Birds of the middle band: list, description. Forest and city birds

The list of birds in Russia is quite extensive. There live here swifts, ducks, pigeons and tits, sparrows and crows, which can be seen on every street, in every park and square. There are also more rare representatives of the feathered world. These are storks, cranes, owls, buntings, partridges and many others. Each of them is interesting in its own way and is an excellent object for study.

Birds of central Russia

In this part of the country there is just a huge number of birds. And every year an increasing number of birds stay here for the winter. They settle in parks and squares, under the roofs of houses. Often people feed their feathered neighbors, and this allows them to overwinteringly overwinter. It is often possible to find here a cuckoo, a kestrel, an Oriole and a nuthatch. These birds began to settle more and more close to people. In urban parks, on ponds and lakes, you can see a lot of ducks and even swans. And at night you can hear the hooting of an owl and the shrill cry of a cob.

Birds of the middle belt are more than 70 nomadic and sedentary species, as well as more than 60 species of migratory birds. In the warm season they live here, and with the arrival of cold weather they go to Asia and Africa.

City birds

Many birds in the middle zone of Russia prefer to settle near human habitation. In this region there are at least 36 species of urban birds. Some of them settle directly in urban buildings. Others prefer parks and gardens, build their nests in trees and bushes. Watching city birds, you can find interesting facts and features of their life. For example, you can find such intellectual abilities of birds, which we had not even suspected before. It is only necessary to look up to the sky more often and listen carefully to the surrounding world.

Benefits and harms brought to man

Of course, the benefits of urban birds are so obvious that you should not even talk about it. For example, sparrows, whose livestock can not be counted, are constantly in search of food. With their small beaks, they destroy millions of small insects in a day, and they also peck hundreds of thousands of weeds of weeds. It is not for nothing that they are called sanitari of city garbage dumps and dumps.

It is interesting that the starling is capable of eating as many beetles, spiders and caterpillars per day as he weighs. And from this he does not get fat, because all his energy, he will spend in search of new food.

But birds can bring and harm.

"Bird's" troubles

In places of mass accumulation of birds, fleas, flies, mites and puffers begin to multiply. In addition, some birds are the source and carriers of a very dangerous disease - ornithosis. This disease can be transmitted to a person and in some cases is fatal. Also, birds can tolerate diseases such as encephalitis, pasteurellosis, brucellosis and others.

Quite often in search of food, small birds, such as sparrows, fly into stores, warehouses and shopping centers. There they spoil the food, put the packages on and put the goods in disrepair. Bird droppings not only spoil the appearance of buildings and streets, but also causes rust on metal parts of buildings and structures. Flocks of birds disrupt the operation of power lines, interfere with the normal operation of airports. Destroy crops in gardens, orchards and in the fields.

Forest birds

Many birds of the middle belt still prefer to settle in the forests. Deciduous massifs are preferred by black grouse, swift, cedar, nightingale, and others. Floodplain forests were chosen by other birds: bluegrass, quark and blue magpie. Also in the forests there are many insectivorous birds: woodpeckers, flycatchers, pigeons and so on. Here they build their nests and breed.

Coniferous massifs are rich in golden eagles, cuckoos, and owls. It is possible to meet here also lentils and a familiar siniichku. Sometimes it may seem that the coniferous forest is rather lifeless, and there is a deathly silence in it. This is far from the case. In fact, it is full of inhabitants, especially birds, you only need to learn how to listen and hear them.

Skylark

One of the most famous migratory birds is the lark of the field. This little bird weighs only 40 grams, and reaches no more than 19 cm in length. They arrive very early, as soon as the snow comes down and the first thawed patches appear. He nests a nest a little later, when there is a lot of green vegetation. And at first the bird eats last year's seeds of plants and extracts from under the frozen earth sleeping insects.

The lark of the field lives on the ground and feeds there, too. But he sings only in the air. Taking off to a height of 150 meters, it is filled with louder, the higher it rises. Sometimes it seems that a sonorous song is heard directly from the blue sky. Decreasing, the bird sings all the more quietly and abruptly, and at the altitude of 15-20 meters and completely silent.

