white, the cheeks, throat, and crop are black. Females are brown in color with reddish tan markings. The bird's body length is up to 16 cm, weight is up to 20 grams. Young birds have a nondescript color, brown with buffy spots.
photo: Common redstart or coot
Redstarts include 13 species of birds, most of them inhabit China, India and other Asian countries. In Russia, you can most often find the common redstart, blackling, white-capped and Siberian. The bird prefers to settle in forest-steppe and forest zones, in parks and gardens, but in the steppe it can be seen extremely rarely; it avoids redstarts and pine forests.
photo: Black Redstart
Distribution, nutrition, reproduction of redstarts
The redstart returns in mid-April, the old males arrive first, followed by the young and females. It is the males who are looking for a place for a nest, and the real struggle begins for the best sites. Birds build nests in hollows, on thick tree branches, in bushes, and old stumps. The female builds a nest in May-June, using pieces of bark, grass stems, and dry leaves as building materials; the inside of the rookery is lined with threads, feathers, ropes, and scraps of paper. One clutch contains 6-7 eggs with bluish shells; the female incubates them. After 2 weeks, the chicks appear, both parents bring them food for another 2-3 weeks. Babies begin to fly about a month after birth. Some pairs of birds make 2-3 clutches during the summer. The young roam close to the nesting area, near ponds and in bushes.
photo: Siberian redstart
Redstarts feed mainly on insects - flies, mosquitoes, small beetles, caterpillars, and small spiders. Birds are not averse to eating berries - currants, elderberries, raspberries. In October (some species in November) the birds migrate to Central Africa, where they spend the winter. You can keep redstarts in cages, but they take a long time to get used to humans, and in captivity they will sing for at most 2 months a year.
photo: White-headed redstart
- Representatives of this species sing almost around the clock, being especially active early in the morning and late in the evening;
- A characteristic feature of the bird’s behavior is the constant shaking of its tail, because of this the red plumage shimmers in the sun like a fire;
- The redstart is also called the coot, the kaluferka, and the redstart;
- When kept in captivity, the birds' wings are tied up for the first time, as they often injure themselves. With proper care they live 5-6 years.
- In 2015, the redstart was declared bird of the year in Russia
Video about redstarts
Hello dear readers of the site about animals. Alexandra is in touch with you. You know, by chance I just remembered how recently I was delighted by the flight of beautiful birds to our feeder on a tree in the garden near the house. We always hang a large number of them on every tree in winter.
And this time, beautiful birds flew to the feeders, which we had not seen before in the summer. These were the birds - tits. So beautiful, you can’t take your eyes off them. In this article I will tell you what types of tits there are and look at their photos.
Types of tits photos and names
It is difficult not to notice yellow-breasted titmice, as they fly into the forest in the summer and live there until the onset of cold weather.
But as soon as the first frost hits, timid snowflakes will appear in the air - tits will be drawn to human habitation. Near a person you can always find a crumb for food. And people remember about birds: they prepare feeders, hang up a piece of unsalted lard. Everything for them, for the tits and their brothers.
During cold weather, small birds gather in groups, because it’s more fun to spend the winter this way and there are also more chances to survive.
At first glance, it seems that all the birds are the same, except that they can be distinguished by their height. Actually this is not true. Here's the usual one titmouse nicknamed bolshak. She's big. Her plumage is bright: her belly is yellow with a black stripe in the middle. The titmouse's cap is also black. It creates a sharp contrast with white cheeks. The back of the bird is colored in different shades of green.
Great tits are very lively birds in terms of movement. They scurry along the tree trunk, looking for hidden insects under the bark. At the same time, the birds talk loudly among themselves. In summer, the nearby forest serves as their home.
Smaller birds are jumping next to the big tits. They differ from large ones in the color of their plumage. This blue tits. They have blue caps and no black stripe on the chest and abdomen. Due to their low weight, blue tits can perch on the very tip of a thin branch. It cannot be said that their character is modest. Blue tits do not allow themselves to be offended; they make noise at the feeders and drive away other birds.
Blue tits are related princeling. The prince is truly unusual. He is “dressed” in a striped blue and white tailcoat. This bird is rare, and information about it is recorded in the Red Book.
In the dark coniferous forests lives a bird similar in plumage to the Bolshak - a bird nicknamed Moscow. Apparently, due to the gloom of its habitat, its plumage is dull. It looks like the bird was sprinkled with grains of coal. It can be recognized by the white spot on the neck.
Muscovites are neighbors chubby And brown-headed tit. These are also titmice. Their backs are gray-brown, their bellies are light, there is a black spot on their head, and the same one under their beak. The sisters differ in their voices and preferences: the chickadee can be found among the fir trees, the black-headed chickadee in the deciduous forests near the floodplain of the reservoir.
It is very rare, but you can still see a cute bird with a crest. For the presence of a crest, the bird is called grenadier. Once upon a time in the 18th century, grenadier headdresses had similar crests. The grenadier also has a common name - the tufted tit.
What all these birds have in common is that they live in hollows. They inhabit hollows abandoned by woodpeckers or voids formed by nature in a tree. Their food is insects and seeds. Those who live in a spruce forest naturally eat seeds from spruce cones. If the cone harvest is poor, tits become nomads.
Other tits thriftyly store insects and seeds. Birds often forget about their pantries, but supplies do not go to waste. Those who are the first to discover such a pantry feast on them.
