Blackbird - description, habitat

The carnivore belongs to the family of birds of prey; it feeds on the larvae of bees, wasps, bumblebees, beetles and amphibians. To get its food, the bird destroys the nests of insects. The carnivore is active in the daytime, lives in Europe and western Asia. It is considered a rare bird.

Description of the carrot

Such a bird as a blackbird has a rather big size, a beautiful long tail with dark stripes, narrow wings. The area around the eyes and the frontal part of the feathered are equipped with stiff, short feathers; apparently, they even look like scales. They perform the function of protection when the bird breaks the wasp nests. When a blackbird flies, its wingspan reaches a meter.

The adult bird has a dark brown back color. The abdomen changes from a brown color to a light color, on which there is a dark-brown transverse pattern or there can be longitudinal mottles. The wings are very beautiful color, striped below, and dark spots on the folds.On the tail tail feathers there are three wide transverse stripes, two located closer to the base, and one at the end.

In comparison with the size of the body, the head is small. In males, it is lighter in color and has a black beak. Eyes with yellow or golden iris.

The hawk's plumage is tough. On the paws, black claws, sharp, but bent quite a bit. Due to this, the carnivore comfortably moves on the ground. For him it is important, since most of his hunting and prey is caught on the ground. The bird flies low, making all movements easy and maneuverable.

Ocoed Eating

Due to the fact that wasps feed on the ground, they hardly spend time in the air. They can sit for a long time on a tree and look out for a place from where insects fly. After a long observation, the bird locates the nest, descends to the ground, and with the help of claws and beak begins to break the nest. In this way, the foxbird retrieves the larvae.

There are nests that insects construct on trees and branches, but this is not a hindrance for a predator, it also finds them and breaks them. It must be said that the hawk eats insects that can fly near it. Before the insect is eaten, the carnivore will pluck out the sting.

Fact! The predator feeds its chicks with insect larvae, there is a lot of protein in them, which is good for babies.

In one day, an adult bird destroys up to five nests. This is necessary for its nutrition. The chick needs to eat about a thousand larvae.

Peculiarities of distribution of the blackbird

You can meet a predator in the open spaces of Europe and Western Asia. With the onset of cold weather, the barnacle flies away in the direction of southern and central Africa, where there is warmth and plenty of food. At the time of migration nest in Italy, also near the Strait of Messina.

The carnivore prefers to live in a forest of hardwood and pine trees. It lives in old eucalyptus forests, which alternate with glades. You can meet on the edge - first of all exactly where there are no traces of the activities of people. Predators prefer places with a weak grassy cover. If it hits the mountains, it can take off to 1,800 meters.

Variety of Blackbird

The bird is a predator not only a common carnivore, but also a species of the carnivore crested or eastern.

The crested osoed is larger in size than the common blackbird. Body length can reach 59-66 cm and weigh 0.7-1.5 kg. In flight, the wingspan reaches 170 cm. On the back of the head of the Eastern Bird, long feathers resemble a spicy tuft, hence the name of the feathered one.

The color of the back is brown or dark brown, the throat of a bird is white with a narrow black stripe. The rest of the body is gray. Male iris is red, with two stripes of dark color on the tail. The females are darker in color, their head is brown in color, the iris is yellow. But the tail is painted in stripes, there may be 4-6. Young birds have appearance similar to females.

Such a subspecies of Osoyedov lives in the southern edges of Siberia and areas of the Far East. The bird chooses forests mixed with deciduous trees, where there is enough open space. It feeds in the same way as the usual species - hymenoptera.

The difference between female osoed and male

A panther girl from a boy panther differs among themselves in stripes that are clearly visible on the tail, the male has less of them, they also have a different color of iris.Females of bats are always darker than males.

Life expectancy and breeding of the blackbird

The carnivore is a monogamous bird by nature, and if it finds a female, it stays with it throughout its life. After the birds return from wintering, after three weeks they begin the mating season. You can understand this by their dances. During this period, the blackbird rises up and begins to flap its wings over its back, this is similar to clapping, and then flies to the ground towards its female.

The nestling high builds its nest. Usually it is located in the branches of a tree, approximately from the ground at a distance of 10-20 meters. Be sure to near the forest should be open space. The process of building a nest happens late, for the material they use branches of trees with young leaves. For the base take the pods and thin twigs, and inside the nest lay fresh leaves and grass. This helps the chicks to hide from the dangers. Nests of up to 60 cm in diameter line up. With the start of the new season, the birds do not change their nest, it serves as their home for several seasons.

Osoedo eggs are brown, usually 2-3 of them, they are laid in the span of two days.The incubation period has a duration of 34-38 days. On eggs sits not only the female, but also the male. After the emergence of chicks, parents feed them 18 days.

Then the chicks are considered independent, they themselves learn to break the wasp nests and eat the larvae. When their age reaches 40 days, they are already trying to fly, but mom and dad are still feeding them. When summer comes to an end, independent life begins at the chicks.

Live hawk can up to 30 years. But lately the number of populations has begun to fall. The bird is beautiful and the main role of a person in its life is to provide protection, not extermination.

From the bird you can hear such sounds as: ki-ee or ki-ki-ki.

Interesting facts about the blackbird

1. Osoyad winter in those places that are similar in their locality to their nesting place.
2. Every year the birds fly to winter in Africa. When the goal of the journey is reached, the flocks begin to disintegrate.
3. During their observations of the blackflies, the catfish sit motionless, ornithologists spotted a time of 2 hours and 47 minutes.
4. During the wintering period, the bird behaves covertly.
5. Grown-up breeder chicks independently harvested larvae, thus, showing their skills.
6. Osoyedy are protected, as their number has greatly decreased.During the flight over Southern Europe, they are shot by hunters the most, becoming prey.

Video: Common Predator (Pernis apivorus)