The crossbill is a legendary bird, its bright plumage and murmuring singing attracts the attention of not only bird lovers, but also indifferent people. This is a bird from the finches of the passerine order, which can easily be confused with a parrot, because the curved beak, extraordinary ingenuity and habits of these birds are somewhat similar. There is something mysterious about these crossbills.
Every bird is sinless
There is a legend that when Jesus was crucified, a bullfinch and a crossbill flew to him. The bullfinch broke the thorns on the wreath of thorns and soiled his chest. And the crossbill tried to pull out the nails with which Christ was crucified, but the little bird did not succeed, he only disfigured his beak.
God thanked the bird and gave it some unique properties. Indeed, when closed, the bird's beak forms a cross. The crossbill is incorruptible after death, and hatches the chicks in the winter for Christmas. Everything, of course, has a scientific explanation, but this does not detract from its mystery.
Description
Klest isbird from finches. The feathered one is not very large - less than 17 cm, approximately like a large sparrow. The tail is divided in two, the halves of the beak are bent and cross in a closed form. This is an incredibly strong type of beak that allows you to easily break spruce and pine branches or peel off the bark. It is ideal for removing seeds from cones. The paws are short and strong. This allows the bird to hang upside down and hold heavy cones.
Male and female are very different in color. Males have an inflamed red or red-orange color on the abdomen, back and neck, wings and tail are usually brown-gray. In females, bright feathers are replaced by greenish-gray with a yellow undertone.
The first three years of life, the "clothing" of these birds is just being formed. In early childhood, their feathers are gray.
The weight of a male is approximately 35-40 g, and females - 30-35 g. The wingspan is up to 30 cm. The length of each wing is 9-10 cm, the tail is 6-8 cm, the tarsus is 2 cm, and beak - 1.5-2 cm.
The song of this bird is somewhat like a mixture of chirping and whistling. The name "klest" comes from the sounds "kle-kle-kle" that they create. These birds sing, only hovering in the air, sitting on branches, they are silent.
Habitat
The crossbill is not a migratory bird. However, the banding procedure recorded individual individuals that traveled 3,000 km. Their habitat depends on the harvest of cones - this is the main food for crossbills. They are constantly looking for places where they could profit. Their beak makes it easy to pick out seeds. Thosethe places where the crossbills live are always rich in the harvest of nuts.
These birds prefer pine, spruce and mixed forests, but do not live in cedar forests. These birds make nests from branches, insulate with moss or feathers. The crossbill has no reason to be afraid of predators, because feeding on the seeds of cones saturates the body of birds with resins and makes it taste bitter. After death, their bodies are incorruptible, because they were embalmed while alive.
They rarely descend to the ground, they feel more bold on the branches. They endlessly crawl through the trees in search of food. The legendary beak helps them, because of the special shape of which they are called northern parrots.
Food
The main food is the seeds of the cones, the crossbill only eat their kernels. If the grain is difficult to process, the bird simply throws it away and looks for another cone. Fallen nuts serve as food for other forest dwellers. The yield of this product determines the place where the crossbill lives in this season.
When there is a shortage of cones, he eats conifer buds or spruce resin along with the bark. In captivity, it enjoys eating worms, sunflower seeds and oatmeal.
Reproduction
The crossbill is a frost-resistant bird. Like other birds, they breed when there is enough food. Chicks are born both in autumn and spring, but most often at Christmas. Nests are built on the tops of coniferous trees or under reliable paws of branches to protect the dwelling from moisture. Usually they choose those places that are rich in food, because in this case they will not have to leave for a long time.offspring without supervision.
The walls of the nest have two layers of intertwined twigs. They insulate "at home" with moss, feathers or shreds of wool of wild animals. Housing turns out to be very durable and warm, has the properties of a thermos.
Usually there are 3-4 eggs in a clutch. The color of the shell varies from yellowish white to off-white, with grayish or purple spots scattered around it. Egg weight 3 g, length - 19-25 mm, diameter - 15-18 mm.
Despite the frost, the bird actively protects its offspring. Females incubate the clutch for about 2 weeks. During this time, the male takes care of the future mother, wears grains, having previously softened in the pharynx. This is one of the elements of the marriage ritual. On the 5th day, the crossbilly chick leaves the nest, but its beak is not yet bent. Therefore, parents help him get food at first.
When the beak is formed, young crossbills learn to extract seeds from cones. From this point on, they are considered full-fledged adults and begin to live separately.
The color of young birds is different from adults. At first, their plumage is grayish, and in the third year of life they acquire permanent bright clothes.
What is the difference between spruce and pine
Three species of this bird live on the territory of Russia: spruce crossbill, pine crossbill and white-winged crossbill. Both the first and the second live in mixed forests in close proximity. Probably they themselves do not distinguish each other. Lifestyle, marriage songs and other nuances are very similar. Outwardly, they differ slightly in color: the spruce crossbill has plumagean inflamed red hue, at a time when the color of the pine tree is not so bright and has a yellowish tint.
Pine is more brutal in appearance, its brisket is wider, and the beak is more plump. Some ornithologists consider the division of crossbills into pine and spruce trees a mistake. The pine tree is a variant of the spruce tree that prefers to feast on pine cones.
The process of removing food from the cone
First of all, the crossbill cuts off the bump like scissors. Holding her by the tail, she tries to pull the food onto a convenient horizontal surface. This, believe me, is not so simple. It balances with its tail and free paw. If one foot does not hold the cone, then the crossbill presses it with the whole abdomen. Now we are talking about the spruce tree. From frequent contact with bumps on the abdomen of the getter, a resin mark often remains.
First the bird gets under the scale and breaks it. If the cone is open, then the bird penetrates deep and pulls out the seed. A rough tongue comes to the rescue.
But the bump is very heavy for a fragile bird. And it often falls before the crossbill has time to harvest the entire crop. Therefore, the bird eats 1/4 of the seeds at best.
Habitat
All crossbills live in the Northern Hemisphere. Many consider them taiga birds. But this is not entirely true. The crossbill lives in the coniferous forests of Eurasia, America and Africa. The nesting places of these birds are fickle, because these birds are constantly flying in search of food. If the year turned out to be lean for cones, then crossbills can fly away fromforests even in the steppe. At first glance, the birds do not seem very skillful, but this thought immediately disappears when you see how they quickly move through the branches and turn upside down.
Spruce is also found in North America. There is even one of the subspecies of these birds that live only on the island of Haiti.
Captivity
Klest is a very funny and sociable bird. It quickly adapts to new living conditions. He has a great talent for mimicking the voices of other birds.
In good conditions of captivity, birds can live up to 10 years if nesting conditions are created for them. If you do not maintain nutritional needs and temperature conditions, then the plumage of the bird turns pale to grayish-green hues, and the crossbill dies.
They are very smart creatures, so they can easily open the cage. Crossbills owners admit that communicating with these birds and observing their behavior brings a lot of positive emotions.
Some interesting facts
- Ancestors of modern individuals appeared 9 million years ago.
- In winter, the crossbill can sing its songs even in minus 50 degrees.
- In Ukraine, crossbills are called cones, and in Belarus they are called kryzhadzyubs.
- These birds feed their chicks in a peculiar way: they drop lumps of food into their mouths, if they miss, they start the procedure again.