It can be said that tits have cousins, forming a separate family. This long-tailed tits. They are also called ladles because they look like little ladles with a long handle. These “ladies” are good builders.
Moss serves as a building material for them. It makes strong and good-quality round houses, which can only be entered through a side door. As a rule, these houses are well camouflaged.
In winter, long-tailed tits form a group independent from the rest. They can accompany the woodpecker if they are weakened. Then the titmice have the opportunity to look for insects under the bark torn off by the woodpecker.
In winter, birds place their greatest hope on humans. If he supports the birds in winter, they will repay him with kindness in summer. Dear readers, I wanted to ask you, do you feed the birds in winter and make feeders? Please report it in the comments to this article. And then we will somehow tell and show in the following articles how to make bird feeders. Would you be interested?
Appearance: The black woodpecker, or woodpecker, is a fairly large bird, whose body size is 40-50 centimeters and weighs about 250-500 grams. It is the closest relative of the gray woodpecker. It has a slender body, a long and thin neck, and a relatively small head. The peculiarity of this bird is the presence of a kind of bright red “cap” on the head of the males, while the female has just a red spot on the back of the head. The beak is chisel-shaped, long and very strong. The wings are long and rounded (span up to 70 cm), and the tail, although also long, is, on the contrary, pointed. The plumage is soft and dense. The color, although dark, looks very beautiful. Almost the entire body, including the tail and wings, is painted shiny black. Females are also black, but unlike males, they do not have shine. The beak is yellowish-gray. Young birds have loose plumage, and more matte.
Nutrition: Most often they eat ants, less often - other insects, larvae, pupae, and beetles. They obtain their food using their strong, long beak from under the bark of trees. They also often pick up insects from the ground. Their sticky tongue also helps them catch ants and other insects. These birds can dig into anthills for many hours in search of large ants.
Reproduction: The black woodpecker is a monogamous bird and mates for the rest of its life. During the mating season, the male taps dry twigs with his beak, which creates a vibrating sound that attracts females. During this period, when males meet, they look at each other irritably and threaten with their beaks. They begin nesting at the end of winter, making their own hollows in aspen, pine, spruce, and birch. Both partners take part in building the nest and sometimes spend half the day on it. Black woodpeckers prefer to settle in the same place every year, and if their hollow is occupied, the male drives out the guests. The clutch consists of 3-6 small eggs, which both parents take turns incubating for two weeks. The chicks are born weak and absolutely helpless. Both parents feed their young, and after 3-4 weeks the chicks leave the nest.
Habitat: Most black woodpeckers lead a sedentary lifestyle and are widespread in Eurasia; many of them are found in Western Europe. They prefer deciduous, coniferous or mixed forests with many shrubs.
Interesting fact: These birds, part of the order Woodpeckers, have fairly tough skin that protects them from insect bites, especially from carpenter ants, which they like to eat. Also, the skin is not covered with down, and the feathers are hard and pointed at the ends. The pointed end of the tail serves as a reliable support for this bird while it hollows out a hollow.
| Picidae |
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Woodpeckers ( Picinae)
Vertichnecks ( Jynginae) Woodpeckers ( Picumninae)
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Woodpeckers(Also woodpeckers, lat. Picidae) - a family of birds of the order Pyciformes.
Includes the subfamilies Woodpeckers ( Picinae), woodpeckers ( Picumninae) and verticesses ( Jynginae).
Body length from 8 to 56 cm.
They live mainly in forests and trees, which is why woodpeckers have short legs, long fingers and sharp claws.
Zhelna, or black woodpecker
The support for climbing trees is provided by the well-developed tail wings. Woodpeckers have a strong beak, with which they hollow out bark and wood in search of food or when making a nest; The exception is the whirligigs, whose weak beak does not allow them to chisel wood.
With the help of a long tongue located in a special cavity of the skull and passing through the nostril, woodpeckers can extract insects from passages in wood. Woodpeckers often feed on ants in anthills, tree seeds (usually in winter) and berries.
Some species of woodpeckers live in the desert; They look for food on the ground, but live in burrows or among stones, as well as in giant cacti.
A clutch of woodpeckers usually contains 3-7 eggs, rarely more.
The chicks hatch naked.
Woodpecker species
There are about 220 species of woodpeckers; They are distributed almost everywhere, not found only in Australia, Oceania and Madagascar.
Almost all species are sedentary or nomadic. Woodpeckers fly rarely and, as a rule, for short distances. Woodpeckers usually live alone.
The most common species of woodpeckers in Russia
- Great Spotted Woodpecker
- Wryneck
- Zhelna
- green woodpecker
- gray woodpecker
- Three-toed woodpecker
Funny things about woodpeckers
- One of the 2006 Ig Nobel Prizes (Wikinews) in ornithology was awarded to a researcher from California for the work “Why doesn’t a woodpecker have a headache?”
The scientist found that the woodpecker has a highly developed shock absorber that protects it from headaches.
Woodpecker as a curse word
A woodpecker is often called a person who “bothers”, that is, interferes with life, as well as simply a person who is considered stupid or has done something stupid. An example of word usage: “What a woodpecker!” .
Links
Black woodpecker (Zhelna) - arboreal forest orderly
This large large woodpecker lives over a vast territory of Eurasia - from the Pyrenees to Japan. It is distinguished from other woodpeckers by the charcoal color of its feathers and the “red cap” on its head.
