Watch the birds. What migratory birds have returned from warm lands?, What are they doing?, How has the behavior of wintering birds changed with the approach of spring? Life of birds Behavior of a tit in the spring.
Nina Alexandrovna Volkova
Bird watching in March on a walk with older preschool children
Volkova N.A. Birdwatching on a walk in March.
Bird behavior in spring (nesting)
March 1 week
h4]Observation "What do sparrows sing about on the last day of winter?"
Tasks. Summarize children's ideas about the life of birds in winter period. Expand knowledge about sparrows. Raise a caring attitude towards birds.
Conversation.
According to the forest calendar, now is the month of "be patient until spring." Why do you think it's called that?
What do sparrows sing about
On the last day of winter?
- We survived! We survived!
We are alive, we are alive!
V. Berestov
Why do sparrows sing on the last day of winter “We have survived! We survived! We are alive, we are alive!
Why is it difficult for birds to find food in winter?
Why do birds often die in winter?
How do we help birds survive the winter?
What changes have taken place in nature?
Why is life easier for birds now than in winter?
What changes have occurred in the behavior of sparrows in the spring?
Today is the last day of winter, tomorrow spring will come according to the calendar. The sun warms more strongly, the day becomes longer, the sparrows rejoice, chirp cheerfully.
Let's remember how birds lived in winter.
Sparrows and doves
They came to visit, // Running in a circle, flapping your arms (wings).
Sad, frowning
They sat on the birch. // sit down, stand up
The paws were raised
Warmed with feathers. // stand on one leg
The grains were looking for
Didn't see anything // Tilt, straighten up, shrug.
We made feeders
The birds were invited. // They hit fist on fist.
We are glad to winter birds,
We'll give them food. // Imitation, scatter food.
March 2 weeks
Target walk in the square (park) "On Ivanov's day, birds acquire nests." (March 9)
Tasks. To form children's interest in folk signs. To expand knowledge about the adaptation of birds to their habitat, about the behavior of birds in the spring (nesting). Develop curiosity, observation.
The story of the teacher (in the group, before the walk).
According to the folk calendar, March 9 is Midsummer's Day. Folk signs say that on Ivanov's day the bird finds a nest. What do you think this means?
It acquires, that is, the bird looks for a place for a nest, begins to build.
The purpose of our walk: the behavior of birds in March. Only the most attentive and observant children will notice changes in the behavior of birds. Let's remember the rules of bird watching.
In the park, walking along the paths, draw the attention of children to birds. Ask the children to tell what they know about this bird, to complete the story of the children. Encourage those children who do not make noise, do not run, but calmly watch the birds.
Remind the children that wintering birds still need human help.
Funny exercises "Wintering birds".
In the group after the walk, invite the children to talk about their observations. If the child does not remember the name of the bird, ask him to describe it. Thank the children who noticed something unusual, interesting.
Teacher's story. In spring, sparrows roar - they share nesting places. On Midsummer's Day, birds find a nest. They acquire, that is, they begin to build nests. People help the birds: they fix old birdhouses in the gardens, build new ones. A popular sign says that if birds build their nests on the sunny side, the summer will be cold.
March 3 weeks
The story of the teacher "Why do they say so" Rook on the mountain - so spring is in the yard ""
Tasks. Support children's interest in folklore. Enrich children's ideas about birds. Develop thinking, attention, memory.
Conversation.
Look carefully around you, what birds do you see?
I recently heard this popular belief"A rook on a mountain - so is spring in the yard." Why do you think they say that?
Rook - who is this?
There is still snow in the fields, but the first thaw patches have already appeared. In the spring, in the old days, small children ran through the streets, called rooks.
Rooks - Kirichi
Fly, fly
friendly spring
Carry, carry!
Rooks are our first spring guests. As soon as the sun warms, brooks murmur, thawed patches bloom in the fields, you look - and the rooks have already arrived from warm countries. Here they are, black as coals, walking around the thawed patches, swarming in the thawed earth: either they will find a grain, or they will dig out a root. In early spring, rooks do not have a very satisfying life.
But a week or another will pass, the fields will dry up, the farmers will come out to plow the land. Here the rooks have the most expanse: they walk in a whole flock after the plow, choose various larvae, bugs, slugs from fresh arable land. Well done, rooks! After all, all these beetles and larvae are our enemies. Although they are small, they do great harm - they spoil the bread. Therefore, the Russian people respect the rook.
Observant people know that if the rooks, having arrived, immediately begin to repair their nests, then spring will be fast and friendly. But if the birds, after sitting on the nests for a short time, take off again, the cold will last for several more days. Farmers used rooks as a kind of sowing calendar: if the birds sat on the nests, then in a week you can go out into the field.
Do you think it is possible to see a rook in the city?
Why do rooks live closer to villages?
Rooks feed on worms, insects, so they settle where it is easier to find food for themselves.
Fun exercises "Rooks".
Rooks flew into the field,
Worms were looked for everywhere. // Wave your arms, tilt, straighten up.
It is important to walk across the field,
Not one was missed. //
Walking in place, with a high knee (hip) lift.
They took off together
They flew to the trees. //
Start building nests
Twigs are collected. // Leaning forward.
These are the good guys
Black rooks. // Hands on the belt, turn the body to the right, turn to the left.
March 4 weeks
Observation "Every bird sings in its own way."
Tasks. To form realistic ideas of children about birds. To develop the auditory attention and perception of children, the ability to distinguish the voices of birds by ear. Raise a caring attitude towards birds.
Conversation.
Look carefully around you, what birds do you see?
I hear a bird singing. I wonder what bird hid in the tree. And what do you think?
Children listen to birdsong.
Can you tell by the song of the bird which bird is hiding in the tree?
Target. Exercise in the ability to distinguish the voices of birds, form verbs from onomatopoeia.
Management.
Guess which bird makes these sounds:
"Chick-chirp, chi-chi-chi"? (Sparrow). What does a sparrow do? (chirps).
"St-str, cha-cha-cha!"? (Magpie). What does a magpie do? (chirp).
"Kar-kar"? (Crow). What does a crow do? (Caws).
"Svir-svir"? (Whistle). What does the waxwinger do? (whistling)
"Rum-rum-rum"? (Bullfinch). What does a bullfinch do? (Rumit).
Every bird sings in its own way. By the singing of a bird, you can find out which bird hid not far from us. Rooks, greeting each other, shout "Kah" or "Collapse".
Fun exercises "Rooks".
Invite the children to watch the birds during the walk.
At the end of the walk, ask the children to share their observations.
Thank those children who actually watched the birds.
Study "Can Migratory Birds Return Home?"
Tasks. To form realistic ideas of children about birds. Clarify and expand ideas about migratory birds, about the life of birds in spring period. Raise a caring attitude towards birds.
Research progress.
Can migratory birds return home?
Or is it better for them to stay in the south?
Give me the exact answer
Return them, or not.
Question: Is it possible for migratory birds to return home. Find out if there is food for birds. Is the assignment clear?
Bird watching rules.
Birds are very shy, so you need to be very quiet and not make noise.
You can not run up to the birds, you prevent them from resting or eating.
You can’t throw stones or sticks at birds, they are alive, they hurt.
Conclusion. The earth has thawed, worms can be found in it, insects appear. migratory birds you can return home.
Teacher's story. In early spring, the heralds of spring, starlings, return to their native lands from warm countries. The starling is a large, beautiful bird. The plumage of the starling is black, with a metallic sheen. Looking closely, you can see purple and greenish tints in the plumage. The feathers of the starling are covered with white spots. The beak is long and sharp, yellow in spring, and darkens in autumn. Legs are reddish brown.
Arriving home, starlings sit on branches near their houses - birdhouses and joyfully, loudly sing, welcoming their native forests and fields. The song of the starling is beautiful, sonorous. Starlings skillfully imitate the voices of many birds. Then suddenly the starling will let out a nightingale ringing trill, then it will quack like a wild duck.
Starlings are never idle. They protect our fields, gardens, orchards, they are true friends of man. All day long, starlings run along the paths in the garden, looking under each leaf, hunting in the field, in the forest, in the clearing, collecting food for the chicks. Starlings are omnivores. In spring and summer they feed on insects, worms, caterpillars, spiders, and in late summer they switch to plant foods, eating various seeds and fruits.
Starlings
Starlings have arrived -
Young spring messengers
Worms they peck
And sing, sing, sing!
Shorygina T. A.
Teacher's story Folk holiday "Larks". (March 22)
Tasks. Enrich children's ideas about birds. To form an idea of folk cultural traditions. Develop thinking, attention, memory.
Conversation.
lark
The dark forest glowed in the sun,
In the valley of steam, thin whitens,
And sang an early song
Sings, sparkling in the sun:
Spring came to us young,
Here I sing the arrival of spring.
V. A. Zhukovsky
The lark is an inconspicuous gray-brown bird, as small as a sparrow. The lark is famous for its singing. In early spring, when there is still snow on the fields, the lark sings its song. Rapidly soaring into the sky, fluttering its wings, soaring higher and higher, the lark disappears into a radiant blue. The ringing song of the lark is amazingly beautiful.
