Nest of magpies. How to build a magpie's nest?

Many are well known for forty - black and white, long-tailed, with a loud and rather sharp voice. Curious and daring bird is familiar from childhood to children as "forty-white-bears" - the heroine of numerous fairy tales.

A little later will be described what constitutes a dwelling, a nest of magpies. How it looks like it is built by birds, where other information related to this amazing bird is located, you can see and learn by reading this article.

A bit about the bird itself: general information

Magpie (ordinary or European) is a bird representing the family of the Voran and the forty.

Before we proceed to the description and find out what the magpie's nest is, consider the habitats and distribution of poultry all over the world.

Magpies all over Europe. It is absent only on some Mediterranean islands. They also inhabit parts of coastal areas in Morocco, Tunisia and Algeria (north of Africa). In fact, the magpie is a sedentary bird, but there is a migratory bird in Scandinavia.

Different populations of forty live on the most different ends of the Earth. The magpie's nest also varies in shape and size, depending on the place of its habitat.

There are magpies in Turkey and in part of Iran, where they spread almost to the coast of the Persian Gulf. Birds of this species are distributed from north to south to the Sea of Japan. In Asia, they are settled in northern Vietnam, in the north-west of Mongolia. A separate isolated population lives even on the Kamchatka peninsula. There are also natural monuments - a small protected population in the north-west of. Kyushu. North America also has a refuge for the forty-western half of the continent (from Lower California to Alaska inclusive).

Magpie's Nest: photo

Magpies are clearly burdened by thick bush and tree vegetation. Especially they are fond of lake and river floodplains with thickets of alders and willows, with small meadows, remnants of the indigenous forest and mowing. A real present for them were forest belts stretched along the southern steppes of Russia.

In these places very close neighborhood of pairs is observed: they live from each other only in a few tens of meters. This is a record population density for birds, usually avoiding this neighborhood. In the deaf and dense forests magpies do not live (rarely), but they are perfectly settled in the parks of cities.

Where do they build a nest? Ordinary species are sedentary birds. In spring, in early April, a couple usually builds a nest on a bush or tree (height 1 to 12 meters above the ground), and its location is commensurate with the level of safety and anxiety. In places where people are absent (in nature), cottage houses can be arranged even at an altitude of about 1.5 meters from the ground, and in urban parks - at a height of not less than 6 meters.

Nests of forty in shape and size are very large (up to 75 cm in diameter), so they are clearly visible.

Nest building

How to build a magpie's nest? The base of the nest (skeleton) they make of long and thick dry branches. Then on such a rather massive foundation they build a bowl made of earth or clay. And the latter is reinforced with thin branches of birch. Then, the inner part of the tray is lined with thin branches of willow, birch and roots of some plants, and above the nest itself is constructed something like a roof, representing a loose, rather chaotic folded canopy from dry branches larger. The latter construction significantly increases the size of the nest. With such a wonderful canopy from the rains there is no escape, but the masonry and chicks from different birds of prey can be perfectly protected.

The magpie's nest (pictured above) is a reasonably built structure.

Habits, peculiarities of behavior, reproduction

Magpies often chirr. This means that in the field of view of the bird, someone who is unwanted, no matter, a person or an animal, has got to it. Moreover, they show such deep indignation at any meeting. Especially strong chirr they raise, if in their nest are the chicks. It should be noted that even many predators in the daytime avoid showing up on their eyes. Hunting still fails.

His nickname ("thief"), this bird mostly deserved in connection with her irresistible passion for the appropriation of various small items without the knowledge of their owners. Especially they are not indifferent to the products of glass or metal.

This bird is very cautious in the neighborhood of a man, she will never let herself be taken by surprise. In the forest, she warns her comrades and all the surrounding inhabitants about the danger.

Despite caution, the magpie is fairly easy to tame, and even differs attachment to his master and a peculiar mind. Even this bird can learn to pronounce individual words.

It happens that magpies construct several nests, and they occupy only one. It represents an almost spherical housing with a side entrance. In the nest female magpies usually lay 5-8 eggs in April, and then incubate them for 17-18 days, after which they feed the chicks.

Food

The basis of nutrition in the spring and summer is animal food (from the smallest insects to fish thrown ashore). The smallest, they can even steal from the bucket from the zazevavshegosya fisherman. In the winter, the magpie eats everything that is edible, even does not disdain the contents of boxes intended for garbage.

Magpie - a useful bird that destroys in the fields of numerous pests, small rodents. But she also has a negative quality, which is harmful for a person: she often steals chicks and eggs on farms.

Conclusion

Judging by the fact that this bird is building, it is neat and very intelligent. The magpie's nest often consists of a well-formed calyx of fine twigs with a comfortable litter of soft dry grass, wool and tender feathers.

In building a nest, the bird manifests its amazing mind: it often weaves it in the form of a ball with a side entrance. Moreover, there can be two nests in it: in one - eggs are laid, and the other - just confuses predator enemies.

Brilliant objects, somewhere stitched by the magpies themselves, they use to decorate their nests.