Compared to other woodpeckers, the yellow woodpecker is one of the largest species.
The body length from the top of the head to the tail in adult males reaches half a meter. The largest individuals weigh almost 500 g. The wingspan reaches a length of 70-80 cm. It has a long and very strong beak, capable of breaking through hard species of coniferous trees.
Zhelna inhabits coniferous forests.
Great black woodpecker is yellow. Report with photos and video
In Ukraine, Belarus and Russia they can easily be found in pine forests - these birds are very numerous and are not afraid of human presence. On the contrary, people are of great interest to women, bordering on curiosity. Woodpeckers can spend hours watching a person walking through the forest, flying from tree to tree.
They also live in city parks.
This black bird is not so easy to spot in a dark spruce or pine forest, but you can find it by the sounds that are heard hundreds of meters away when the bird knocks on a tree.
In tree trunks it hunts for insects - bark beetles, sawflies and other pests. They form the basis of her nutrition. Often in the forest you can find trees completely gouged by yellow.
If a black woodpecker cannot get an insect out of a tree trunk when the bug is very deep in the trunk, then it uses its long tongue, which can stick out 5 cm. The tip of the tongue is sticky, so the prey itself sticks to it.
In addition to pests, it feeds on forest ants. Sometimes he, like a bear, destroys anthills and eats their inhabitants and larvae.
In addition to pest control, the woodpecker performs another important “social” function for forest inhabitants - building housing.
Yes, most of the hollows in the forest are hollowed out by the yellow tree. Subsequently, squirrels, martens, solongoi and numerous birds settle in them.
Most often, the black woodpecker builds its home on deciduous trees, at a height of at least 9 meters.
Construction of the hollow begins in the spring, when the woodpeckers have found a mate and are expecting offspring.
In some cases, they do not build a new nest for their future chicks, but use last year's one. When other animals have already populated it, Zhelna can drive them away from there. Then he throws out all the garbage from the hollow and improves it.
It takes a lot of time to create one hollow - from 10 days to two weeks.
Moreover, the couple hammers the tree all day long - at least 12 hours a day. The male takes on this difficult task. The female mainly watches how her gentleman works. It is quite difficult to notice the hollow from the ground. The diameter of the “entrance”, or, as it is correctly called, “entry”, is about 10 cm. The inside of the hollow is quite spacious. The distance from the floor to the entrance is 40-50 cm, the diameter of the “housing” depends on the thickness of the tree, but not less than 17 cm.
The litter in the nest is sawdust, which remained after the “construction” of the hollow.
The female usually lays 3-5 white eggs with a yellowish tint. After 2 weeks the chicks appear.
For a whole month, parents feed the chicks.
They bring them insect larvae, bark beetles, etc., which they hunt under the bark of trees. The chicks are very voracious, so the parents work from the earliest hours of dawn until the evening twilight.
After 27-30 days, the grown chicks fly out of the nest and make their first flight in life to the nearest branch.
Now they begin an independent life. But until autumn, the cubs usually stay close to their parents. As soon as the leaves begin to fall, the first night frosts occur, black woodpeckers drive away their offspring and they scatter through the forest in search of their own area where they will live for the rest of their lives.
Zhelna leads a diurnal lifestyle, stays in her forest all her life, and lives a solitary lifestyle for most of the year.
In the wild, life lasts about 6-7 years.
Appearance and behavior. The most common among our woodpeckers, the size of a large blackbird (body length 22–23 cm, wingspan 42–45 cm, weight 50–100 g).
Description. The plumage is black and white. A sitting bird has a large oval white spot on its folded wings.
The undertail is bright red. The back of the neck, back, rump, wing coverts are black. Tail feathers have a transverse pattern, while on the outer pairs of tail feathers white predominates, and the central pair is entirely black.
The cheeks, sides of the neck, chest and belly are white, sometimes with a cream or brownish tint. The flight feathers are black with rows of white spots. The black “whiskers” are connected by continuous stripes to the black plumage of the back and nape. The male has a red spot on the back of his head, while the top of the female is black. There are no seasonal variations in plumage.
In young birds, the color of the plumage is duller, the crown in front is red, and dark streaks are more or less pronounced on the sides. Characteristic features that distinguish adults from other spotted woodpeckers are large oval white spots on folded wings, black bars behind the white cheeks, the absence of a solid red cap and black streaks on the sides of the belly.
Voice. The song is a short (no more than 1 second) and continuous “drum roll”, increasing towards the end. When excited, it emits a loud and sharp “kick” cry. Sometimes these screams merge into a “hysterical” “kick-kick-kick...”, comparable to chirping.
Distribution, status. Distributed very widely in the northern part of the Palaearctic from the Atlantic to the Pacific Ocean.
To the north it penetrates to the tree line. Inhabits most of European Russia (absent only in treeless areas). Common. Leads a predominantly sedentary lifestyle; in the north of its range, it migrates to the south for the winter.
Lifestyle. Inhabits forests of different composition and age, cleared areas and burnt areas with separate trees or clumps, parks, gardens, cemeteries, etc. Hollows are found in trees with soft wood: aspen, less often alder, birch. It often renews last year’s hollows or colonizes the hollows of other species of woodpeckers.
Redstart - a small bird with a red tail
The hollow is built predominantly by the male. Both parents incubate the clutch and feed the chicks. The chicks hatch naked and blind.