March 22 - an old folk holiday - Larks. By popular belief it was believed that on this day larks return to their homeland, and other migratory birds fly after them.
In the morning, the housewives kneaded the dough, made lark cookies, baked them in the oven, and treated the children. They treated me and said, "The larks have arrived, they have sat on the heads of the children." The children of the lark raised up, ran into the field, called out to spring.
Larks, come
Take away the winter to the student,
Bring warm spring:
We are sick of winter
We ate all the bread!
And they asked the lark for happiness and health.
Larks, larks!
Fly over the sea
Bring health
To whom a crumb, to whom a spoon,
And a whole cake for me!
Game "Lark".
Children stand in a circle. A child (lark) walks around the circle with a bell, pronouncing the words:
In the sky the lark sang, the bell rang,
Frolic in silence, hid the song in the grass,
Whoever finds the song will be happy for a whole year.
Children close their eyes, the driver hides the bell in the group. Children open their eyes, look for a bell. The one who finds it first raises the bell and says "I am a lark!". The game is repeated.
Observation "Migratory birds".
Tasks. To form realistic ideas of children about birds. Learn to establish causal relationships between natural phenomena and the life of birds. Clarify and expand children's ideas about migratory birds, about the life of birds in the spring. Raise a caring attitude towards birds. To develop interest in changes in the nature of the native land.
Conversation.
Look carefully around you, what birds do you see?
Why do many birds fly away to warmer climes in autumn?
Insectivorous birds flew away because the food they ate was gone: insects. Waterfowl flew away because the rivers and lakes where they fed were frozen.
Spring has come. Do you think migratory birds will return home?
Why do you think migratory birds will return home?
What migratory birds do you know?
What migratory birds have already returned from warm countries? ( rooks, starlings, larks)
Spring has come. Insects appear, so insectivorous birds return to their homeland. Rooks arrived first, followed by starlings and larks. And soon other birds will arrive.
From the midday rays
A stream ran from the mountain, // Running in a circle.
And a small snowdrop
Grew up on a thaw. //
Starlings return -
Hard workers and singers, // Running in a circle, wave your arms (wings).
Sparrows at the puddle
They circle in a noisy flock. // They circle in place.
G. Ladonshchikov
Invite the children to watch the birds during the walk.
At the end of the walk, ask the children to share their observations.
Thank those children who actually watched the birds.
Target walk in the square (park) "Behavior of birds in spring".
Tasks.
The walk starts in the yard kindergarten. Remember the rules of conduct on the target walk.
Starlings have arrived -
Young spring messengers
Worms they peck
And sing, sing, sing!
Shorygina T. A.
The purpose of our walk: the behavior of birds in spring. Only the most attentive and observant children will notice not only pigeons and sparrows, but also many other birds that flew to our city in the spring. During the trip, you need to carefully watch the birds. Let's remember the rules of bird watching.
Bird watching rules.
Birds are very shy, so you need to be very quiet and not make noise.
You can not run up to the birds, you prevent them from resting or eating.
You can’t throw stones or sticks at birds, they are alive, they hurt.
AT park, walking along the paths, draw the attention of children to birds. Ask the children to tell what they know about this bird, to complete the story of the children. Encourage those children who do not make noise, do not run, but calmly watch the birds.
Fun exercises "The singers are returning."
From the midday rays
A stream ran from the mountain, // Running in a circle.
And a small snowdrop
Grew up on a thaw. //
Sit down, stand up, hands up, through the sides down (a flower opens).
Starlings return -
Hard workers and singers, // Running in a circle, wave your arms (wings).
Sparrows at the puddle
They circle in a noisy flock. // They circle in place.
G. Ladonshchikov
At the end of the walk, invite the children to share their observations. If the child does not remember the name of the bird, ask him to describe it. Thank the children who noticed something unusual, interesting.
Conclusion. In spring, all nature comes to life. Birds rejoice at the onset of warm weather. They sing songs, look for nesting sites, some birds build their own nests.
Research "What are sparrows doing?"
Tasks. To expand children's knowledge about the adaptation of birds to their habitat, about the behavior of birds in the spring (nesting). Form realistic ideas about birds. Raise a caring attitude towards birds.
Research progress.
What did spring give the birds?
What has changed in their lives?
We will unravel the secrets of birds,
We learn something new.
Exercise: watch the birds. Find out: what are the sparrows doing, what kind of business do they have in the spring. Is the assignment clear? (children's answers).
Let's remember the rules of bird watching.
Bird watching rules.
Birds are very shy, so you need to be very quiet and not make noise.
You can not run up to the birds, you prevent them from resting or eating.
You can’t throw stones or sticks at birds, they are alive, they hurt.
Ornithologists start researching.
At the end of the walk, invite the children to share their observations. Thank the children who noticed something unusual, interesting.
Conclusion. Sparrows chirp loudly, collect twigs, blades of grass, shreds, pieces of paper from the ground, and all this is carried to the trees.
Teacher's story.
In the second half of March, sparrows break into pairs and start building nests. Building a nest is no easy task. Birds fly, fuss, drag feathers, pieces of cotton wool, dry blades of grass in their beaks, quarrel over a patch and chirp loudly. A pair of sparrows build a nest together.
The study "What has changed in the behavior of birds in spring?"
Tasks. To form realistic ideas of children about birds. Clarify and expand knowledge about the life of birds in the spring. Raise a caring attitude towards birds.
Research progress.
What did spring give the birds?
What has changed in their lives?
We will unravel the secrets of birds,
We learn something new.
Question: what has changed in the behavior of birds in spring. Find out: how birds behave in spring and why they behave this way. Is the assignment clear? (children's answers).
Let's remember the rules of bird watching.
Bird watching rules.
Birds are very shy, so you need to be very quiet and not make noise.
You can not run up to the birds, you prevent them from resting or eating.
You can’t throw stones or sticks at birds, they are alive, they hurt.
Ornithologists start researching.
At the end of the walk, invite the children to share their observations. Thank the children who noticed something unusual, interesting.
Conclusion. The sun shines brighter in spring, warms more strongly, there is a lot of heat and light. Birds enjoy the warmth, sing songs, build nests.
Teacher's story.
Birds are caring parents. In the spring, males look for a nesting place for their family, and they attract females by singing. Birds build nests together. The nest is a bird house. different birds they build nests in their own way, but most often the nest resembles a bowl woven from branches and grass. Inside the nest is lined with fresh grass and down. Some birds build nests on tree branches to hide it among the foliage, others on the ground hide their nests in the grass.
Large birds, such as eagles, storks, build nests from thick branches. It looks like it's just a bunch of garbage. But inside the nest is lined with soft grass and down. There are real masters among the birds. For example, some swallows dig minks for themselves in the clay shore with their paws, others mold their nest - a basket of damp earth and saliva and attach the nest to the roof of the house.
And the little bird Remez weaves its nest from fluff, wool, grass. Remez's nest is similar to a mitten, only instead of a thumb there is an entrance to the nest. In such a nest, the chick is warm and safe. No predator will get the chicks.
Observation "Why do birds live next to people?"
Tasks. To form realistic ideas of children about birds. Learn to establish cause and effect relationships between environment and bird life. Clarify and expand children's knowledge about the life of birds in the spring. Raise a caring attitude towards birds.
Conversation.
Look carefully around you, what birds do you see?
spring forest birds return home to the forest to build nests and raise chicks.
Why don't sparrows and doves fly away from the cities to the forest in spring?
Where do you think sparrows and doves build their nests in the city?
City sparrows build their nests under the canopy of the entrance or balcony. Gray pigeons build their nests under roofs, in attics, on the eaves of stone houses, in niches among stucco decorations.
Where is it easier to find food: in the forest or near people?
Where do more birds of prey and animals live: in the forest or in the city?
What predatory animals threaten the birds in the city?
And who, except for cats, can destroy the nest, destroy the chicks?
Birds live near people because they are protected from predators, they have food and secluded places where they can build a nest in the spring. People should protect birds and bird nests.
Fun exercises "The singers are returning."
Invite the children to watch the birds during the walk.
At the end of the walk, ask the children to share their observations.
Thank those children who actually watched the birds.
Conversation-reflection "Why do migratory birds return to their native lands?"
Tasks. Encourage children's attempts to share a variety of impressions with the teacher and other children, clarify the source of the information received. Enrich the speech of children, activate thinking. To consolidate children's ideas about birds. Cultivate love for the motherland.
Conversation.
Look carefully around you, what birds do you see?
Cranes,
Where did you lead your way?
Where did they fly?
"We are in foreign skies,
We are in wonderful forests
We have been."
Tell, cranes,
Like on the other side of the earth
Wintered.
We are in a distant land
On the home side
Yearned."
Platon Voronko
Warm lands, wonderful forests, why do birds return to their native lands, to where they were born? (children's answers)
The teacher listens to the opinion of all children, specifying the source of the information received.
And what migratory birds will return to our region?
Zhura-zhura-crane!
He flew over a hundred lands.
Flew, circled
Wings, legs worked hard.
