Oryapka - description, habitat, interesting facts

Oryapka is a passerine bird, distinguished by its characteristic appearance and special passion for water among its kindred. This small bird has a waterproof plumage, thanks to which the birds of this species swim very well, dive and can even run along the bottom of shallow reservoirs, firmly clinging to the bottom with legs with rather sharp claws.

Often the dipper is called the water sparrow or water thrush, which is explained by the similarity of the bird with this species of birds. The family of these birds includes only a few subspecies, but the most common among them is the dipper. An interesting fact is that the duck received the status of an official symbol of such a state as Norway.

According to experts, this bird got its name from a derivative such as "Olyabysh", this word in Russia was called a small round cake.In accordance with another common version - the name of the bird is consonant with the designation of small round pebbles, which, when released into the water, before jumping to the bottom, jump up and down along the water surface several times.

Features of appearance

Dipper due to its unique appearance, as well as the constant location of water bodies in the vicinity, is almost impossible to confuse with other species of birds. Dipper ordinary has a fairly strong and dense physique, in size this species is similar to thrushes or starlings. The body length of adults reaches 20 cm, the maximum weight is about 85-90 grams. There are practically no external differences between females and males.

Representatives of the species have rather long paws (4 fingers each with sharp claws), thanks to which they can easily move both on land and on the bottom of water bodies.

The wings of this bird have a slight rounding, the length of the wing is up to 105 mm. The span is up to 30 cm. The tail of the bird is rather short and slightly curved towards the top.

Plumage

The front part of the bird's body is decorated with a white elongated shirtfront, which perfectly and harmoniously contrasts with the basic color of the feather cover. On the bed of the dipper, if you look closely, you can see the original scaly pattern. The outfit of young individuals is several orders of magnitude lighter than that of adult representatives of the species.

The impermeability of bird feathers is due to the fact that the bird has an extremely developed oil gland, which secretes a rather fatty secret, which is sufficient for high-quality lubrication of the entire feather cover of the bird.

Bird voice

Oryapka is considered a singing bird, the sounds made by representatives of this species are a pleasant whistling and iridescent trills. Slaves sing almost all seasons (except for the nesting time).

Habitat

This type of bird can be found almost throughout the entire territory of Eurasia. The main condition for dwelling colonies is the presence of water bodies with clear water and fast flowing near the nesting area (hilly landscape with sparse vegetation in the coastal zone).

In the period corresponding to the beginning of nesting, birds, as a rule, are divided into pairs, choosing a certain territory for life, to which they are very attached.

Note that most of their lives, these small birds spend in the water or near it, for wintering choose non-freezing sections of water bodies.

Power Features

As mentioned above, dippers prefer reservoirs with a fairly strong current for their main habitat, ignoring streams and lakes with stagnant water and too dense vegetation. They swim very well in the water, using their wings as oars. One of the peculiarities of this bird species is that they have their own natural ballast, which implies the presence of medulla in the bird's bones, which, in fact, distinguishes the diarrhea from other bird species (in most species, the bone is hollow). Due to the opening of the wings in the water, the dipper easily sinks to the bottom of the reservoir, for which it can run several tens of meters.

The duration of stay under water is about one minute. Under water, the nostrils of the bird are closed with special leathery membranes.Due to this, the bird can collect at the bottom I need it for food. To climb to the surface of the dipper, it is enough to press the wings against the body, after which the water pushes the bird up.

As a rule, from the bottom this small bird of the order of passerines collects for feeding the eggs of small bottom fish, small insects, and hunts for crustaceans. The bird can also get food in the coastal thickets of vegetation, getting various animals from under pebbles turned by tenacious claws.

Nesting features

As mentioned above, the dipper is very tied to the territory of its habitat (biotope), so even after seasonal migration, birds with the onset of heat always return to their chosen place for life. That is, instead of building a new nest, the seasonal update of the old one is carried out.

The sexual maturity of the small grass comes on attaining one year old, after which the birds form pairs. At the same time, representatives of the species occupy a certain, pre-selected part of the territory, the length of which is about 1.5 km. Particular attention should be paid to the fact that during the nesting period of the border of the territory of the parcel the pairs are carefully guarded.

Erecting a new nest or updating an old bird is done in early spring, the nest is located near water bodies. The bed of the small dipper can be located anywhere - both among the rocks in the coastal zone and on the branches of small trees or shrubs.

The most attractive places to accommodate bird nests are hollows of dry trees, as well as cracks or natural niches in the rocks.

Both females and male diars are built in the nest; dry stems of various plants, rhizomes, and moss are used for this purpose. It looks like a ball with irregular geometry, dimensions - no more than a soccer ball. The entrance to the nest is tunnel-shaped, as a rule, directed in the direction of a nearby stream or any other reservoir with a fast current. Inside the nest is often lined with last year's vegetation (dry stems, leaves).

Offspring

At one time, the dipper lays up to 7 eggs, having a white color without specks. Hatching is carried out exclusively by the female, while she periodically excommunicates to obtain food for sustenance.The duration of incubation is about 14-18 days.

The first outfit of the nestling chicks of this species is a downy, brownish shade, the mouth is bright yellow or orange. Both parents feed offspring that appeared.

Depending on weather conditions, young individuals of small diat leaves 3-4 weeks after birth. Although at this moment in life they are not yet able to rise into the air, nevertheless, they are already swimming quite well and diving. When danger arises, the chicks immediately rush into the water, swimming away and hiding in the coastal thickets.

Species population

According to environmental organizations, the population of such a species of bird as a dipper is quite large. Despite human intervention in the biotope of this species, the population size has not decreased over the past decades.

Although the dipper does not belong to the synanthropic species of birds, nevertheless, birds are often found in close proximity to human habitation, especially in the nesting season.In some areas inhabited by the alpine colonies, these birds are habitual inhabitants of mountainous terrain (especially important for mountain resorts), where they become an excellent object for observation and hunting photos.

Video: dipper (Cinclus cinclus)