Omnivorous. In summer it feeds on ants, beetles, caterpillars, especially during outbreaks of their numbers, and other insects.
In winter, the main food is spruce and pine seeds, which are extracted from cones. To do this, the cones are placed in special places - “forges”: cracks and other niches in the wood, usually where a trunk or large branch is broken, on the top of wooden posts and in other places where the cone can be tightly clamped. In the spring, it drinks the sap of maple and birch trees, punching horizontal rows of small holes in the bark.
In populated areas, it visits landfills and can destroy the nests of small birds.
When feeding, it uses different techniques - chiseling, pecking, peeling bark and others. Breeds offspring once per year.
It is characterized by high activity and mobility. In autumn and winter it exhibits strict solitary territoriality.
Spotted Woodpecker or Great Spotted Woodpecker (Dendrocopos major)
Other species in this family:
Zhelna is the largest European woodpecker. Its color is jet black, which is why it is called the black woodpecker. Zhelna is a very shy bird. Bird report with video and photo
Squad— Woodpeckers
Family— Woodpeckers
Genus/Species— Dryocopus martius
Basic data:
DIMENSIONS
Length: 45 cm.
Wingspan: 66-75 cm.
Weight: 300-350 g.
REPRODUCTION
Puberty: from 1 year.
Nesting period: usually March-June.
Number of eggs: 2-6.
Hatching: 12-14 days.
Feeding chicks: 27-28 days.
LIFESTYLE
Habits: the black woodpecker (see photo) is a timid bird; nests in hollows.
Sounds: loud “fru-fru-fru”, less often “keee”.
Food: insects, mainly carpenter ants.
Life expectancy: according to banding data, maximum age is 7 years.
RELATED SPECIES
The white-bellied zhelna lives in South and East Asia.
It is easy to recognize the male yellowtail by his bright red cap, and the female by the red spot on the back of her head. Zhelny hollow out hollows with oval or rectangular holes in living and dead trees.
Other birds often nest in these niches, for example, some species of owls and blue-tailed pigeons.
WHAT DOES IT EAT?
Zhelna feeds mainly on ants.
The bird prefers large red-breasted carpenter ants, but does not disdain other species, for which it often descends to the ground. In addition to ants, the diet of the great black woodpecker includes various insects, their larvae and pupae.
On living and dead trees, the yellowtail looks for beetles, which it takes out from under the bark with its long beak. In search of food, the black woodpecker rakes the turf and tears the bark from dead trees.
The bird visits anthills and catches insects with its sticky tongue. Zhelna loves large ants so much that she can spend hours digging in an anthill, removing from it not only ants, but also their larvae.
Having found a tree that is very damaged by some larvae, the woodpecker knocks off the bark from it with blows of its beak and pulls out the insects. In some regions, the gal's diet consists of 99 percent ants.
In other areas, the woodpecker's menu includes, along with ants, the larvae of butterflies and other flying insects. In winter, it gives preference to ants and bees, removing them from their shelters.
REPRODUCTION
Adult squirrels stay solitary.
In March, when the mating season of black woodpeckers begins, the male attracts the attention of the female by knocking with his beak on dry twigs that vibrate well. The call of the males - a loud “fru-fru-fru” - is heard throughout the forest at a great distance. Less commonly, males make a “keee” sound, reminiscent of a purr. After pairing, black woodpeckers can be observed flying from tree to tree and chasing each other on the tree trunk, moving in a spiral. The birds fly one by one and drum on the tree, then “bow.”
Males, when meeting with irritation, nod their heads and threaten each other with their beaks. The male female invites his chosen one to his “estate.” Here the female examines the hollows and chooses the most convenient one. If the hollow is unfinished, the birds get to work together.
Zhelny usually hollow out several hollows in which they alternately sleep. In 3-4 weeks, the woodpecker hollows out a hollow up to 40 cm deep and up to 22 cm wide. After the construction of the nest is completed, the woodpeckers mate, and soon the female lays 2-6 eggs.
Parents incubate the clutch alternately, changing approximately every 2 hours. Since incubation does not last long, the chicks are born rather weak: each of them weighs only 9 g. At first, feeding the helpless chicks is not easy for parents, and after 10 days the chicks energetically demand food. Parents take care of the chicks after they leave the nest for quite a long time.
WHERE DOES IT LIVE?
Zhelny, or black woodpeckers, live in almost all forests of Europe and Asia.
They inhabit both deciduous and coniferous forests, as well as mixed forests, with a particular preference for untouched, extensive open forests. Everywhere they stay in areas covered with old tall forests.
Black Woodpecker: Yellow Bird (lat. Dryocopus martius)
Very often these woodpeckers are found in areas of former forest fires.
Woodpeckers usually nest in beech forests and pine forests, but their hollows can also be seen in the trunks of spruce, juniper and larch trees. If there are trees suitable for making nests, yellowtails nest even in parks. These shy and very cautious birds are frightened by the slightest rustling sound.
They rarely nest near human habitations.
The presence of a black woodpecker is evidenced from afar by the audible frequent knocking on a dry branch, as well as its loud sounds. Zhelna can be heard more often than seen. The black woodpecker deftly climbs tree trunks, clinging to the bark with strong claws - they especially help the bird when searching for food.
When hollowing out a hollow and hunting for insects, the black woodpecker holds on to the bark with its claws and leans on its stiff tail. Looking for food, the woodpecker constantly flies from one tree to another, while emitting characteristic cries.