We asked the crane:
Where is the best land? -
He answered, flying:
- There is no better native land!
Platon Voronko
Wise folk proverb says "To each his own side." Birds always return to their native lands, to where they were born.
Teacher's story.
Cranes fly like a wedge and chirp loudly, greeting their native lands. After a little rest after a long flight, the cranes looked around, walked on high legs, as if on stilts through the swamp and began to search, lowering their long beak into the swamp water, worms, bugs, frogs and tadpoles.
In spring, cranes arrange games and dances. The crane approaches the crane, stands in front of it and bows, nods its head, inviting to dance. A crane with a crane jump, squat, move their legs, flap their wings. At first the birds dance slowly, and then faster and faster. Soon a flock of cranes gathers from all over the swamp, the birds form a circle around the dancing couple, and then, unable to resist, they themselves start a merry dance.
To us, in Chelyabinsk region white cranes, gray cranes and demoiselle crane arrive from warm lands. demoiselle crane rare bird, it is listed in the Red Book.
Improvisation "Dance of the Crane".
Imagine that you are cranes. You dance with your knees high, jumping, squatting, kicking, flapping your wings. Slowly at first, then faster and faster.
In latitudes with a cold and temperate climate, seasonal phenomena in nature are well expressed.
During the year, the duration of the light part of the day and the intensity of illumination, temperature and humidity change sharply here, the variety and quantity of food, and the possibility of obtaining it change significantly. Thus, the life of birds takes place in conditions of a periodically changing environment. Periodic changes in the environment (weather, protective conditions, food supply, etc.) determine the rhythm of the states of the bird's body that naturally follow each other. This periodicity forms seasonal changes in the level and nature of metabolism, behavior, which are formed in the annual cycle of life. The whole life of birds is subject to seasonal patterns. However, the time of onset, duration and forms of manifestation of the individual phases of the cycle are not the same as in different types(which depends on food specialization, the duration of egg incubation and chick growth, and other ecological features), and in individuals of the same species located in different geographical areas or different habitats.
In the annual life cycle, the following main periods can be distinguished: preparation for breeding (occurring in our birds in the spring), breeding (end of spring, summer), preparation for winter (autumn), wintering. Only during the breeding season, when birds are busy guarding their nesting sites, building nests, laying and incubating eggs, feeding chicks, are both colonial and solitary nesting species firmly associated with a certain territory. At this time, each pair stays in one place, and the entire bird population, subject to strict rules of territorial relations, is more or less evenly dispersed over the forest area. It is not difficult to count the birds at this time, having passed several times along a certain route and marking the individuals encountered on the site plan. However, this period of "immobility" of birds ends when the young birds, fully feathered, having acquired the ability to fly, begin an independent life. Relations between adults and young birds at this time are interrupted (with rare exceptions) and, having huddled in flocks or singly, they begin to move through the forests, gradually moving further and further away from their native places. Such post-breeding movements usually coincide with seasonal (autumn) habitat changes. Reducing the duration of the light part of the day, reducing the intensity of daylight, lowering the air temperature significantly impair the ability of birds to find food; the same reasons cause the cessation of growth and vegetation of most plants, their gradual transition to a state of rest, "leaving" insects and other invertebrates for wintering. Thus, the pre-existing food base of birds is also sharply reduced: coarsened leaves and stems, dried flowers lose their food value; invertebrates hiding in the soil, under moss and in other places become inaccessible to most birds, and insect clutches (lepidoptera and many others, which complete their development cycle by the end of summer and die after laying eggs) due to the large dispersal in space and small the size of eggs is an energetically low-value food. Under these conditions (when, in addition, the reduced length of the day shortens the duration of foraging during the day), the opportunities for providing food within the nesting area in birds are noticeably reduced, which prompts them to expand their foraging outside their territory. Of certain importance, apparently, is the reduction within a limited area of food reserves due to its "eating" over a long period from the construction of the nest to the departure of chicks from it. This is how seasonal migrations begin, according to the nature of which birds are usually divided into sedentary, nomadic and migratory.
Sedentary forest birds include hazel grouse, capercaillie, black grouse and some others, as a rule, well provided with winter food.
These birds, after breeding, move quite widely in search of food and shelters, without moving away, however, on long distance from "native" places. For example, in the forests of the center of the European part of our country, the hazel grouse roams in a limited space, reaching up to 800 km 2; black grouse flies in autumn and winter to 50 - 60 km from their nesting sites; capercaillie flies away from the places of withdrawal for more than 100-120 km. The gray crow settled here only partially (not counting the urban populations that now nest in the city itself and along its outskirts). Separate old individuals remain near settlements not far from their nests, while the majority of young birds, as ringing shows, migrate far to the south-west, they are replaced by individuals that have arrived from the north and north-east.
Nomadic birds are birds that leave the places where they nested, and in search of food, the available reserves of which are sharply reduced with the onset of cold weather, and especially after snowfall, they constantly move, often ending up in forest biotopes that are uncharacteristic for them, flying out to meadows, fields, outskirts of villages, etc., moving away from their nesting sites for hundreds of kilometers. Migratory birds include some species of tits, partly common pika and common nuthatch, crossbills, bullfinch, waxwing, jay, and many others.
The movement of sedentary birds and the rather distant migrations of nomads are an adaptation for expanding food production. However, at the end of summer and autumn, the amount of available food (in particular, insects) is reduced so much that many non-migratory species switch to eating berries, seeds, which become abundant in the autumn-winter period, and also vegetative food (buds, needles, etc.). .).
Thus, the animal feed that prevailed in the summer period in the diet of birds is replaced by vegetable feed, which in the autumn-winter time is most plentiful and accessible to sedentary and nomadic birds in our forests at this time of the year.
The calculations made show that the majority of species of forest birds that are capable of changing the composition of food lead a sedentary and semi-sedentary lifestyle or undertake migrations, as a rule, not beyond the forest zone of our country. For example, among the birds nesting in the north-west of the Moscow region, the change of food is characteristic of 100% of the species of sedentary birds, 86% of semi-sedentary, 64% of nomadic and only 18% of migratory birds.
In search of seeds and other plant foods, birds move to those forests where this food is more abundant in the autumn-winter period: the birds are redistributed by habitat.
Migratory birds include most of the forest birds of our country: pigeons, cuckoo, nightjar, forest pipit, redstart, nightingale, robin, warblers, warblers, warblers and many other birds, which in winter are unable to obtain characteristic food (usually insects) in summer habitats, nor switch to other food. After breeding, such birds leave their homeland and make a long flight measured in hundreds and sometimes thousands of kilometers (usually in a southerly direction) to their wintering grounds. At the wintering grounds, migratory birds spend the whole winter without making more or less significant movements, and only in spring they set off on their way back to the north - to nesting sites.
The protective and feeding conditions for birds in the forest are much better and more varied than in open spaces, and therefore, despite the departure of migratory birds to the south, the diversity and abundance of birds in the winter forest is relatively high. However, even in forests, the species composition and population density of birds change significantly with the seasons of the year.
The change of food (transition to plant food) in the autumn-winter period leads to a change in the ways of obtaining food and, ultimately, to the movement of birds from the biotopes where they kept in the summer to more forage forest areas in autumn and winter. At this time, birds often visit places where they were not in the summer due to the lack of suitable nesting conditions.
In autumn, most birds are found in bushes, along forest edges, in mixed forests, especially near glades, along clearings and forest roads, in sparse areas of forest stands. As the leaves fall, the diversity and abundance of birds in deciduous forests decreases in parallel with the deterioration of food and protective conditions. Such an uneven distribution of birds, for example, in the forests of the Moscow and Kalinin regions, becomes noticeable already at the end of July.
In the most fodder, with good protective conditions, broods of birds moving through the neighboring forest begin to meet as early as late June - early July, eventually flocks appear. Living in a pack has undoubted advantages: together it is easier to find food and avoid enemies. A bird that stays outside the flock spends more time observing the surroundings, but it is still easier for a predator to attack it than to approach the flock unnoticed. Therefore, single birds feed less and are less well-fed than individuals in flocks. Tap dances, bullfinches, waxwings, thrushes, tits and many other species, which make up the vast majority of the bird population of the forest in autumn and winter, are found exclusively in flocks.
The flocking way of life of the main part of the birds determines their uneven - spotted (congregational) placement in the forest starting from the end of summer. Such spotting becomes especially noticeable in winter: you can walk more than one kilometer through a snow-covered forest and not see a single bird, and then meet a large flock of titmouse and hear how brown-headed chickadees and crested chickadees call to each other, kinglets squeak, rustle, moving up the trunk , a pika, to see a small spotted woodpecker flashing in the crown of a pine tree, a Muscovite hanging on the end of a spruce paw, or a nuthatch walking upside down.
