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The family of thrushes is very numerous. It includes more than a dozen species of birds. Mountain ash is one of the largest birds among all members of the family. Not long ago, the ryabinnik could not be seen on the territory of a city or another settlement. Representatives of this species of birds lived only in the forest. Today, due to the fact that they cannot find enough food for themselves in their usual habitats, they can often be seen in the city. Birds are looking for food where there are trees with their favorite berries. These are parks, squares, and also gardens with rowan.
There are a lot of these thrushes in Russia. Most of them in Siberia. In addition, the species is distributed almost throughout Europe.
The bird spends winter in the countries of Central Asia and northern regions of Africa. Some individuals prefer to fly to the Caucasus.
Description
Although this bird is not very bright in appearance, one can hardly confuse it with any other birds when looking at it. As already mentioned, among the drozdovyh is quite a large representative. The body length is about 25 cm. And the wingspan is about 50 cm or a little less. The plumage in the area near the tail, partly on the head, and also on the neck, has an ash-gray color.
In the back area the bird is covered with brown feathers. White plumage on the chest has a slightly golden patina and a lot of small dark pestrin. It is difficult to distinguish the male of the fieldfare from the female. After all, the colors of their plumage are almost the same. In juveniles, the plumage has the same coloring as in adults. Their distinctive feature is that the colors are somewhat paler than in adult birds. It is established that in nature, representatives of this species live on average from 10 to 16 years.
Lifestyle
They endure cold quite badly.If during the winter period they cannot find food for themselves, they fly away to warmer areas in order to safely winter. At the same time quite a lot of birds die during migration. Weather conditions are influencing the numbers. If during several years there are too severe frosts in winter, the number of the species is reduced.
These birds are very similar to other representatives of blackbirds - belobrovik. They are similar in both behavior and nutrition. Therefore, representatives of these two species often unite in common flocks. Rowan berries are so named because the Rowan berry is their favorite delicacy. They prefer to settle where you can eat plenty of it. They occupy a certain territory not far from the thickets, and protect it from other birds, which also want to enjoy rowan.
The behavior of these birds has one feature. When they attack an enemy, I usually start attacking with my own droppings. For other birds that did not like the mountain-ash, this is a certain danger. After all, if the feathers of the bird are smeared in the litter, then they will stick together. As a result, the bird will lose the ability to fly.Quite often, people who are in the wrong place are subjected to similar attacks of a foot-legion.
These birds tend to make a lot of noise. At the same time they make sounds unpleasant. They have a hot and bubbling voice. If the bird is frightened or for some reason angry, these sounds will be especially harsh and loud. Singing this species of birds is also not very attractive. Yes, and you can hear it very rarely.
Fact! In moments of intense irritation and discontent, the bird raises its tail. On this basis, other birds immediately realize that the grasshopper is ready to attack.
This species has a grumpy character, so it is quite easy to provoke a mountain rat to a scandal. It has long been assimilated by birds of prey, which often enjoy this feature. Often their nests are victims of a flock of crows. Some of them distract the thrush to annoy him and provoke a fight, while others calmly take the eggs.
Power Features
The most varied diet at the mountain ash in the summer. They eat insects, worms, and also arachnids. Sometimes can eat and snails.And when different berries begin to ripen, the bird goes on them. Especially they love rowan.
They are very fond of fruits, for example, apples and pears. The bird pecks fruit and berries, directly sitting on a branch or picking them up from the ground. These birds are the real sweet tooth.
If a large amount of rowan has ripened, the thrush will not fly away to the south, but will have to spend the winter in nesting places. In winter, they feed not only rowan. But the dog rose, elder, viburnum.
In February, finding food is especially difficult. When all the stocks of berries already eaten, the birds begin to feed on invertebrates, which are found on the waters. In the spring they feed on the field. When the land is plowed, you can find a lot of various insect larvae in it.
Nesting
Before laying eggs, a pair of these thrushes settles a nest. The female is engaged directly in construction. And the male jealously guards the future dwelling at this time. The built nest is similar in shape to a bowl. It is made from dried grass, which is interconnected with clay and roots. The inner surface is lined with soft material.As a rule, the nest of this bird is located on a tree, in the place of a fork of powerful branches. They nest in small colonies, in which there are about 6-7 pairs. Sometimes colonies are more numerous.
Mating begins at the very beginning of May. In one laying at birds about 4-7 eggs. They have a camouflage color - greenish with small spots of brown. Hatching their female. In this case, the male does not even bring her food, so the bird has to be distracted from the process of brooding in order to find food.
Nestlings appear in the middle of May. They fly away from their parents, too, pretty quickly - by the end of May. Take care of the offspring both.
Already in June, a pair of rowans begins the second clutch, in which, as a rule, fewer eggs. Parents bring different berries to these chicks.
The benefits and harm of birds
Although these birds love wild berries, but if they come across a garden in which cultural bushes and trees with sweet berries and fruits grow, the thrushes eat them still immature.
Flocks of these birds often attack the fields with strawberries, causing them considerable damage. When there are no fruits in the garden, they feed in the forest. And when the cherries ripen, currants and apples, again arrive in the garden.
But the mountain ash, these birds also bring some benefits. Seeds that come out of the bird are not digested, then grow much better. This is due to the action of the gastric juice of the bird. Some gardeners know this and use when growing mountain ash.
Video: Fieldbird (Turdus pilaris)
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