- Zhelna drinks the rainwater that accumulates in the depressions on the bark of old trees and in their hollows.
- The black woodpecker was observed in the mountains of Tibet at an altitude of 4000 m above sea level.
- An adult woodpecker has no down under its feathers. The feathers of this woodpecker are very stiff, pointed at the ends. The rigid tail creates reliable support while hollowing out the hollow.
The tiled spine of the individual integumentary feathers is also rigid.
- The nostrils of most species of woodpeckers are covered with tufts of feathers, which creates protection from wood dust and dust getting inside.
- In comparison with other birds, the yellow bird has very tough skin, which protects the bird from insect bites, in particular carpenter ants, which it mainly feeds on.
- Zhelna usually spends from 10 to 17 days hollowing out a hollow.
- At the end of the long tongue, the yellow tongue has 4-5 pairs of needle-shaped taste buds.
It is to them that insects stick. Thus, the woodpecker extracts them from holes in the bark.
DESCRIPTION OF THE JELLY
Adult bird: the size of a crow; The plumage is black, the eyes and beak are lighter.
The male has a red top of the head, and the female has a red nape.
Hollow: located at a height of 7-15 m from the ground, spacious, with a characteristic oval or rectangular opening.
— Habitat
WHERE DOES IT LIVE?
Zhelna lives everywhere in Eurasia: from northern Spain and the Scandinavian Peninsula to Japan.
PROTECTION AND PRESERVATION
Zhelna is very timid and cautious. Preference is given not to coniferous, but to deciduous forests. The bird is distributed throughout its entire range.
Great black woodpecker (Želna). Video (00:03:00)
Biryulevsky Arboretum, August 2013.
Great black woodpecker-Zhelna.2.03.12. Video (00:02:16)
This beautiful black woodpecker was found in a park in the south-east of Moscow.
Every day this spring of 2012 we went for a walk and heard beautiful singing, straight from the tropical forest. We always wondered, who is it? We tracked it down and saw that it was a great black woodpecker, Zhelna. He was very high, our video camera is imperfect, but nevertheless we managed to film a woodpecker knocking on the trunk, loudly and invitingly. It's a shame we couldn't film him singing.
Woodpecker, aka black woodpecker, aka yellow woodpecker. Video (00:03:44)
Elektrostal woodpecker squeaks and picks at a tree
Black woodpecker (yellow). Video (00:03:47)
08/12/2012, Nizhny Novgorod region, Borsky district
Black Woodpecker Dryocopus martius. Video (00:00:46)
Black Woodpecker. Our largest woodpecker is the black woodpecker (Dryocopus martius).
The bird's amusing appearance is complemented by its manner of peeking out from behind a tree (with such a long neck this is not difficult).
Women are characterized by developed vocal communication. His voice is quite harsh. In flight, the yellowtail emits an uneven trill, and when sitting on a tree, it makes long-drawn cries. The woman's voice can be heard almost all year round. In the spring, during the current period, this ‘song’ accompanies the drumming. During the incubation of eggs, the male and female exchange vocal signals, replacing each other in the nest. When feeding the chicks, the parents announce their approach from afar, and the hungry offspring respond to them with a deafening din.
By nature, Zhelna is a loner. It lives mainly in old mixed or coniferous forests. On its territory, the zhelna has up to a dozen hollows, but at the same time actively uses 2-3. Most often, aspen is chosen for the hollow, and pine is somewhat less common.
Usually the hollow is located at a height of 10-20 m above the ground, but sometimes it can be at a height of 3 m. The hollow of the yellow woodpecker is easily distinguished from the hollows of other woodpeckers by its shape and size: it is oval, 10 centimeters wide and 15 centimeters high, the depth of the hollow - up to half a meter.
Ants play a significant role in the black woodpecker's diet. It also feeds its chicks almost exclusively with ants. Another notable component of its menu is various bark beetles, lumberjacks, borers, longhorned beetles, horntails and other wood-dwelling forest pests. In search of these insects, the zhelna crushes old rotten stumps, clears bark and crushes dry trees infested with pests.
As the largest and strongest woodpecker, it can reach insects that others cannot reach. And it feeds on insects all year round, only slightly diversifying its table with berries. The lek's current begins in early spring. Already in early to mid-April you can hear the characteristic drumming (almost 20 beats per second!) and screams. Both males and females knock and scream. There is no bedding in the hollow; the bottom is covered only with wood chips, on which the female lays 3-5 white eggs.
Incubation lasts very little even for woodpeckers - 12-13 days. The chicks live in the hollow for about a month and for about another month after leaving the nest (somewhere in mid-June) they stay with their parents. Both parents incubate and feed the chicks.
Protvino Moscow region Russia
Black woodpecker. Zhelna. Brateevograd.wmv. Video (00:00:51)
In the Maryinskaya and Brateevskaya floodplains they are found during autumn movements along the banks of the Moscow River.
A woodpecker was observed near the mouth of the Plintovka River. There is an interesting ravine there, which is favored by almost all species of woodpeckers in the area.
Zhelna - black woodpecker. Video (00:01:04)
Svetlogorsk, Belarus, 09/08/2012.