From the end of summer and all autumn, birds nesting to the north migrate to the south. In the forests of the middle zone of the European part of the USSR, many of these migrants often stay for a long time in suitable places. Since they do not fly all at once, the “wave” of early leaving nesting species is replaced by “waves” of later migrants, and in autumn the diversity and abundance of birds in the forests undergo constant and rapid changes. Simultaneously with the migration, a mass departure of local migratory birds begins. Only at the end of autumn - the beginning of winter, when in the forests, for example, in the center of the European part of our country, Muscovites, bullfinches, tap-dancing, waxwings, who migrated here from more northern places of their range, begin to regularly come across - they say that the winter aspect of the aviation fauna has been established.
Only in mid-November - early December, the winter aspect of the avifauna in the Moscow region is established. Out of almost three hundred species and forms of birds recorded in this region, 92 (about 32%) are found in winter, of which only 27 are caught here annually. These are (in descending order of numbers) - the rock dove, house and field sparrows, gray crow, brown-headed tit, yellow-headed kinglet, bullfinch, crested tit, common tap dance, siskin, great and long-tailed tits, common bunting, common nuthatch, jackdaw, large motley woodpecker, jay, magpie, common pika, hazel grouse, pygmy owl, sparrow hawk, lesser spotted woodpecker, gray shrike, black grouse and capercaillie, upland owl. Most species of winter avifauna are birds of trees and shrubs. With the establishment of the winter aspect of the avifauna in the forests, the population ratio certain types(until spring, when birds start migrating to nesting sites) remains more or less constant. There is only a slight decrease in the total number of birds, mainly due to their increased mortality during this period. However, the non-periodic appearances in huge numbers of such "vagrant" species as crossbills, moskovka, field thrush, as well as tap dance, siskin and others, make drastic changes in the usual ratio of the population of individual bird species wintering in the forests of the Moscow region. Sometimes already in October the number of crossbills in spruce forests exceeds 10% of the total bird population; in November, the number of Muscovites in coniferous forests, respectively, can be 8-12%. In such years, the proportion of the population of "vagrant" species in winter is very high: in 1958 in the western suburbs of Moscow, for example, in January-February, tap dances accounted for 50-70% of the population of small-leaved forests, crossbills - 25-40% in coniferous forests (50% - in mature spruce forests).
Usually in taiga and mixed forests, the main part of wintering birds are herbivorous and mixed-feeding species; insectivores make up less than a quarter of the avifauna. However, in forests and park stands adjacent to settlements, where it is easier for birds to feed, there are much more species remaining to winter. In parks and forest stands on the outskirts of Moscow, Leningrad, Kalinin and other cities in the middle zone, rooks, common starlings and even myna regularly winter. In such places, the number of birds in winter is very high. According to the observations of M. G. Sorokin, in a tall sparse pine forest in the suburbs of Kalinin, where residents visiting the forest systematically feed animals, the population density of birds in winter (368-407 ind. / km 2) is only slightly lower than in the nesting period (432 ind. / km 2 ), although the species composition is much poorer (14 and 35 species, respectively).
In addition to the listed seasonal changes, there is also a redistribution of birds between forests of different composition of the stand. If during the nesting period, small-leaved forests are slightly inferior to coniferous forests in terms of the abundance of birds (and in broad-leaved forests, especially oak forests, the abundance of birds in spring and summer is noticeably higher than in coniferous forests), then in winter the bird population density in coniferous forests is approximately twice as high as in deciduous forests. . Thus, most of the bird population of forests in winter is concentrated in coniferous stands (especially in spruce forests), which create maximum feeding and protective conditions for most bird species. Thus, seasonal changes in the feathered world in the forest are very deep and have a qualitative character.
At the end of winter, small movements (from roosting places to feeding places) of migratory birds and non-directional movements of nomadic birds gradually develop into directed migrations to breeding areas. At the end of winter and in spring, for example, in the forests of the central zone of the USSR, one can see how birds that have migrated from the north (wintered) gradually disappear and migratory and nesting birds appear.
The general patterns of seasonal changes in the distribution and abundance of birds are well illustrated by detailed observations made in the Central Black Earth zone. Of the 269 bird species recorded in the Middle Don region, about 60 (22.3%) winter. These are settled and nomadic in winter, as well as species that have arrived from the north (large and small spotted woodpeckers, common pika, great and long-tailed tits). Most species of winter avifauna are birds of trees and shrubs. However, not all types of forests can provide conditions for the existence of birds in winter.
Pine forests (especially young ones) of the Middle Don region are very poorly populated by birds. In winter, only wandering flocks of tits (mainly large and chickadees), yellow-headed kinglet, common pika, and great spotted woodpecker are common here. Sometimes there are spruce crossbills, and along wide clearings - small flocks of common buntings, brisks, tap dances.
In contrast to pure pine forests, the mixed forest is richest in birds throughout the winter. In addition to species found in pine forests, hawks, the common owl, the common nuthatch, the Muscovite and the wren are common here. Almost always you can meet tap and siskin, bullfinches, and at the edges - gray shrike. In a pure-leaved forest, the same species are found as in a mixed one, but their numbers are much lower. Kinglets and crossbills avoid these stands, while long-tailed tits prefer them.
Bullfinches, siskins and tap dances constantly keep in the thickets along the banks of forest rivers. Grey-headed, white-backed and lesser spotted woodpeckers, as well as green lazarevka, are common here; more often than in other places, hawks, tawny owls and gray shrike are found in winter. In some years, ducks hibernate on non-freezing sections of rivers.
In the spring, long before the arrival of the first rooks, the behavior of wintering birds shows signs of the coming revival of nature. On frosty February nights in the old forest, the mating cries of owls and owls are heard, and on windless sunny days, the singing of great tits and the drumming of the great spotted woodpecker can be heard far away. In the first ten days of March, snow buntings and Lapland plantains begin to fly north, and after them, flocks of wintered siskins, bullfinches, and tap dances set off on their way to the north. The behavior of long-tailed tits changes dramatically - they, like other wintering birds, begin to prepare for the breeding season. At this time, jays and magpies “sing”, making quiet unhurried chirping and other sounds that do not at all fit with their usual rough cries. In the middle - end of March, starlings, linnet fly to the Middle Don, and a little later, larks, long-eared owl, common kestrel and other diurnal predator birds; the arrival of waterfowl begins, concentrating in the floodplains of forest rivers. Here, flocks of migrating fieldfare and other thrushes and starlings stop to rest on the trees half-flooded by the flood. There is still a lot of snow in the forest at this time, but the slopes of the floodplain are already free of it, so it is along the banks of forest rivers and lakes that you can hear the first songs of robins, blackbirds and songbirds in the evening dawns, and see the first draft of woodcocks. In the forest swamps, the voices of gray cranes are heard, and black sandpipers rush over the water with screams. The floodplain forest is already full of sonorous trills of finches, songs of common bunting and greenfinch, and hawks - goshawk and sparrowhawk - lie in wait for their prey in coastal thickets. In mid-April, such attraction of forest birds to floodplains fades. In the depths of the forest you can already hear the ringing drops of the chiffchaff, near the clearings and in the sparse areas of the forest stand - the singing of forest pipits, and along the edges in the bushes a huge number of willow warblers scurry about. In the forest at this time there is a mass of migrating white-browed thrushes, vertices.
At the end of April, the passage of waterfowl stops, the number of shorebirds migrating to the north decreases; the migration of small forest insectivorous birds (flycatchers, rattlestripes, etc.) begins; From time to time, a cold snap stops their further movement to breeding places, and then a huge number of birds accumulate in gardens, ravine forests, shelterbelts for one to two weeks. But bad weather passes, and the mass of feathered wanderers leaves their temporary shelters, which then seem empty, despite the significant number of birds remaining in their nesting places.
In early May, turtledoves, red-footed falcons, nightjars, and cuckoos appear in the forests of the Middle Don. The almost complete absence of migratory, non-nesting bird species is characteristic. The last, by the time the trees and shrubs are fully leafed, the lush development of herbaceous vegetation (giving shelter to early insects that feed on most birds arriving in the first half of May), are splyuska, oriole, lentils, shrikes, warblers, warblers, sand martin.
By the end of the migration (the second decade of May), the nesting fauna of the Middle Don region is already almost fully formed: in most species, incubation is in progress, in some, nestlings are fed, and in some, fledglings appear. A short period of relative stability of the composition of the avifauna begins, lasting until the second decade of June. During this period, all nesting birds are firmly attached to the breeding grounds. The species composition of birds in comparison with the winter period is much more diverse. But already in the first half of June, many songbirds fall silent, and the forest is filled with alarming cries of adult birds, worried about their barely flitting chicks, and the squeak of the chicks themselves, begging for food from adults.
In many bird species, attachment to nesting sites is partially or completely lost within a few days after the departure of the young. For example, starlings leave the forest stand where they nested and move to the floodplains, returning to the nearest plantations only to spend the night; rooks roam widely in the fields during the day, returning to their rookeries only at night. Other birds (tits), after the chicks leave the nest, stay close to the nesting places for a long time. And such late nesting species as lentil, shrike, black-fronted shrike, garden bunting, begin to migrate to the south soon after the emergence of the young. In the second half of June, in the floodplains of forest rivers, broods of the grosbeak come across, feeding on fruits in the thickets of bird cherry. A little later (in July) wandering broods of ducks and kingfishers appear here. At the end of July, along the forest edges, roads, clearings, you can meet flocks of finches and small flocks of goldfinches.
