Our planet is inhabited by so many birds, the name of which sometimes we have not even heard. They are found everywhere: in forests, mountains, steppes, on the coasts of the seas and even in the cold tundra. The diversity of this group of fauna is so great that, for example, only on the territory of the Russian Federation you can meet representatives of more than 400 species, including not only sedentary, but also migratory birds, photos with names of which are easy to find in atlases.
Sparrow order
Interestingly, more than 50% of all species of birds belong to the order of passeriformes, and the smallest is the kinglet (6 g), and the largest is the raven (1.5 kg). In total, there are four subspecies of these birds: songbirds, half-singers, screaming (tyrants) and broad-billed (horn-billed). The habits and coloration of birds, including forest birds, are very diverse, and males sing and look most impressive. They are the first to arrive at the place chosen for nesting, and with their singing indicateterritory and attract females. Some species, such as starlings and jays, are able to copy the voices of different birds and some words of our speech. Widespread throughout.
Some passerines live in flocks during the nesting season, but most form pairs. The place is chosen by the male, and different subspecies prefer for this hollow, tree branches, stones, holes in the ground, rocks, etc. Reproduction occurs in spring or summer, although, for example, the crossbill is not afraid of the cold, and if there is enough food (spruce and pine cones), it breeds even in January.
All passerines breed chicks that are born barely covered in light down, deaf and blind, but grow very fast. Both the female and the male feed the young. On the 10-15th day, accompanied by their parents, the babies fly out of the nest; in species nesting in hollows, this happens a little later - on the 20-25th day.
The names of birds that belong to passerines are always well known: sparrow, titmouse, oriole, swallow, starling, wagtail, oatmeal, etc. Of the larger ones, one can distinguish crow, jay, cardinal, thrush, fieldfare.
Birds of parks, gardens, meadows and fields
Birds of the passerine order inhabit gardens and city parks, live in fields and meadows. Forest and desert representatives are usually small in size, belong to granivorous and insectivorous birds. These are songbirds with short legs, which are perfectly adapted to life in trees. In fields, mixed forests, parkland and gardens, you can most often see a titmouse, a starling, a rook, a bullfinch,crow, nightingale, magpie, chaffinch, jackdaw and many other representatives of the detachment. The names of birds are known to us from early childhood.
Many families have perfectly adapted to the conditions of open space, where there are no tall trees. These include the field lark, oatmeal, pheasant, partridge, etc. Owls, harriers, and steppe eagles patrol the expanses of fields in search of snakes and small rodents.
All birds of open spaces are adapted to their habitat in their own way. Some of them move perfectly on the ground, not only in search of food, but also escaping from enemies, practically without using their wings. They have lost the ability to fly, but they have strong legs with short toes, which contribute to fast running and digging. This group of birds includes galliformes (black grouse, pheasant, partridge, guinea fowl, crax), ostriches, etc.
Day and night "flying" predators are characterized by powerful wings and sharp claws, which helps them to hunt well. This group includes falcons, black kites, hawks, owls, meadow and field harriers, etc.
Steppe birds
The Russian steppes stretch all the way from the shores of the Azov and Black Seas to the Urals, and it is quite natural that a great many birds live in such open spaces. Steppe and desert birds, the species and names of which we will give below, are forced to be careful. The open space is not too rich in shelters, so sometimes only a quick reaction and flight can save the bird from the enemy.
Becausesteppe and desert species move a lot among the grass in search of food, their legs are sufficiently developed for this. In addition to partridges, steppe birds include: demoiselle crane, crowberry, little bustard, gyrfalcon, bustard, etc. They skillfully hide in the grass due to the “camouflage” color of feathers and easily find food on fertile steppe soils. Plants and insects are the main food, but birds of prey, photos with names of which can be found in any manual, hunt snakes, frogs and rodents, of which there are a great many, and also do not neglect carrion. Some species of birds arrange their nests right in the ground, and large predators - on trees rare in these places.
Desert birds
There are few birds in the desert because they cannot stand thirst. In Russia, the south of the Astrakhan region and the east of Kalmykia belong to the desert zones, which abound in vegetation and moisture only in the spring. Feel comfortable in rather difficult conditions such birds as desert chickens, bustards, warblers, steppe eagles. Pelicans, mute swans, ducks, egrets can nest in the border areas near water bodies.
Not to mention the world's largest flightless bird, the African ostrich, which can weigh over 150 kg. Evolution took care of him, giving him a long neck for a good view of the terrain and powerful legs for running fast and hitting the enemy during a fight. Ostriches live in numerous families; they feed on vegetation, insects, lizards, rodents, but they can pick up the remains of a meal of predators. Funny story about what ostriches hidehead in the sand - just a joke, but the females hatching chicks, at the sight of danger, literally flatten on the ground, trying to become invisible. Due to the heat in summer, desert birds are active at night, and in winter they are active during the day when it is warm.
Forest birds
Forest birds make nests in trees and bushes, as well as in hollows. Woody vegetation serves for them not only as a refuge, but as a place for obtaining food. Therefore, the paws in most species are designed so that they easily wrap around branches. Common features are long tails and wide, shortened wings that allow them to quickly take off, slow down and perform tricky maneuvers between dense branches. Forest birds include most passerines, woodpeckers, owls, and galliformes.
The claws of vertically climbing tree trunks are curved and sharp. Some names of forest birds of this group characterize this mode of movement (nuthatch). For support and balance, pikas and woodpeckers use their tails, while tits, finches and some other pichuga, when getting food, are able to hang from below the branches. Forest predators hunt in flight, or plummeting down on their prey.