Heron and Cranes

All known cranes and herons prefer a near-water way of life. In total there are slightly more than 60 species of herons of different sizes in nature. The most famous among them:

• Large white;
• Black;
• Small blue;
• Gray heron.

This is a very recognizable creature, it is impossible to confuse it with another bird. Among the distinctive features are long elegant legs and a beak, famous for its length and straightness, a small short tail and a long neck.

They dwell most often near the water. They can be found in swamps, small streams, in lake meadows. Herons try to avoid large ponds. They feed on these birds in a very peculiar way. In their diet, snakes, frogs, tadpoles snakes, newts, large insects, fry and fish. Some species of herons prefer to diversify their table with mice and small moles.

Both the crane and the heron are monogamous birds, that is, they form only one pair. But if the cranes "marry" for life, the heron creates a pair for the season. The male very nicely cares for his partner - gracefully squats and clicks his beak. Most of the work on the arrangement of the nest male also takes over. From the female it is required only to lay the brought material. Hatchling herons hatch in turn, and in one clutch can be up to 7 eggs.

Depending on the species, the weight of the heron can reach 2 kg, and the wingspan is 175 cm.

Cranes are also quite large birds. The weight of this bird can reach 6 kg, and the wingspan is 2.5 meters. The color of the bird (gray crane) is blue-gray, with the back darker than the belly. On the sides and back of the neck the feathers are white. The upper part of the head is devoid of feathering, there is only red skin. Paws are dark, and the beak has a light gray color.

Gray cranes migrate in packs, approximately 400 individuals. The food of the birds is very diverse. They gladly eat stems and seeds, potatoes, berries and fruit trees, leaves, roots and tubers of many plants. In summer, the gray crane diversifies its diet with mice, crawfish, worms and small birds. They also do not disdain dragonflies, snails, spiders and beetles and other animals.

The Gray Crane is a long-lived bird. In the wild, their life span can be 40 years.

Swallows

Almost all his life the swallow spends in flight, only occasionally sitting down somewhere to rest. There are several species of these winged birds:

• Swallow city;
• Rustic;
• Swallow shore.

These are only the most famous and familiar to us species. In general, the family of swallows has about 80 species. Despite such a variety, they are all very similar and lead an almost identical lifestyle. All swallows are insectivorous. They eat gnats in huge quantities, than they help a person.

In the air these birds are real aces. They are able to do many aerobatics, for example, a dead loop. In the air swallows do everything: they dive, somersault, plan, even drink and bathe, flying over the reservoirs.

The most interesting is the swallow, the shore, or the so-called shore. Unlike other of her fellow men, she does not roam a nest, but lives in a hole. On a steep precipice near a pond, such birds dig deep, sometimes up to one and a half meters, a burrow. At the end of it there is a small extension - a nest camera. It is there that the shoreline folds its nest from sticks, twigs and dry grass blades.

Pigeons

Who does not know these birds, most common in the middle band? In the pigeon family there are more than 300 species. All of them are very similar to each other, of course, if we exclude decorative rocks from the comparative list. For the sample, a well-known pigeon-pigeon is accepted here. It was his domesticated descendants who served people as postmen. Pigeon is one of the few birds that walk as well as they fly. And many urban individuals are so lazy that they get up in the air only in case of emergency.

Surprisingly, the blue dove nurtures its chicks. Have you ever heard of avian milk? It's about pigeons. At the time of the appearance of the nestlings, a special hormone, prolactin, begins to be produced in the brain of the pigeon. As a result of the action of this substance, the internal surface of the bird's goitre, or rather its mucous membranes, begins to produce a special substance, similar to the milk-curd mass. To it join the softened seeds, eaten by a bird. As a result, a special nutritional formula is obtained, which is the food for the chicks.