The autumn aspect of the avifauna of the Middle Don region, which is characterized by its radical restructuring, is somewhat similar to the spring one. Both of them are formed by flying, sedentary, migratory and wintering species; in spring and autumn, the dynamism of the species composition of the avifauna is pronounced, significant changes occurring over short periods of time in bird populations. But there are noticeable differences between the autumn and spring aspects of the avifauna.
The period of autumn departure and migration is more extended than the period of spring migration and arrival, and occurs in the reverse order to that which occurs in spring: the first to leave the Middle Don region are those species of birds that arrived among the last in spring. However, there is no such clear sequence observed in spring. Migratory birds react differently in spring and autumn to weather changes: if spring cooling delays the passage, then autumn colds speed it up, forcing the birds to shorten their stops. Weather conditions in autumn also affect the placement of birds. For example, in cloudy warm weather, the little flycatcher, redstart, robin, willow warbler and some other forest birds feed in the forest, and on clear sunny days after night frosts, these same birds gather food exclusively on sunlit edges, where elevated temperatures cause higher temperatures. and prolonged activity of insects.
In September, the intensity of bird migration through the Middle Don region reaches its maximum and noticeably decreases in October, when the species wintering here begin to arrive - bullfinch, tap dance, yellow-headed kinglet, gray shrike, waxwing, etc. At the same time, due to the appearance of migrants from more northern territories the number of such “sedentary” species as the long-tailed tit, pika, nuthatch, gray crow is increasing. In mid-November, the migration of the last flying birds ends: geese, thrushes, rooks; the migration to the south of the common bunting, the field sparrow begins. And again, the avifauna enters a period of long-term relative stabilization, which is characteristic of winter.
Thus, seasonal phenomena in nature, leading to a change in the state and activity of birds, ultimately determine the quantitative relationships between individual groups of species in the same area in different periods of the year.
Progressive development of the central nervous system and sensory organs, high level metabolism and warm-bloodedness provided birds with significantly greater mobility compared to reptiles, expanded their perception of the world around them and complicated their behavior. Elements of active adaptation of the environment to their needs are more clearly manifested - nest building, food storage, group overnight stays, etc.
The basis of bird behavior make up complex complexes of hereditarily fixed innate (unconditioned) reflexes that determine essential elements their lives: the meeting of the sexes, nest building, incubation and rearing of young animals, receptions, food extraction, migration and much more. Individual elements of the environment act as unconditioned stimuli (a place for a nest and a suitable construction material during nest-building, shortening of the day and deterioration of feeding possibilities during migrations, etc.) and other individuals of their species (their postures, movements and calls, the open beak of a chick begging for food, etc.). But the behavior of each bird is significantly enriched and improved through the acquisition of individual experience (ie, the development of conditioned reflexes). Imitation of the behavior of parents or pack partners facilitates the development of temporary connections and increases the possibilities of expedient behavior when the external environment changes - the appearance of new food, new sources of danger, etc. Due to this, the experience of one individual becomes the experience of the population. All this increases survivability.
Birds have been found to have "extrapolation reflexes" - the ability to predict the next development of events (L. V. Krushinsky). So, when a car approaches, many birds fly off the road to the side of the road and after that do not react to a passing car; thus, the bird estimates where the car will pass. A predator that has slipped into a bush often waits at opposite side bush. Such behavior can be considered as a manifestation of elements of rational activity, not expressed in reptiles. Extrapolation reflexes are better developed in species that feed on mobile prey - crows, predators, etc.
Birds are affected- a state of fear, anger, joy, peace, which also corresponds to a certain external expression: postures, position of plumage, sounds made. Undoubtedly, the presence of a long-term memory (the parrot recognized his mistress after 19 years). Birds are also capable of associations. For example, crows distinguish a hunter with a gun from a man with a stick, etc.
Population organization of birds much more complex and diverse than that of reptiles. It changes with the seasons of the year. Attachment to certain territory especially pronounced during the breeding season. - Usually, solitary nesting birds occupy a certain area immediately adjacent to the nest (nesting territory), on which other individuals of their species are not allowed. If food is collected far from the nest, then the protected area will be small. In many species, especially small passerine birds, the nesting territory coincides with the feeding area and is vigorously defended. Skirmishes on the border of the protected area are largely of a tournament nature. Almost always, the owners of the site win (the right of the first, and not the stronger one, is exercised). Due to this, the population more or less evenly populates a suitable territory, effectively using its food resources.
Some of the birds that are able to forage far from the nest nest in colonies (tube-nosed, copepods, ankle-footed, from passerines - rooks, starlings, swallows, etc.). At the same time, the size of the territory protected from neighboring individuals is often only equal to the distance to which the incubating bird can extend its beak. Colony sizes vary from a few tens of pairs to tens of thousands of nesting pairs (for example, in some penguins or the African red-billed weaver - Q. quelea). Mixed colonies are often formed, in which each species occupies the most convenient areas for it. Located along the northern sea coasts, the so-called bird colonies are usually formed by several species. Murmurs nest in dense groups on wide rocky ledges, laying their eggs on the rock without any nest. Kitten gulls build voluminous nests on small ledges of rotting algae. In narrow crevices, more often in the lower part of the cliff, guillemots nest, and puffins dig nesting holes in the peat covering the rocks. These species make up the main population of the bird colonies of the European North.
colonial nesting allows the use of available food resources and areas suitable for nesting with maximum efficiency, and also ensures greater safety for the members of the colony, since some predators do not dare to approach such accumulations, while others are actively driven away by joint attacks by the members of the colony. For example, gulls and terns successfully drive away even predators such as fox and arctic fox from the colony. In relation to each other, members of the colony show reduced aggressiveness, react to alarm signals from individuals of their own and other species.
After the end of the breeding season, only a few adult birds remain in their nesting areas until the next breeding season (ravens, great spotted woodpeckers, etc.).
Most species change their sedentary lifestyle to a nomadic one. In some species, which are called sedentary, these migrations are limited to a small area (movements for kilometers, less often tens of kilometers), for the rest, the length of migrations can be hundreds and thousands of kilometers (the last group of species is called migratory). Movements allow birds to choose more foraging areas, use the best shelters from bad weather when roosting.
Outside of the breeding season, relatively few species stay alone or in pairs, most of the species, even solitarily nesting, unite in groups or flocks, including tens and hundreds of individuals (ducks, rooks, starlings and many others). In some species, families (young ones with parents) retain a certain isolation in flocks (geese, cranes), in others, when flocks are formed, families break up. In packs, a certain organization usually occurs, based on dominance-submission relations, which prevents skirmishes between members of the pack and ensures their coordinated behavior. Sometimes mixed flocks are formed, consisting of individuals of several species. For example, in autumn and winter in our forests it is not uncommon to meet wandering mixed flocks of several species of birds, which are accompanied by 1-3 nuthatches, 1-2 large spotted woodpecker. The herd lifestyle facilitates the search for food (at the same time a large area is examined) and makes it easier and faster to detect danger.
annual cycles. Seasonal change in conditions, life (weather) in most parts of the world determines the annual rhythm of imputing the state of the body (including the level and nature of metabolism), behavior and population organization of birds. The restructuring of the hormonal system that causes this rhythm is carried out according to signals external environment. In temperate and high latitudes, the light regime (change in the length of day and night) is of paramount importance as such a signal, in the tropics - the alternation of dry and wet periods. Important, but additional signals are the general move weather conditions, quantity and quality of available feed. The timing, duration and nature of the manifestation of individual phases of the annual cycle are different for different groups of birds and are determined by the climatic features of the areas inhabited by them, the nature of the habitats occupied and the specific ecological characteristics of food specialization and methods of obtaining food, the duration of incubation and postembryonic growth, etc.). The following main periods of the annual cycle can be distinguished.
1. Breeding preparation. The beginning of the development of the gonads under the influence of increasing day length. Moving to breeding grounds from wintering grounds, in some cases formation of pairs already on wintering grounds or during migration. In some species, the end of the premarital molt, which began during wintering, is completed.
2. Reproduction. Occupation of nesting sites, current phenomena, formation of pairs, maturation of germ cells, construction of nests, laying of eggs, incubation and feeding of chicks. It ends when young birds, fully fledged and having acquired the ability to fly, begin an independent life, often uniting in flocks. In these flocks there can be both adults and young, but the connections between the chicks and their parents usually break off with an exception: geese, swans, cranes, etc.).
3. Post-breeding molt. In birds, after breeding, there is a complete post-nesting molt, when all the plumage is replaced. In polygamous species, non-brooding males begin molting shortly after the completion of oviposition. Moulting male capercaillie and black grouse keep alone in remote areas of the forest, and male (drake) ducks accumulate on heavily overgrown lakes, sometimes tens and hundreds of kilometers from breeding sites. Females begin to molt later, when the chicks are already older; their molting period overlaps with the end of the breeding season. The end of reproduction and the beginning of molting in monogamous birds are also not clearly delineated in time. adults begin molting at the end of the feeding of chicks (immaturonate birds) or (in maturonate species) when the chicks grow up and become more independent. The completion of molting in some species ends only at wintering.