Birds of Prey of the Forest
Characteristic features of day and night predators of the forest are a sharp hooked beak and long claws on strong legs. In addition, they have excellent eyesight and hearing.
Some names of Russian birds related to forest predators: eagle owl, snowy owl, owl, honey buzzard, buzzard, goshawk, etc.
Origin of bird names
The names of the birds are not chosen randomly: almost all of them suggest the presence of some features noticed by people. For example, for the voice and manner of singing, names are given to the cuckoo (ku-ku), chizhu (chi-chi), tit (blue-blue), rook (gra-gra), as well as hoopoe, seagull, lapwing and many other birds.
The birds of the Urals also got names for their characteristic plumage: greenfinch, hazel grouse, redstart (jay), and such birds as flycatcher, honey buzzard and nutcracker suggest their food preferences. The wagtail and the wagtail are easy to distinguish by their behavior, but the nesting location of some birds is literally embedded in their name: the shore swallow digs holes on high banks, and the warbler hides in dense lake vegetation.
Easy to remember the names of birds for children, if they resemble the sounds they make, for example, when walking, like a heron. She slowly walks through the swampy mud, as if “sipping”, raising her long legs high, and the village dialect has changed the name of the bird from “chapel” to heron. Or if they are associated, for example, with snow, where the origin of the name of the bullfinch bird came from.
But the hunters know why the capercaillie got its name: when it leks, it is so carried away that it literally stalls and does not hear the dangerous noise at all. But when it stops, everything turns into attention.
Birds such as the chaffinch and the robin are named according to their time of residence. The little finches fly in and out during the coldest, coldest months, which is why they are called so, although they themselves are quite frost-resistant. And the robin, which often settles in gardens closer to people, greets the morning and evening dawn with sonorous singing.
Bullfinch
The Russian origin of the name of the bird bullfinch is also peculiar, because it arrives in our region for the winter, along with snow, and with the onset of spring it flies to dark coniferous forests. The bullfinch is always associated with the new year, so household items, New Year cards and souvenirs are decorated with the image of the red-bellied small.
Birds are part of the finches family and live in flocks, constantly calling to each other with a whistle. In winter, it is even found in city parks. Breeds with the onset of heat in the alpine and taiga forests of Eurasia, in the Caucasus, in the Carpathians. Feeds on berries, seeds, tree buds.
Waterfowl
Waterfowl, the photos and names of which are given below, are those birds that are able to stay on the water. They do not include species that only find food in water bodies. Due to their special lifestyle, they are characterized by common features: webbing between the fingers, dense plumage and a secretory oil gland that lubricates feathers.
The name of waterfowl, or rather orders, is a derivative of the brightest representative: anseriformes, pelicans, loons, gulls, penguins, etc. Food is fish, mollusks, frogs, algae, which they get by diving into the water, like cormorants and divers, or lowering only their heads, like swans andducks. Seagulls can catch fish in the air by submerging only their beak.
Waterfowl of Russia
Waterfowl are widely distributed throughout the Russian Federation, the photos and names of most of which are familiar to everyone. Although the majority are migratory: ducks, geese, swans, etc. At the end of summer, active migration of waterfowl to wintering places begins. By the way, some representatives of this group spend most of the year far at sea, returning to the shore only for nesting and hatching (some ducks). Sakhalin, the Kuriles, Kamchatka, Crimea and other places with an abundance of water bodies can rightfully be considered a habitat.
Waterfowl Russian birds, whose names are long-tailed duck and eider, live in Yakutia and on the shores of Lake Chukotka. Nesting along the Volga: moorhen, red-nosed pochard, great grebe, gray goose, mute swan, coot.
Red birds
In all the diversity of birds, red birds stand out, the name of which is very exotic, as well as bright plumage. If our lentils, crossbills and bullfinches are partially painted in this color, then flamingos, tanager, virginian cardinal, fiery velvet weaver, ibis are almost entirely red. Most of these birds live in tropical forests, in the south of America, in Hawaii and other islands, in Australia and Africa. They belong to passerines, weavers, flamingos, storks and other species.
Interesting features of birds
Different types of birds, first of all, differ in body size, beak shape, plumage color and habitat. Allfeatures are difficult to describe briefly, so we will only touch on a few. Interestingly, the beak of each bird is designed in such a way that it can easily get its own food. As a result of morphological adaptation, the birds were divided into 14 groups according to the shape of their beak, including: omnivores, fishermen, insectivores, water cutters, mowers that feed on coniferous seeds, nectar or fruits, scavengers, predators, and others.
As a result of observations, it was noticed that some species of birds have remarkable intelligence and ingenuity. So, gulls and crows, having found a mollusk or a nut, lift it into the air, and then throw it on the ground to break it, repeating this manipulation several times. And green herons, to attract fish, throw bait in the form of a twig or leaf onto the water. Parrots, jays and rooks are amenable to learning human speech, and the woodpecker uses a thin stick to open a crack in the bark of a tree and extract insects from there.
The role of birds in nature and for humans
The importance of birds in nature cannot be underestimated: interacting with each other and animals, they build complex relationships that promote natural selection. Birds help seed dispersal, and some species cross-pollinate flowering plants.
Birds of Prey maintain the balance of rodent growth. And thanks to insectivorous pichugs that eat caterpillars and larvae, many crops are preserved, including agricultural ones, which is very useful for humans. That is why all sorts ofmeasures to conserve various species of birds, and nature reserves are being created.
