Among the huge variety of birds (there are more than 9800 species on the planet Earth) there are many delightful, attracting attention and causing delight and admiration with their unusual and surprisingly beautiful appearance. There are many such birds in the tropics of southern countries. But in other parts of the Earth there are relatively rare and unusual specimens that attract attention. Some of them are presented in this article.
Yellow color is atypical for birds living in Russia and in neighboring countries, as many predators live in these territories. Such a bright color unmasks the birds, especially in the snow. Therefore, many can identify and name not all the birds with a yellow breast (or abdomen) that live in these places. Few varieties of birds of this color can be seen on the territory of the former CIS.
What are the yellow-bellied birds called? Where can they be found and what is their way of life? We will try to understand this further.
Common oatmeal
This is a fairly small bird belonging to the bunting family. It is similar in size to a sparrow, but its tail is longer. The body length reaches up to 20 centimeters, the wingspan is up to 30 cm. Few people know this beautiful bird in Russia, since its habitat is Baikal and some regions of Siberia. It should be noted that the common oatmeal has not only a yellow breast, but also a head. And one of the subspecies, the yellow-throated bunting, which once lived in Primorye, also has a peculiar crest.
The real bird with a yellow belly is a male oatmeal. During the mating season, it stands out with feathers of golden yellow tones located on the head, belly, chest, cheeks and chin. On the chest there are numerous streaks of a grayish-olive hue in the upper part and a reddish chestnut in the lower part. The back is grayish chestnut with dark longitudinal streaks. The wings are painted brown. The beak is short but massive.
The female is similar in general to the male, however, her coloration is duller. Yellow tones have a slight greenish tint, and brown prevails instead of brown. All young birds look like females. Buntings fly in waves, making several jerks.
Oatmeal features
This amazing bird sings like a nightingale. The number of trills can often reach up to 300 species in one hour. Bunting in its musicality overtakes almost all known birds.
This bird feeds mostly on plant foods. Even in the summer, she does not pay any attention toinsects. The diet consists of plantain seeds, oats, wheat, tree buds. And yet, oatmeal violates the rules of its “fasting”. This only happens during the breeding season. For the female at this time, better nutrition is needed. It feeds on spiders, woodlice and small slugs.
This bird with a yellow belly lives in the wild, and therefore its life expectancy is approximately 3 years. There are cases when individual specimens living in captivity lived up to 13 years.
Dubrovnik
Another bird from the bunting family lives in northern Europe and northern Asia. Its weight is 25 g, length - up to 17 centimeters, wingspan - 24 cm.
In its unusually bright plumage color, Dubrovnik resembles tropical birds. In summer, the head of males is almost black, chest and throat are yellow. The back is brown, the belly is very bright - yellow. On the chest there is a narrow “collar” of a chocolate shade. Females have a brownish tint, with a yellowish belly and dark streaks on the sides and back.
Typical habitats are river floodplains overgrown with shrubs, as well as meadows and forest edges with dense and tall forbs. For wintering, birds with a yellow belly fly to Southeast Asia. Her song is like sonorous flute whistles.
Tit
This rather beautiful bird with a yellow belly can be found not only in Russia. She lives in Central Asia and Europe.
The back of the tit is yellowish green,the ventral part is yellow. A wide black stripe runs along the chest and belly. It should be noted that the birds of this variety of Central Asia have some differences - their plumage is more bluish-gray. The upper part of the head, throat, sides of the neck and part of the goiter of Russian tits are brilliant black, and the head is white on the sides. The wings are grayish-blue with a transverse light stripe. The tail is almost black with a bluish tinge. For their family, these yellow birds are large. In length, they reach up to 13 cm, and their weight is about 20 grams.
Tit is not a migratory bird. It remains in its habitat for the whole winter, and only in extreme cold moves closer to a person (it's easier to feed). For your information: in Russia in ancient times there was a decree that subjected to a considerable fine anyone who attempted on the life of this beautiful bird.
Interesting facts about the tit
There are many interesting facts about this bird with a yellow belly (photo in the article).
- Often, tits prey on small dwarf bats (bats), which are poorly thinking and rather inactive after hibernation. The bird kills them with a blow to the head with its beak, and then eats all the insides.
- The tit is a cunning bird. She herself does not store food for the winter, but she skillfully finds them from other birds.
- The most fearless and curious after forty are tits. They may well attack even a person if there is a danger to their offspring. And at the same time, this bird can becalmly hand-feed.
- Responsibilities for feeding and raising chicks are shared equally by the titmouse parents. These gray birds with yellow bellies raise their babies pretty quickly.
Tit habitat and lifestyle
Tits love to live in deciduous forests, in thickets along the banks of reservoirs and rivers, in parks, gardens and groves.
This bird is considered sedentary, but partly wanders. This usually happens in late November and early December. They return to their native lands in February and early March. In the warm period of time they feed on insects, in winter - on seeds and buds of trees. Adult tits watch their chicks very well. They bring food for them 31 times in one hour.
Yellow Wagtail
This small yellow-bellied bird is the smallest of its kind. Its weight is approximately 17 g with a body length of about 16 cm.
Yellow Wagtail (Pliska) is a small slender bird belonging to the Wagtail family. It lives in vast areas of Asia, Europe, Alaska and Africa. It stands out, like other types of wagtails, with a long tail, which sways from side to side all the time. A feature is the bright yellow plumage in the abdomen of adult birds (especially in males). Often it can be observed in a damp meadow or along the banks of reservoirs. She usually sits on top of a tall grass stalk, constantly balancing with her widely spread tail.
Grey-green or gray-brown colorfeathers on the back is typical for females and males, but females are slightly duller. The light brown flight feathers are bordered in the form of an ocher stripe. The tail is dark brown, with tail feathers on the edges, painted in white. Above the eyes there are horizontal stripes of white. The legs are almost black.
Wagtail lifestyle and nutrition
This small yellow-bellied bird lives in swamps with bushes and wet meadows, as well as in the lowlands of forests and in river valleys. The yellow wagtail almost does not settle in the taiga, but lives along the banks of taiga rivers. Their behavior is similar to the behavior of white wagtails, but unlike the latter, yellow ones look for food not in the air, but on the ground, moving quickly and deftly along it. The diet includes small insects (flies, mosquitoes, butterflies, spiders, ants, bedbugs). In addition, this bird flies beautifully at low altitude.
Yellow Wagtail is a migratory bird. Throughout the summer, she leads a nomadic lifestyle, and these movements begin immediately after the chicks begin to fly. Wagtails from this moment fly from place to place, and this continues until the period of departure for wintering. Birds migrate to the south (South and Central Africa), gathering in flocks. The flight altitude is 50 meters. Birds reach their wintering grounds by the beginning of November.
In conclusion
Birds are some of the most amazing living creatures on Earth. The variety of shades of plumage of birds living in natural conditions reaches an incredible scope. Among them, quite worthythese small and wonderful birds with yellow bellies also stand out.
All birds with such a bright color are attractive, but rare. Seeing a titmouse not in the picture, but with your own eyes is a very pleasant event, and watching the bunting, wagtail and other similar rare birds is a doubly joy.
