What is remarkable about a bird of a king? All you need to know about this songbird

The yellow-headed kingpole is a bird known for its singing. Her voice is rightfully considered one of the best in the bestial kingdom. But, despite the great popularity, many facts, from the life of this bird, for a long time were hidden from the eyes of ornithologists. However, the emergence of modern equipment helped solve this problem.

So, what do we know about this bird: where does it live and what does it eat? What enemies does she have? And for what do people like her?

Korolek is a singing bird

Probably everyone who visited the pine forest heard about the bird of the king. After all, the name with its twitter is often associated with the Russian boron. It's funny, but for a long time people could not understand who is making these beautiful sounds. And the blame for all the small size of the bird, because of which it was difficult to see among the crowns of trees.

As for today, now everyone will know it. But even so, not many people know that in the world there are about 7 varieties of these feathered creatures. In this case, the most common is the population of the yellow-headed king. But let's talk about everything in order.

Bird of the Kings: description

Korolki belong to the order of passerines. In this case, they are allocated a whole family, which is called "korolkovye". All birds of this family are tiny, because of what they are also called European hummingbirds. Thus, the length of the body of adults rarely exceeds 7-10 cm, and their weight varies within 5-7 grams.

Almost all of them have light gray plumage. In this case, the wings and back are painted in green tones, which are viriated from the salad to the olive shades. The abdomen of the bird is much lighter than the rest of the body. However, the main feature is a tuft on the head that resembles a crown. It is he who is the visiting card of the king, and his color varies depending on the species of the bird.

Habitat

The bird of the kings is not well tolerated by the cold, therefore it lives only in relatively warm corners of the planet. In particular, it can be found in Europe, Southern Siberia, Western China, North America, and also in some regions of the Himalayas.

In this case, the king prefers to settle in coniferous or mixed forests. Also it should be noted that these birds are very friendly. They always unite in packs consisting of several birds, and rarely leave each other.

Bird's weekdays

To begin with, this is a very active bird. The Korlek can spend the whole day on the move, exploring the district or playing with his neighbors. And since such friendly relations are rare in the bird kingdom, they are very curious for scientists.

And yet most of the day the king spends on food. Despite its tiny size, it needs a huge amount of protein. So, throughout the day the king eats 4 to 6 grams of food, which is commensurate with his own weight. Also it should be remembered that this species of birds does not know how to crush its food with its beak, because of what they have to hunt only for small prey.

As for the diet, the bird of the korolev eats exclusively insects. Only with the advent of winter it passes to the seeds of spruce, because there is simply no other food during this period.

Life cycle

Alas, the bird of the queens is not a long-liver. On average, it lives from 3.5 to 4 years, although most birds do not survive to this date. The blame for all is that they do not tolerate the cold, and many individuals die in the winter, from severe frosts.

And yet the population of the kings does not suffer much from this fact. In fact, despite their low survivability, they multiply very quickly. So, after the first year of life the female is ready to create a new family.

Matrimonial games begin with the first heat. Thanks to this in early May, the kings already build their nests. At the same time, all the construction work on the house falls on the female, and the males only protect their spouse. The nest itself has a spherical shape that protects the chicks from possible aggression from other birds.

On average, one female produces from 5 to 9 eggs. After two weeks of incubation, they already hatch. In this case, the male is constantly taking care of both the female and her children. As for chicks, after 18-20 days they can safely leave the nest.

Man and songbird

Korolki quickly get used to changes in the environment, and therefore calmly react to the presence of people. Recently, they are increasingly beginning to settle near noisy megacities. However, they are still hesitant to change forests to urban parks.

Therefore, the singing of the kings can be enjoyed only by going into the forest. But, perhaps, this is for the better, because it is in this lies the whole charm of wildlife.