4. Winterization period. Wide migrations in search of food, intensive feeding. The nature of metabolism changes and there is an increased accumulation of fat. In search of food, some species visit biotopes that they do not visit at other times of the year. Ducks and geese feed on grain fields, cranes eat the remaining potatoes. Thrushes, pigeons, black grouse and other forest birds feed on the fields.
Few species of birds stock up on food during this period. Kedrovka - Nucifraga caryocatactes they peck out cedar nuts from cones and bury them in moss, hide them between stones and roots, sometimes at a distance of several kilometers from cedar forests. Part of the reserves is then used by the birds themselves, part is eaten by mouse-like rodents and insects, part of the seeds germinate. The natural renewal of the cedar goes practically only in this way. Jays store oak acorns, beech nuts, collect small potatoes in the fields adjacent to the forest and hide them in the forest. Jays search for their reserves and use them throughout the winter. Due to the germination of the surviving stocks of acorns and nuts, there is a natural renewal of oak and beech in burnt areas and clearings.
Nuthatch hide beech nuts, seeds of maple, elm, linden in cracks in the bark. Passerine and upland owls hide the corpses of mouse-like rodents in hollows and artificial nests in autumn. In one hollow sometimes there are up to 50-80 corpses. These stocks are used in winter, when the fallen snow makes it difficult to catch the animals. In these cases, the reserves are used by the same individual that hid them. Stock detection is probably aided by memory and sense of smell. AT last years it was found that flocks of tits (gaiters, Muscovites, crested tits) wandering in autumn, having had enough, continue to search for food and hide small seeds, juniper berries, insect pupae in cracks in the bark, under lichen growths on trunks and branches. These reserves are used during the period of winter starvation by other individuals of these species. Unlike mammals, among birds there are no species that would completely satisfy their need for food in winter only at the expense of reserves; nevertheless, the storage of food facilitates wintering. This period of the annual cycle ends with the movements of birds to their wintering grounds.
5. Wintering. Populations of each species are located in areas that provide them with food and protective conditions. More often in the wintering area, birds make small migrations; in some species (Anseriformes, some Passerines) diurnal movements from feeding places to resting places and back are clearly expressed. During this period, many seabirds roam widely across the ocean, looking for accumulations of food (probe-nosed, auks). The boundary between wintering and the next period of the annual cycle - preparation for reproduction - is difficult to draw: in some species, prenuptial molting begins even during wintering, pairs are formed (some ducks and geese, etc.), current phenomena begin to appear; wintering migrations gradually develop into directed migration to nesting sites.
Almost all reptiles and many mammals respond unambiguously to unfavorable seasonal changes in living conditions - a decrease in activity and falling into anabiosis. Birds are not like this. However, American nightjars Phalaenoptilus nuttallii - fall into a real hibernation, lasting 2-2.5 months: in a bird huddled in a crevice, the body temperature drops to 18-19 °, breathing and pulse slow down. Short-term numbness sharp falls air temperatures were also noted in other nightjars, in swifts and swallows. Night torpor is characteristic of many species of hummingbirds. With these few exceptions, birds do not reduce their activity during unfavorable seasonal changes and survive them by changing their habitat and switching to available, albeit less high-calorie foods, changing their behavior (nights spent in the snow of black grouse and tits, group nights in the shelters of sparrows, pikas, etc.). ), or, flying over long distances, live under relatively favorable weather and food conditions throughout the year.
In relation to the territory of birds can be divided into three groups: 1) settled - remaining in the same area throughout the year; they can stay in their nesting area all year round or change habitats, but the length of movements usually does not exceed several tens of kilometers; 2) nomadic - making non-directional migrations hundreds of kilometers long after the breeding season, but usually not flying beyond that natural area in which they nest; 3) migratory - flying away for wintering thousands of kilometers from nesting sites, to other natural areas.
The distribution of species into these groups is complicated by the fact that populations of the same species from different parts of the range may behave differently. So, gray crows in the southern regions of the European part of our country are sedentary, in central regions nomadic (some of the already breeding individuals are sedentary), and in the northern regions they are real migratory birds. Changes in weather and food conditions over the years also affect the nature of the mobility of birds. Fieldfare thrushes are migratory birds, but during the harvest years of mountain ash and juniper in warm winters, large flocks roam all winter middle lane without flying away for the usual winter quarters. The sharper the seasonal changes in living conditions, the lower the total number of species found here and the more migratory among them.
Galliformes are sedentary or roam within a small range, except for the tundra populations of white partridge, flying off to the forest zone for the winter, and migratory quails. In many regions of our country, woodpeckers, tits, many ravens, sparrows are settled, but in the northern regions they are nomadic and even migratory. Typical nomadic species include waxwings, crossbills, bullfinches, tap dances, many owls, etc. Most or all populations, approximately 600 out of 750 species found on the territory of our country, are migratory.
A relatively small number of species and individuals of Anseriformes, Grebes, Anklets, Predators, Waders, Gulls, Passerines winter in the southern regions of our country along the shores of the Black Sea, in Transcaucasia, in the south; Caspian, in some regions of Central Asia. The overwhelming majority of species and individuals of our birds winter outside the country in the British Isles and in Southern Europe, in the Mediterranean, in many parts of Africa and Asia. For example, many small birds from the European part of our country (warblers, warblers, swallows, etc.) winter in South Africa, flying from wintering places up to 9-10 thousand km. The flyways of some species are even longer. Arctic terns nesting along the coasts of the Barents Sea - Sterna paradisea winter off the coast of Australia, flying only in one direction up to 16-18 thousand km. Almost the same migration path for brown-winged plovers nesting in the tundra of Siberia - Charadrius dominica wintering in New Zealand, and in spiny swifts - Hirundapus caudacutus, from Eastern Siberia flying to Australia and Tasmania (12-14 thousand km); part of the way they fly over the sea.
During migrations birds fly at normal speeds, alternating flight with stops for rest and feeding. Autumn migrations. usually take place at a slower speed than spring ones. Small passerine birds during migrations move an average of 50-100 km per day, ducks - 100-500 km, etc. Thus, on average, birds spend relatively little time on the flight per day, sometimes only 1-2 hours However, some even small ground birds, such as American tree warblers - Dendroica, migrating over the ocean, they are able to fly 3-4 thousand km without stopping in 60-70 hours of continuous flight. But such strenuous migrations have been identified only in a small number of species.
Flight altitude depends on many factors: bird species and flight capabilities, weather, air flow speeds at different heights... flocks can fly very low above the ground. Migratory cranes, geese, waders, and pigeons were noted much less frequently at altitudes up to 1.5 km and above. In the mountains, flocks of flying waders, geese, cranes were observed even at an altitude of 6-9 km above sea level (at the 9th kilometer, the oxygen content is 70% less than at sea level). Water birds (loons, grebes, auks) swim part of the flyway, and the corncrake passes on foot. Many species of birds, usually active only during the daytime, migrate at night and feed during the day (many passerines, waders, etc.), while others retain their usual daily rhythm of activity during the migration period.
In migratory birds in preparation period for migration the nature of metabolism changes, leading to the accumulation of significant fat reserves with increased nutrition. When oxidized, fats release almost twice as much energy as carbohydrates and proteins. Reserve fat, as needed, enters the bloodstream and is delivered to working muscles. When fats are oxidized, water is formed, which compensates for the loss of moisture during breathing. Particularly large reserves of fat in species forced during migration long time fly non-stop. In the already mentioned American tree warblers before flying over the sea, fat reserves can be up to 30-35% of their mass. After such a "throw" the birds intensively feed, restoring their energy reserves, and again continue their flight.
The change in the nature of metabolism, which prepares the body for a flight or for wintering conditions, is provided by a combination of the internal annual rhythm of physiological processes and seasonal changes in living conditions, primarily by a change in the length of daylight hours (lengthening in spring and shortening in late summer); probably, seasonal changes in feed also play a role. In birds that have accumulated energy resources, under the influence of external stimuli (changes in the length of the day, weather, lack of food), the so-called "migratory anxiety" occurs, when the bird's behavior changes dramatically and a desire to migrate arises.
The vast majority of nomadic and migratory birds have a distinct nesting conservatism. It manifests itself in the fact that breeding birds on next year return from wintering to the place of the previous nesting and either occupy the old nest or build a new one nearby. Young birds that have reached sexual maturity return to their homeland, but more often they settle at some distance (hundreds of meters - tens of kilometers) from the place where they hatched. Nesting conservatism, which is less pronounced in young birds, allows the species to populate new territories suitable for it and, providing mixing of the population, prevents inbreeding (closely related crossing). The nesting conservatism of adult birds allows them to nest in a well-known area, which makes it easier to search for food and escape from enemies. There is also the constancy of wintering places.