Zhelna - black woodpecker. Video (00:00:14)
Dryocopus Martius Black Woodpecker Zhelna Black Woodpecker Moscow. Video (00:01:22)
Black woodpecker. Video (00:01:26)
Zhelna, knowing the carnivorous tendencies of the squirrel, attacked it when it climbed to the very top of the pine tree. After a noisy fight, which, unfortunately, was hidden by the branches, the woodpecker sat down on a nearby tree and controlled the squirrel’s actions for a long time.
He probably has a nest here somewhere nearby.
On the picture Motacillaflavadombrowskii
The yellow wagtail is somewhat smaller than the white wagtail, with a shorter tail. The male in breeding plumage has bright yellow underparts and greenish-yellow upperparts. The color of the head in different subspecies varies from white to dark gray with different patterns. The flight feathers and their coverts are dark brown, with light edges on the outer webs. On the last secondaries and greater wing coverts, these edges are wide and light yellow. The two pairs of outer tail feathers are white, with black spots on the inner webs, the remaining tail feathers are black, with narrow yellowish edges. The beak and legs are black, the eyes are brown. The female in breeding plumage is monochromatic above, grayish-brown, or with a greenish tint, which intensifies towards the rump, which has a yellowish-green color. The underparts are white or light yellow, varying from almost white to bright yellow from the chin to the undertail. After the autumn molt, adult birds have a grayish-olive tone, the head is the same color as the back, and the ear coverts are no darker than the rest of the head. The underparts are yellow or yellowish-white. Juveniles are dirty buffy-brown above with buffy-whitish edges of the wing coverts. The underparts are buffy, the sides are brownish. There are dark streaks around the throat and crop, and the legs are brown. Juveniles differ from young white wagtails by the predominance of brown and reddish tones, and the presence of a distinct light eyebrow, including between the beak and the eye. In August, the young become similar to autumn females - a little yellow appears on the abdomen. Weight 14-24 g, length approx. 17, wing 7.4-8.7, span 23-27 cm.
An extensive group of forms of yellow wagtails "Motacilla flava - complex", together with the closely related polytypic species Motacilla citreola, forms within the genus Motacilla a well-defined subgenus Budytes Cuvier, 1817. Characteristic features of this entire group are a relatively short tail (always shorter than the wing), long toes, as well as claws having the maximum length among representatives of the genus. The underside of the body of adult males of all forms, without exception, bears a solid bright yellow tint, while the throat and crop are always devoid of solid black coloring. The head color of adult birds varies greatly geographically. The color of the plumage of young individuals of this group in juvenile plumage is radically different from that of adult individuals, which especially emphasizes the isolated nature of the subgenus Budytes within the entire subfamily Motacillina. The phylogenetic relationships of the forms that make up the “yellow” wagtail complex is one of the most complex problems in ornithological systematics. In its composition, the existence of up to 20 morphologically similar forms was recognized, having both an allopatric distribution and partially or completely sympatric with each other. At the same time, the nature of the reproductive relationships of representatives of the complex demonstrates almost all known variants, from wide intergradation characteristic of ordinary geographical races to complete reproductive isolation characteristic of good species. For a long period, in the absence of information about the ecological relationships of forms, the specifics of their age and seasonal variability, as well as an incomplete picture of subtle morphological features, all representatives of the complex were most often considered as subspecies of a single polytypic species. In some works this point of view has been preserved to this day. Outfit. Males in breeding plumage are characterized by a solid bright yellow coloration of the chest, belly and undertail. At the same time, on the sides of the abdomen the dark greenish color is absent or almost not expressed. Dark streaks on the chest, which form a characteristic corolla in adult females and young birds, are usually absent or extremely rare. The throat is partially or completely devoid of yellow color, and the width of this white area varies among different subspecies. The plumage of the legs is whitish. The back is olive-green in color, the intensity of which varies among individual geographical races from dark olive-green (in the forms zaissanensis, pygmaea and cinereocapilla) to a very light yellowish-olive tint (leucocephala). The flight feathers, large wing coverts, and the three central pairs of tail feathers are brownish-black. On the outer webs of the secondary and tertiary flight feathers, as well as on the upper wing coverts, a whitish marginal border is developed, often with a yellowish or greenish coating. The three outer pairs of tail feathers in the apical part are white with black wedges at the base. Features of the colors of the plumage of the head, which vary to the greatest extent, have always served as the main diagnostic characteristics of the distinguished geographical races. Most representatives of Motacilla flava sensu stricto have a gray or bluish-gray color on the upper side of the head and ear coverts of varying intensity in individual forms; in the subspecies leucocephala they are pure white. In all cases, the color shade of the top of the head and neck differs sharply from the color of the back. The degree of development of the white eyebrow and white coloration on the ear coverts also varies very widely, and in the race Pygmaea they are completely absent. As part of the manifestation of individual variability, all forms without exception have different numbers of green (against the background of gray color) and yellow feathers (normally, on white areas of the plumage) on their heads. Adult females in breeding plumage of all representatives of Western yellow wagtails differ sharply from males. All females of Motacilla flava sensu stricto have brown and ocher tones in color. Solid yellow coloration is expressed only on the undertail, belly and, sometimes, on the lower part of the chest, but in a number of cases its area of distribution is limited to the central part of the abdomen. Occasionally, the yellow tint may be almost completely absent. Most individuals have a necklace of dark speckles on their chest. There is usually no sharp boundary between the color of the upper side of the head and the back, due to the uniform distribution of the brown tint of plumage in these batches. The shades of the contour plumage of the upperparts vary among different forms from olive-brown to bluish-gray. The individual variability of this trait is also quite wide. An olive-green tint is developed in the lumbar region and rump. On the light parts of the plumage, especially in the chest, throat, eyebrows and ear coverts, an buffy tint is often common, most pronounced in birds with fresh feathers. The width of the light eyebrows and the degree of development of dark coloring on the ear coverts vary among different geographical races, but are completely consistent with those in the males of these subspecies. As an exception, there are females with male coloration. In autumn-winter plumage, adult males look much paler than in breeding feathers. The yellow color of the underparts gives way to a pale lemon tint, and an ocher coating often develops in the chest area. The back is brownish-olive. On the upper side of the head and ear-coverts, the tops of the feathers have a brown-buff border, which partially or almost completely masks the gray tint. In male M. f. leucocephala, having only white feathers on the head in breeding plumage, the cap and ear coverts become brown, while only the light eyebrows remain white, on which, like individuals of other forms, an ocher coating develops. The autumn-winter outfit of adult females is almost similar to the breeding outfit. Small differences can only be associated with a slightly greater spread of the buffy tint on the light parts of the contour plumage of the head and front part of the body, as well as with a partial blanching of the yellow color of the underparts. Juvenile plumage differs sharply from the coloration of adult birds. The main background of the general coloring of the upper side of the body is brown. The first winter outfit of young individuals almost exactly repeats the autumn-winter outfit of adult females.
