Bird market, or thousands of residents on a sheer cliff

2024 Author: Henry Conors | [email protected]. Last modified: 2024-02-12 02:44

Mass nesting of seabirds on an almost sheer cliff that breaks into the sea has its own name - a bird market. Those who have seen him live at least once call the spectacle grandiose and unforgettable. After all, many thousands of birds create it, moving chaotically and randomly. But this is only at first glance. And the incessant cry and hubbub of the thousands of hordes cannot be confused with anything.

Where to see

Wherever these huge colonies of birds, which are called the bird market, are not found. You can see them on the coast of Europe and Asia, on the American continent and the islands of the Southern Hemisphere, in New Zealand and on the Arctic coast.

Yes, and the sizes can be very different, but the largest ones cover tens of kilometers and number hundreds of thousands of birds of different species. The largest colonies in Russia are on the islands of Novaya Zemlya and Franz Josef, but bazaars are also known on Lake Baikal, on Wrangel Island and the Sikhote-Alin Mountains in the Far East.

Who lives in the house?

The most numerous inhabitants of the bazaars of the northern hemisphere -thick-billed murres. They do not build nests, and the egg that hatches is heated to 40 ° C on the one hand, and is cold on the ground side, sometimes with zero temperature. And once the chick develops?

Mass colonies form guillemots, which got their name from the habit of washing food before eating it. Kittiwakes and fulmars, cormorants and guillemots, arctic terns and petrels. In total, about 280 species are known - these are the inhabitants of the bird market. Birds are in a hurry to breed their chicks in a short summer period. So it turns out that every millimeter more or less suitable for nesting is occupied on the eaves of sheer cliffs.

Let's consider the bird market of one of the rocks of Sikhote-Alin, how different types of birds are placed on it. The lower tier is all occupied by Karmorans, who love to live in the company of their own kind. With their gloomy black color, they contrast sharply with the white color of the feces that cover the entire eaves. In the neighborhood with them, and sometimes interspersed, small cormorants are seen in small groups.

Stone ducks also prefer to settle near the water. Their coloration, a mixture of white, black and brown, is a good defense against the guano, but constant movement gives them away. And all the cracks and depressions in the stones are occupied by dark birds with a whitish head and orange-green beaks - puffins.

On the upper floors, the kingdom of seagulls. Great cormorants mix with graceful clovers, but there are no quarrels between them. But most of all among the inhabitants of this troubled kingdom of kayr. These sharp-billed birds with gray-brown dark plumage occupy every inch of land where you can just sit down.

Every bazaar has such a variety of species, only they can be completely different.

And how to feed such a crowd?

It would seem that in places where there are such settlements, there should be no fish at all. This crowd of thousands must eat everything. But everything is just the opposite. Fertilizer from the bird market, and simply bird droppings, increases the amount of phytoplankton, and then the usual food chain starts. The phytoplankton is eaten by the zooplankton that the fish love so much. So there are always large schools of fish circling around the bird colonies.

Who are the neighbors?

The same effect has a large number of birds on coastal areas. Here, due to the large amount of fertilizer, the grass turns green much earlier, and fades much later than in areas far from nesting.

Green attracts rodents, and behind them, in turn, predators come - arctic foxes and ermines. Yes, and birds of prey are right there - owls and gyrfalcons, skuas and eagle owls. Bears also come to eat eggs with pleasure.

Why do you need to live in such tight quarters? The bird market provides a number of advantages for its inhabitants, and above all, there is less death of both eggs and already hatched chicks. After all, it’s easier to fight back in a crowd, and it’s warmer if a cold wind blows.