Many are well aware of the magpie - black and white, long-tailed, with a loud and rather harsh voice. The curious and daring bird has been known to children since childhood as the "white-sided magpie" - the heroine of numerous fairy tales.
Slightly below it will be described what constitutes a dwelling, a magpie's nest. How it looks like, how it is built by birds, where it is located and other information related to this amazing bird, you can see and find out by reading this article.
A little about the bird itself: general information
Magpie (common or European) - a bird representing the corvid family and the genus Magpie.
Before we start describing and find out what a magpie nest is, let's look at the bird's habitat and distribution around the world.
Magpies inhabit all of Europe. It is absent only on some Mediterranean islands. They also inhabit parts of coastal regions in Morocco, Tunisia and Algeria (northern Africa). In essence, the magpie is a sedentary bird, but there is also a migratory bird in Scandinavia.
Different populations of magpies live in different parts of the Earth. Magpie's nest tooshapes and sizes differs depending on its habitats.
There are magpies both in Turkey and in part of Iran, where they spread almost to the coast of the Persian Gulf itself. Birds of this species are distributed from north to south to the Sea of Japan. In Asia, they are settled in northern Vietnam, in the north-west of Mongolia. A separate isolated population lives even on the Kamchatka Peninsula. There are also natural monuments - a small protected population in the north-west of the island. Kyushu. North America also has a haven for magpies - the western half of the continent (from Baja California to Alaska inclusive).
Magpie's nest: photo
Magpies obviously gravitate towards dense shrubs and woody vegetation. They especially like lake and river floodplains with thickets of alder and willows, with small meadows, remnants of primary forest and mowing. The forest belts stretched across the southern steppes of Russia have become a real kingdom for them.
In these places there is a very close neighborhood of pairs: they live only a few tens of meters from each other. This is a record population density for birds that tend to avoid such neighborhoods. In more remote and dense forests, magpies practically do not live (rarely), but they perfectly settle in city parks.
Where do magpies build a nest? Common species are sedentary birds. In the spring in early April, the couple usually builds a nest in a bush or tree (height from 1 to 12 meters above the ground), and they measure its location with the level of security and anxiety. In places where peopleabsent (in nature), magpie houses can be arranged even at a height of about 1.5 meters from the ground, and in city parks - at a height of at least 6 meters.
Forty nests are very large in shape and size (up to 75 cm in diameter), so they are clearly visible.
Building a nest
How do magpies build a nest? The base of the nest (frame) they make from long and thick dry branches. Then, on such a rather massive foundation, they build a bowl made of earth or clay. Moreover, the latter is reinforced with thin branches of birch. Then, the inside of the tray is lined with thin branches of willow, birch and roots of some plants, and something like a roof is built over the nest itself, representing a loose, rather chaotically folded canopy of larger dry branches. The latter structure significantly increases the size of the nest. With such a wonderful canopy, there is no escape from the rain, but clutches and chicks can be perfectly protected from various raptors.
The magpie's nest (pictured above) is a fairly intelligent structure.
Habits, behavior, reproduction
Magpies often chirp. This means that someone unwanted has come into the bird's field of vision, no matter if it is a person or an animal. Moreover, they show such deep indignation at any meeting. They raise a particularly strong chirp if there are chicks in their nest. It should be noted that even many predators avoid being seen in the daytime. The hunt will still end in failure.
Ownthe nickname ("thief") this bird mainly deserved in connection with its irresistible passion for appropriating various small items without the knowledge of their owners. They are especially partial to glass or metal products.
This bird is very cautious in the neighborhood of a person, she will never let herself be taken by surprise. In the forest, she warns her comrades and all surrounding inhabitants with a cry of danger.
Despite caution, the magpie is quite easily tamed, and even distinguished by affection for its owner and a peculiar mind. This bird can also learn to pronounce individual words.
It happens that magpies build several nests, and they occupy only one. Represents housing of an almost spherical shape with a side entrance. Female magpies usually lay 5-8 eggs in the nest in April, and then incubate them for about 17-18 days, after which they fatten the chicks.
Food
The basis of food forty in spring and summer is animal food (from the smallest insects to fish thrown ashore). They can even steal the smallest from a bucket from a gaping fisherman. In the winter period, the magpie eats everything that is edible, does not even disdain the contents of the boxes intended for garbage.
Magpie is a useful bird that destroys numerous pests and small rodents in the fields. But she also has a negative quality that is harmful to humans: she often steals chicks and eggs on farms.
Conclusion
Judging by the way this bird constructs, it is neat and veryintellectual. A magpie's nest is often a well-built cup of thin twigs with a comfortable bed of soft, dry grass, wool, and delicate feathers.
In building a nest, the bird shows its amazing mind: it often weaves in the form of a ball with a side entrance. Moreover, she can have two nests: in one, eggs are laid, and the other simply confuses predatory enemies.
Shiny items stolen from somewhere by the magpies themselves, they use to decorate their nests.