Species nesting in RO.
Additions:
Nature-Archive.RU
Yellow wagtail, or pliska, so named because the color of the male is dominated by yellow tones. Lives approximately in the same place, winters in the same areas, with some variations. It arrives much later than the white wagtail and immediately begins to build nests in damp meadows or swampy lowlands. The yellow wagtail's lifestyle is generally similar to that of the white wagtail. But she makes her nest on the ground - under a hummock or in the grass, although this bird is more careful. The white wagtail is almost not afraid of people, it does not even take off when a person approaches, but continues to run along the path. During incubation, the male yellow wagtail stays at the nest all the time, keeps watch and raises a cry in case of any danger.
Wagtails spend all their time on the ground.
The world is so strange, it simply amazes with its unusual species of flowers, plants, trees, butterflies, dragonflies, all kinds of insects, colorful sea inhabitants, that you get lost in this beauty and come into frantic delight. It seems that such flowers cannot exist at all, but they exist... and where did nature come from and give everyone an unusual rainbow of colors. Rejoice, all of you; who sees, contemplates, touches, smells, feels... this is Divine! Look what they are!
Blue-bellied roller, family Roller - order Coraciiformes. the size of a jackdaw, its weight is about 200 grams, the length of the body including the tail is from 28 to 36 cm, the length of the wings is from 15 to 20 cm. Females are slightly smaller than males. Males have a dark green back, a large head, cream color, chest, nape, ultramarine color. The beak is slightly bent. The color of the plumage becomes more intense as the bird matures. The bird mainly makes compressed sounds “ga-ga-gaa-ga”. Found in West and Central Africa, mostly in small groups, on forest edges and in savannas. They feed on insects.
Balinese starling (lat. Leucopsar rothschildi), Balinese myna, starling family, passerine species. This starling is completely white, with only the flight wings and tips of the tail feathers being dark in color. A bird with a pronounced blue or bluish halo around the eyes. The endemic species is found on the islands of Java and northwestern Bali.
Golden-breasted spreo (lat. Cosmopsarus regius), a bird of the starling family, and a songbird. This East African bird differs from its relatives in that it is an excellent insect eater, catching them in flight. Its diet includes small snails, crustaceans, spiders, and the smallest invertebrates, such as lizards. Golden-breasted starlings live in small groups of up to 10 birds; they are good helpers for each other for building nests and raising chicks.
Another colorful Emerald Starling. It lives in western Africa - Ivory Coast, Guinea and Sierra Leone. It feeds on fruits, seeds and small insects (ants, for example).
Steller's Jay (Cyanocitta stelleri)
Solar heron - Sunbittern (eurypyga helias), inhabitant of the tropics of Central, Amazon and Orinoco. It is found in wetlands, sandbanks of rivers, along bays and lakes. Prevails at an altitude of 100-1200 meters above sea level, near fast-flowing turbulent streams, also in dense forests. When frightened, they fly to a nearby tree or bush, spread their wings and tail with a hiss, turning towards the danger.
The gray-blue tanager (Thraupis episcopus) is distributed from the north-west of Peru to Mexico, and is found in Brazil and Bolivia. The length of the bird is 18 cm. Tanagers feed mainly on fruits and insects.
Onion-green Parrot Finch - Pin-tailed parrot finch (Erythrura prasina) - boy. Females do not have blue on their heads. The body is buffy-brown, with a red spot on the chest. Bird up to 15 cm long. There are two subspecies. They live on the Indochina Peninsula, northern Thailand, Sumatra, Java, and also in the south of Asia Minor. Another subspecies is found in bamboo thickets, the edges of untouched, virgin forests, and in dense bushes. They live in rice plantations and feed on seeds of wild plants and insects. They build their nests on branches, in dense thickets of bamboo, in the thick of the trunks of epiphytic plants. The nests are spherical, made of fibers and leaves, without soft litter. Eggs are laid from 4 to 3 eggs, pure white in color.