One of the smallest species of pigeons is the turtledove. Some believe that this is the name of a pigeon female. However, it is not. Unlike the dove-pigeon, the turtledove bird is not a real urbanist. They appear in our region in the first days of May, and in August they fly away. They live most often in parks, copses, fields and pine forests. Nests of these birds are located on trees. Although all the pigeons build their houses quite casually, the nest of the turtledove, even if it looks too laced, is actually quite strong. Sometimes Gorlitsin's house is so bright that you can see the eggs lying in it right from the ground or look at the chicks.

Oriole

Another well-known inhabitant of Russian forests is the Oriole. Her bright yellow plumage involuntarily makes you smile and feel the warmth of a summer day. An Oriole arrives at the end of May, when everything around starts to turn green. These are quite large birds, about 25 cm long and weighing 70-75 grams. But even such a seemingly rather big bird can be seen in the greenery of foliage rather uneasy.

The nest of the Oriole is also very special. It is a kind of deep hammock suspended in the tree's crown. No matter how the wind rages, the chicks will never fall out of the nest, since it is very durable, although quite elegant.

The Oriol feeds mainly on beetles, butterflies and spiders. At the end of summer, their diet is diversified by berries of raspberries, bird cherries, and also by irga. Already at the beginning of September, these "sunrays" single-handedly fly to wintering in Africa.

Owl

Eagle owl is a rather large bird. The range of its wings can reach one and a half meters. Most often these representatives of owls are ocher-red. The feather owl has a special structure, which allows it to fly absolutely noiselessly. There are five varieties of these birds on the territory of Russia. All of them are listed in the Red Book.

Owl lives near ravines, marshes and in old forests. You can learn it from a kind of wild laughter. The big head of the bird has special feather "ears", and round glazischy perfectly see in the dark. The eagle owls have one peculiarity, probably, even for children. They are able to turn their heads as much as 270 degrees.

Eagle owl is a bird of prey. The usual food for him are gophers, marmots, mice, chipmunks and other small animals. Even in the diet they may have different insects and, oddly enough, hedgehogs. If the eagle owl flies over the pond, he will gladly eat a frog or a fish.

Although the adult eagle owl has no natural enemies, babies can become easy prey for a wolf or fox. But much more these birds suffer from the hands of man. The fact is that birds often eat rodents living in fields treated with "anti-mouse" poisons. Having eaten a sick, poisoned mouse, the bird has practically no chance of survival.

Swan

In the middle zone of Russia there are also quite large birds. On migrations, for example, a swan-swan occurs quite often. He winters on the shores of the Azov and Black Seas.

A swan-swan is a pretty heavy bird, so most of his life he spends in the water. They are quite similar to their fellow swans. Although there is still a difference. At the klikunov in the coloring of the beak, yellow shades predominate, and in the case of small swans, black shades predominate. In all other respects they are very similar. The length of the body of the klikun is 1,3-1,7 meters, and the weight can reach 15 kg. They have short legs and a beautiful long neck. The plumage is white, very soft and warm, it has a lot of fluff.

Like cranes, swans are monogamous, they create a couple for life. They nest in the vicinity of the reservoirs and trepidately guard their territory from the encroachment of strangers.

Wagtail

These little birds appear in our land in the early spring. Also, the ice did not come off, but near the reservoirs you can already meet harmonous creatures, constantly shaking their tails. In nature, there are such types of wagtails:

• White;
• Yellow, or plique;
• A forest horse;
• Field horse;
• A meadow hobby.

There are several other kinds of skates in our country: steppe, mountain, Siberian and red-bellied.

Wagtails practically spend all their time on the ground. Even nests they build under the roots of a tree, in a heap of brushwood and grass, and near human habitation can be arranged in a shed or a woodpile. They are almost not afraid of people, even when a person near the nest a wagtail does not take off, but continues to run along the path, leading away the danger from his home.

As you can see, the birds of the middle zone of Russia are quite numerous and diverse. The listed here are only a small fraction of the representatives of the local fauna.