How birds navigate during migrations, how they choose the direction of flight, getting to a certain area for wintering and returning thousands of kilometers to the nesting site? Despite various studies, there is no answer to this question yet. Obviously, migratory birds have an innate migratory instinct that allows them to choose the right general direction migrations. However, this innate instinct under the influence of environmental conditions, apparently, can change rapidly. Eggs of settled English mallards have been incubated in Finland. Growing young mallards, like local ducks, flew away for wintering in autumn, and next spring a significant part of them (36 out of 66) returned to Finland in the release area and nested there. None of these birds have been found in England. Black goose are migratory. Their eggs were incubated in England, and in autumn the young birds behaved in a new place as sedentary birds. Thus, it is still impossible to explain both the desire for migration itself and the orientation during the flight only by innate reflexes. Experimental studies and field observations indicate that migrating birds are capable of celestial navigation: to choose the desired direction of flight according to the position of the sun, moon and stars. In cloudy weather or when the picture of the starry sky changed during experiments in the planetarium, the ability to orientate noticeably deteriorated.
Ability for celestial navigation suggests the existence of a "biological clock" that allows one to take into account the change in the position of celestial landmarks during the day. Experiments have shown that the sense of time in birds has an accuracy of 10-15 minutes. This is enough to choose the correct direction of flight. A number of experiments and observations suggest that birds have a "compass sense" - the ability to determine the correct direction when flying or when they are brought far from the nest; it can also manifest itself in cloudy weather, when celestial navigation is difficult. The extensive development of research allows us to hope that in the near future the mechanisms that determine the high possibilities of birds for orientation in space and their navigational abilities will be revealed.
The chosen correct general direction of flight is corrected visually, since during migration birds adhere to familiar landscapes - riverbeds, forests, etc. When flying in flocks of mixed age, orientation is facilitated by the experience of individuals who have already migrated. However, in a large number of species, young birds do not fly together with adults, but independently, earlier (many passerines, some predators, etc.) or later (many shorebirds, some passerines) of old birds. Probably, the subsequent return to the nesting sites is facilitated by a good acquaintance with the area during post-nesting migrations, which are expressed to varying degrees in all species.
Apparently, in most birds, one or another attitude to the territory developed simultaneously with the formation of the species, since the change of seasons in many regions of the globe was already expressed in the Cretaceous - Tertiary periods - the time of formation contemporary bands. Intensive processes of mountain building and increased climate contrast, which captured vast areas, several glaciations that formed in many areas North America and Eurasia in the Quaternary, probably increased the mobility of birds during the non-breeding period. After the retreat of the glaciers, the birds intensively populated the liberated territories. Gradually, modern wintering areas and directions of passage to them were formed. This process continues at the present time. The creation of reservoirs along the route of the Karakum Canal was accompanied by the emergence of new wintering grounds for water birds. On the other hand, the intensive economic use of many areas of southern Europe has led to the disturbance of natural landscapes and to a sharp decrease in the number of birds wintering there.
References: Naumov N.P., Kartashev N.N. Vertebrate Zoology. - Part 2. - Reptiles, birds, mammals: A textbook for biologist. specialist. Univ. - M.: Higher. school, 1979. - 272 p., ill.
Birds evolved from the ancestors of dinosaurs 150 million years ago. Strongly changing, they acquired a variety of shapes, habits, sizes. This allowed them over time to populate all continents, to master a variety of ecological niches.
To get into the kingdom of birds, a person does not need to go to distant lands. The birds are with us. All the time in front of a person.
Chnuyu literature about the habits of wintering birds.
Birds are one of the most peculiar animals that inhabit our planet. Birds are surprisingly diverse in appearance, are found in all corners of the globe without exception and are the most numerous among all land animals. Ornithologists - specialists who study birds - have about 8,700 species.
Birds are one of the most prominent representatives of the animal kingdom. Even in the center of large cities, where there are practically no natural green spaces left, there is no soil cover, a lot of people and transport, you can meet sparrows and pigeons scurrying under your feet or hear the voices of swiftly flying swifts and swallows in the air.
The bird fauna of our republic is diverse and includes about 300 species from 19 orders.
They are an integral part of nature and inhabit various forest areas, fields and meadows, orchards and orchards, banks of water bodies, cities and villages. The most numerous are small passeriformes, or passerines. Many representatives of this order of birds are well known and recognizable in nature, such as tits, swallows, nightingales, goldfinches, bullfinches.
1. 2. Wintering birds.
There are different birds: To their disheveled feathers
Some are afraid of blizzards Snowflakes do not stick,
And fly away for the winter They are under the powders
To the kind, warm south. They frolic for a warm-up.
Others are different people: But if it snows for a long time
In the frost they circle over the forest, And the blizzard lasts a long time,
For them, separation from their homeland Then, friends, we have to
More terrible than the winter cold. Our birds are tight.
Sinichkin day.
There are many memorable days and holidays in Russia. One of these is Sinichkin's Day, which, according to the folk calendar, falls on November 14th. On this day they arrive winter birds, and people are happy with winter guests, as well as with spring ones. And Titmouse meets them all.
Of all the birds, tits are the most useful. It has been noticed that titmouse are not afraid of either pendants swinging in the wind or narrow manholes to the stern.
The best food for tits is sunflower seeds, hemp seeds, and burdock. They love tits and trimmings of meat, cheese, and in the cold - unsalted fat and lard. Pieces of lard are hung from a branch with a large wire pin. Fat can be hot poured into plastic jars, and after hardening, hang upside down.
These are my favorite birds. They have beautiful plumage: a yellow belly, a black cap and very white cheeks, wings in black and white stripes.
Our people have many favorite birds, but bullfinches are the most beloved. We see bullfinches more often in winter. They are clearly visible against the background of the fallen snow and are very beautiful in their bright red outfits.
Unlike tits, they are respectable birds, they don’t fuss, they don’t rush. Bullfinches are also “knights”: males, no matter how hungry, will always give way to the best bunches of mountain ash to the female.
The crossbill is considered a holy bird. If you look closely, his beak looks like a cross. Crossbills live in spruce and pine forests and feed on the seeds of coniferous plants that ripen in winter. In February, crossbills have chicks. One of the parents is always in the nest so that the chicks do not freeze.
Waxwing.
Waxwings have a bright brown color and an enviable crest on the head. All winter they fly from place to place, eating up a crop of berries and fruits from various trees and shrubs.
Sparrows live in flocks, nests are arranged in various shelters in buildings and dwellings. In cold weather, sparrows are disheveled - it is easier to keep body heat in this way.
Birds spend the long winter night in different ways. Crows, sparrows and jackdaws spend the night in flocks huddled together. Woodpeckers and tits hide in hollows. And black grouse and hazel grouse hide under the snow.
1. 3. Winter feeding of birds.
It's hard for birds to live in winter, Here in this most difficult hour
Find your own food. Rescue birds are waiting for us!
Who can do them except us Feed them! Warm up!
save from hunger? Hang a house on a bitch
Snowdrifts are covered with crumbs on the snow,
Hillocks, yards, paths, And even semolina
The birds cannot find And the poor things will come to life.
Not a grain, not a crumb. Gliding merrily across the sky
And now they are flying weaker, feathered friends will take off
Crow, jackdaw, sparrow. And sing, chirping:
Get help, kids! "Thank you very much!"
January 15 - the very middle of winter - is traditionally celebrated as the All-Russian Day of Wintering Birds.
When the Snow Queen appears in her possessions, two vital questions arise before the birds wintering with us: how to feed themselves and where to hide from the cold at night. The light part of the day is reduced, the available food becomes much less, but the need for it increases: the energy costs to resist the body to low temperatures increase. That is why our tits, nuthatches, bullfinches become so voracious in winter - almost all day long they are only doing what they are looking for food. A good layer of fat under the skin also forms additional protection against frost.
Winter feeding of birds is already quite an old tradition. The first initiators of it were the birds themselves. They quickly learned that near human dwellings you can get hold of something - various waste, or something that lies badly. In winter, even typically forest birds begin to reach out to human dwellings. Hunger is not an aunt, and it makes you forget about natural caution for a certain time.
Chapter II. My observations.
I started birdwatching on November 14th. We hang the feeder every year in mid-November, and remove it as soon as the snow melts. We feed the birds with millet, because they do not eat bread, seeds, rice, buckwheat. We pour the grain at a certain time three to four times a day, so the birds know when to expect food. The amount of food depends on the temperature outside. When it's cold, add more food. During the winter, they eat about thirty kilograms of millet.
This winter, its first half was unusually mild. But at the beginning of January frosts hit, snow fell, and now it became difficult for the birds to get their own food. At a glance at some birdie, fluffy feathers from the cold, trying to sit on a tree branch under the pressure of the wind, one's heart involuntarily shrinks. It is time to help our feathered friends, thanks to our help, many more of them will survive until spring. Our forests and parks will be richer. What a pleasure it is to watch the birds near the feeder! Moreover, in winter they easily make contact with a person, you can teach them to take food from their hands.
Mostly sparrows flew into the feeder, there were very few tits. But when we hung a piece of fresh unsalted bacon, which is very fond of tits, there were much more of them in the bird's dining room. What is important - the fat must be unsalted, otherwise the bird may die. Titmouse very funny hold on to him with their tiny paws and pinch off a piece. Two or three are eating, the rest are waiting on the branches for their turn.