Turquoise honey sucker tanager. The length of the turquoise honey tanager is 12-13 cm, weighs about 14 grams. The beak is slightly bent, black. with sexual dimorphism, the mating plumage of the male is painted bright purple with a bluish tint. The tail, wings and back are black. The paws are bright red. The upper part of the head is turquoise. The underside of the wings when spanning and during flight is lemon-yellow in color. After a period of mating, the male molts and acquires darker greenish plumage with black wings. Females and very young birds are also green. Habitat and distribution of the honey tanager bird from Southern Mexico to Peru, also Brazil and Bolivia. From the very name of the bird, it feeds on nectar, fruits and fruits, rarely insects.
Purple Honey Tanager. Its length is 11.5 cm, weight 12 grams. The male is purple with black wings, a long slightly curved nose, a black tail and belly. The legs are bright yellow. Females and young birds are green, the underbelly is yellow-beige with green stripes. The neck is light brown with a blue beard stripe. Honey-bearing tanagers live in America (Neotropics), Colombia, Venezuela, from the south of Brazil to Trinidad. They are found on cocoa plantations and in the upper layers of citrus forests. They feed on insects, fruits, berries, and fruits. They live mainly in the crown of trees.
Noble bicolor parrot (Eclectus roratus). As always in nature, the color of females from males is very different. For a long time, ornithologists considered them to be different species. Males are mostly green with a blue tint. The edges of the wings are blue-blue, and the coverts are light green with yellowish, the underwings and sides are red. Legs are mostly grey. The beak is also multi-colored, the upper jaw is shiny red with a yellow tip, and the lower jaw is black. The iris is orange. The plumage of females is predominantly cherry-red. The edges of the wings, the lower part of the chest, and the belly are blue-violet. The tail is also red with a yellow trim. The underwings and undertail are red. There is a blue ring around the eyes. The beak is black. The paws are bluish. The iris is yellowish. Habitat: in the north of Australia, on the islands of New Guinea, South Moluccas, Solomon.
Fan crowned pigeon (lat. Goura victoria). This is a large bird of the pigeon family. The body length reaches 74 cm, and the weight is 2.5 kg. It lives in New Guinea, as well as on the islands of Biak and Yapen.
The Nicobar pigeon is a species of bird in the family Pigeon, the only living maned pigeon. The Nicobar maned pigeon is found on the Nicobar and Andaman Islands, as well as on the smaller (mostly uninhabited) islands of Indonesia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Malaysia, Thailand, and as far east as New Guinea and the Solomon Islands. The pigeon prefers small, most often uninhabited islands where there are no predators. Lives in the jungle.
Pearl astrilds inhabit a limited area of Southeast Africa, southern Mozambique and Swaziland. They are densely inhabited by coastal shrubs and acacia thickets. The size of pearl astrilds is approximately 12.5 cm. The lower part of the head, neck, throat, chest and tail coverts are dull red. The bottom of the body is speckled black. The eye circumferences are highlighted with a bluish ring; the bird's eyes look contrasting. The legs are dark gray, the beak is gray with a blue tint. The female's plumage is, as always, more modest. Mostly gray colors predominate on the head, throat, and upper chest. The chicks are the same color as the females.
Red-cheeked Cordon-bleu (Uraeginthus bengalus)
Green woodhoopoe (Phoeniculus purpureus), a large representative of the family. Weighs 54-100 g, body length up to 42 cm. The color of the plumage is dark with a brilliant violet-blue-green tint. Stepped tail with white spots on the tail feathers. The paws are short and red. Males have a beak that is 35% longer and heavier than females. This is the most common type of tree hoopoe. Habitat: savannas, dry and sparse forests of Southern Sahara, Africa. They feed on termites, insects, small lizards, frogs, caterpillars, beetle and spider larvae. Also, the main food is berries, fruits, nectar, seeds. They live in couples and small flocks.
Variegated astrild - Green-winged Pytilia or Melba finch (Pytilia melba) inhabits the equator of Africa, partly North Africa, Sudan, Ethiopia. A heat-loving species, the temperature of their habitat does not fall below 19 degrees C. There are 16 species of birds, differing in size and color of plumage. They live alone, in pairs. Sometimes they fly into flocks between breeding grounds. They feed on small insects and grass seeds. The nests are spherical with a side hole for summer. For construction, grass stems and leaves are used, and the inside is covered with feathers and white down. Chicks are hatched by both parents, alternating. It is noted that the male sits more at midday. The male is light gray, the back and wings are olive-yellow-green. The forehead, cheeks, and throat are purple. The crop and upper part of the breast are yellow, sometimes red. The wings are orange, the wing tips are dark green. Part of the body is white below with dark brown transverse stripes. The tail is black-brown, the undertail coverts are white, the mid-tails are red. The legs are light brown, the beak is black. The female is distinguished by predominantly gray plumage, a white throat and a light gray crop with transverse stripes.
Miniature bird. Golden-breasted Astrild - Zebra Waxbill or Orange-breasted Waxbill (Amandava subflava)
Cardinal, a common bird in North America
Female cardinal. North American bird. Males are bright red with a black mask around the beak.
The indigo bunting (Passerina cyanea), a small North American songbird. Belongs to the cardinal family. The female and male differ in their plumage. During the mating season, the male is dark blue with a black tail, blue-edged wing feathers and a black frenulum. In winter, the plumage is lighter, the belly and bottom of the tail are whitish. The female has brown plumage, with distinct stripes on the chest and yellow-brown on the wings.
