This article provides information about one of the tiny representatives of a huge variety of the feathered family. They represent one of the most common varieties of "summer" birds. These birds are minted. Consider them.
Territories of many countries are habitats for the chekan bird.
Description
Chekan is a genus of bird from the thrush family. In size, it is smaller than an ordinary sparrow - its body length is about 15 centimeters, and its weight is 20 g. The bird's tail is relatively short. A feature of the mint's behavior is its mobility, the habit of twitching its tail and “bowing”.
There are common features in the plumage of males of different types of coinage - an orange-red breast, a black “mask” over the eyes and a white eyebrow above them. In females, the color is lighter and the eyebrow is practically not expressed.
Habitats, distribution
Is there a chasing bird everywhere? Chekan mainly settles in meadows with tall grasses or rare shrubs with hard stems used as perches by birds.
In the southern parts of Europe, they choose relatively wet meadows, high mountain pastures, coniferous edgesarrays located at altitudes within 700-2200 meters above sea level. sea.
Distribution sites depend on the type of bird. For example, the meadow coinage (the most common) is found mainly in Eurasia. And in Europe, their distribution does not go south beyond the 43-degree north latitude.
The habitats of the Chekan bird in Russia are territories from the North Caucasus to Arkhangelsk, and their border reaches Kazakhstan (western part), and in Western Siberia - to the upper reaches of the Yenisei. This species prefers to settle in mixed grass floodplain meadows. It is also found on the edges, clearings, pastures, meadows, wastelands, clearings.
Varieties
Meadow, large and black-breasted - these are types of bird chase. A description of each is provided below.
- Meadow coinage. The size of its body is about 14 cm, and its weight is no more than 20 g. On the back, the plumage is brown with black mottles, and the tummy is gray-white. The throat and breast are a bright yellow-orange color. Males have white stripes above the eyes and under the beak, and black plumage between them. Meadow coin lives in nature up to 8 years.
- Big coin. Distributed only in Asia (Mongolia, China, Bhutan, Nepal, Kazakhstan). It lives mostly in mountainous areas, nests in alpine and subalpine meadows. This species leads a predominantly sedentary lifestyle. Outwardly, it looks like a related bird - the meadow chase. This species belongs to vulnerable birds, due to the rapid decrease in meadows - habitats for large coinage. Their population todayhas only up to 10,000 individuals.
- Black-headed coinage. In terms of its size, it reaches 12 cm in length, and its weight is about 13 g. There is a coal-black plumage on the head, and a white stripe on the neck. These are the hallmarks of the male of this species. His chest is bright red-orange. The females are paler in color. The bird prefers open spaces with rare shrubs, such as swamps and wastelands. There is a black-headed coinage mainly in the east and in the center of Europe. Winters in territories located south and west of native places.
Voice features
The song of the chasing is a grinding hasty chirping, trills and squeaks, whistles with pauses of different intervals, and sometimes with some sounds and phrases. The songs of the meadow and black-headed minnows are similar to each other.
Usually a singing male sits on a large prominent branch of a bush or tree, on a fence, on the tallest grass stalks. Can sing in not very high current flight. He sings especially a lot in the pre-nesting time, and at all times of the day, and even at night. During the period of the beginning of nesting, such activity decreases sharply.
Alarms and the most common calls for chekans are not very loud "check-check", "check", "hi-check-check", "yu-chik-chik", etc.
Nesting
The nest of a bird is always arranged on the ground, in a well-hidden depression, among grass, bushes, tussocks. The nest is built from moss, small grass, and the traylined with thin blades of grass or coarse wool.
Usually, there are up to 5-6 eggs in the clutch, which are brighter in color in the meadow chasing than in the black-headed. They are painted in bluish, blue, greenish colors, with a reddish or brown bloom or rash. There may be a faint spot on the blunt end. The eggs are incubated by the female only for about 13 days. There can be two broods in a whole summer.
Food
In nutrition, these birds are unpretentious. The chekan mainly feeds on insects, which it collects in the grass. Prey is usually looked out from some low perch. And in the air, chakans can catch insects.
They roam from the middle of summer in broods, singly or in small groups. They begin to fly away for wintering from the end of August to September.
At home, they can be fed with regular mixtures for insectivorous birds. Nightingale food with admixtures of pieces of berries and fruits is perfect for them. A delicacy for chasing - flour worms.
Some interesting facts
- Chicks are taken care of by both parents - both the female and the male feed them.
- These birds are very friendly. They quickly get used to the person and can take food directly from his hands.
- In captivity (after getting used to it), chasins are quite cheerful and chirp a lot, and this can go on almost all year round.
In conclusion
Migration of minnows depends on the habitat of the populations. For example, the permanent inhabitants of the temperate zone of Europe(black-headed coinage) for wintering migrate closer to the territories of the Mediterranean or to the northern parts of Africa. The inhabitants of Asian countries (large coins) - do not have such a need - they remain in their sunny homeland.