Titmouses are much more cultured than sparrows, they do not arrange brawls at the feeder. Vorobyov flies a lot. They are difficult to count, they are restless, behave noisily, constantly fight. They are often chased by jackdaws. They also want food. When we notice this disgrace, we will definitely come to the aid of the sparrows.
Conclusions and offers
Summing up the work done, we can conclude that you can feed almost any bird. Preparation for this must begin in the summer, preparing food. Sometimes it's just enough not to throw away what we don't need. When eating watermelons and melons, collect and dry the seeds. In winter, they will be happy to feast on tits. They are also fed with sunflower and pumpkin seeds (not fried), hemp, pieces of unsalted bacon and meat, various fats - margarine, butter, etc. Hang a pack of margarine or a piece of processed cheese on a nail outside the window in an old string bag. Tits will quickly find a treat. Birds get used to the people in the room, and in a few days you will be able to watch them fussing from a distance of only a few centimeters, through the window glass. They willingly eat tits and crumbs of bread (black rye should not be given). It is better to use crushed stale bread. fresh bread freezes in the cold, and the birds will not be able to do anything with it. Sparrows and pigeons are also happy to eat bread.
For the bullfinch and other granivorous birds, bunches of weeds are dried from summer and autumn - quinoa, nettle, horse sorrel, burdock, etc. For waxwing and thrush-field ash - clusters of berries, viburnum, mountain ash, black and red elderberry. Bullfinches also willingly feast on them, but unlike the previous species, they do not eat berries, but bones.
The easiest to make feeders from cardboard bags for dairy products. It is necessary to cut a window in them, bend the valve cut out above the hole, fill in the food and hang it on a string to a tree.
Conclusion.
Thus, in the work done, we reviewed and analyzed the behavior of birds in the winter using scientific sources and our own observation.
The purpose of the study: To analyze the behavior of birds in winter has been achieved. Birds of different species prefer certain types of food. The number of birds near the feeder in different weather is not the same. There are more birds in the cold.
Hypothesis: The number of birds arriving at the feeder depends on weather conditions and the type of food, put forward at the beginning of the work, was fully confirmed.
Watching birds, you can see how regularly their activity changes according to the seasons of the year. This change reflects an increase or decrease in the level of vital activity, depending on which phase of the annual cycle the bird's body enters in this period. It is hard-coded for several such phases, and bird behavior, even their appearance is so dependent on the season that it seems as if we are dealing with different creatures: in winter - with some, in summer - with others. In winter, the activity of birds is significantly reduced and has only one goal - to get food.
Sexual differences between birds in winter seem to be absent. Males and females are practically indistinguishable from each other until the onset of spring. And only before the arrival of spring, males become brightly colored in order to attract females with their appearance (in the world of people, everything is the other way around!).
These changes are easy to see by looking at to house sparrows. In winter, the male is only slightly brighter than female, his outfit is dull and discreet. By spring, a black “tie” and a “handkerchief” on the head looms brightly on the gray foyer. Since autumn, this costume was hidden under the brownish-gray tips of the feathers, and with the advent of the “spring of light”, the tips were worn out, and elegant plumage, which is called the wedding dress, was exposed.
The closer the spring, the more the behavior of birds changes. friendly flocks of tits, common on the feeders in winter, suddenly cease to be interested in them. Quarrels arise between males. The flocks begin to melt, and now only a couple of tits are found - a male and a female. Spring brings confusion to sparrow companies. Here and there on the melted asphalt there are collective quarrels. It is often thought that these are males fighting. But look at this "fight". In the center of the company sits a gray female and distributes blows to the "boyfriends" crowding around. To win her favor, the male must first find a place for the future nest and show the female. None of the homeless males enjoys her favor.
They behave quite differently in the spring. crawl. In winter, they do not tolerate their own kind. Both males and females keep aloof from each other. A flock of tits, as a rule, is accompanied by one nuthatch. The same can be said about woodpeckers. When two birds meet, fights usually break out. In spring, the situation gradually changes: the male and the female stop avoiding each other, sometimes short skirmishes are still possible between them, but in general, mutual attraction is noticeable. The general excitement is also expressed in the new spring sounds. The aggressive jerky gurgling of the nuthatch turns into an inviting loud whistle, for which they are called "coachmen". Sometimes the male starts gurgling at the female, and then, as if recollecting himself, goes on whistling without interruption.
Even earlier, in quiet gray January days, big tits begin to publish a characteristic double tinkling, anticipating the song. That's what it's called - a subsong. With the onset of sunny days, in late January - early February, it turns into the first spring song of the Central Russian forest. Spring notes can be heard in croaking crow, and in chirping sparrows- this is also a kind of singing, spring current. woodpecker shot also carries the functions of a song and refers to instrumental sounds in which the voice does not participate.
The day is lengthening and bird activity continues to rise. Having united in pairs, they begin to occupy strictly defined areas of the forest, which will later become the vicinity of the nest. In many birds, the male first chooses a place for the nest, and then leads the female to it. If she does not like the future apartment, the male has to look for a new one. This is what sparrows, starlings, woodpeckers do. Male great spotted woodpecker with a special slow flight attracts the female in the vicinity of the future hollow, which then he himself hammers. Frequent drum rolls serve as a warning to a possible opponent, as does the display of bright white tail feathers and presentation to the opponent. powerful beak, elongated with black "mustache". Quarrels often arise between males when establishing boundaries of plots. They can be observed finches, whose males return from wintering earlier than females and divide the territory into nesting areas. Only when they are divided do the males begin to sing, declaring their right to the area and their readiness to accept the future "mistress". This is the case with most birds. But there are exceptions.
When one male has many females, capercaillie, black grouse, many waders,- only the female chooses the nesting site. The same is the case with ducks, in which the couple does not last very long, only until the end of the laying of eggs by the female. Then the males gather in flocks and leave to molt in "strong", hard-to-reach, hidden places or in open water.
At colonial birds areas are extremely small. Gull considers “hers” such a piece of land, to the border of which she can reach with her beak without leaving the nest. Kitten gulls make their nests on narrow ledges, where one bird can barely fit. However, bickering with neighbors in their bazaars is a common thing. In the colonies murre and penguins, where the birds are placed "shoulder to shoulder", there are no sites at all. For many years in a row there are nesting sites for birds that unite in pairs for life - swans, geese, storks, ravens, birds of prey. These birds occupy large territories - up to several square kilometers.
Birds that fly away or swim away for food especially far from nesting sites often do not have individual sites at all. The main reason for the total is the division of the nesting territory and food base. This is how settlements were formed in the process of evolution colonial birds - rooks, swallows, gulls, some thrushes. For example, song thrush, gathering food in the forest, protects a vast area around the nest, which also serves as a feeding area. BUT blackbirds flying to feed from the forest, where their nests are located, to the fields, consider almost only the tree on which the nest is located as “their own”. Therefore, fieldfare nests are much more closely spaced than nests of other thrush species. Their settlements are approaching a real colony. The advantages of this way of life are obvious - it is a collective defense against enemies. under protection colonial birds many solitary nesters also feel safe. For example, nests of ducks, coots, waders predators are not afraid if there is a noisy seagull settlement.
After determining the boundaries of the site, all the energy of the birds, which is very high at this time of the year, is directed to building a nest. This is one of the most unique and
complex forms of behavior characteristic of birds. Let's give some examples. Male song thrush collects rotten wood and sawdust from rotten stumps in the forest. This mass
soaked with water or saliva, he passes to the female. She puts sawdust on the bottom of the future nest and smears them with her breasts on the walls, rotating like a top. After repeated plastering, the nest dries for several days, and then the female begins to lay eggs.
Thrush and his nest
Inhabitants of the northern sea islands - dead ends- dig pores in soft soil with paws and a powerful flat beak. puffin colony is deep underground. Burrows are long - up to 3 m - and winding, at the end with a nesting chamber. The passages of neighboring holes merge, forming an underground bird city. The soil is so well dug up and abundantly fertilized every year that the local flora receives excellent conditions for development. Such bright flowers, as on puffin colonies, are not found anywhere else among the sparse northern vegetation.
puffin colony
chickadees they themselves pluck a nesting hollow in the soft wood of rotten aspens or birches. These are the only tits that can build their own home. It takes more than two weeks for a pair of chickadees to build.
biological nest value in the life of birds huge. The laid eggs, and then the hatched chicks, are placed in it very compactly, and this is no coincidence - this is how the most favorable conditions for the development of offspring. The eggs are arranged in it so that they occupy the smallest possible surface. This is especially noticeable waders. Their four large pear-shaped eggs lie in the nest hole so that the incubating female just covers them with her body. The nest material itself provides optimal temperature conditions for the development of eggs, and then chicks. The latter is especially important because babies nestling birds unable to maintain a constant body temperature. Lying in a tight pile, they resist cooling more easily. Grown up chicks completely occupy the entire cup of the nest, which also contributes to the preservation of heat. The main role in maintaining the temperature in the nest is played by the incubating female.