The steppe zone, that part of it where hordes of locusts settle, is inhabited by beautiful birds - pink starlings. The closest relative of the pink starling is the common spar. In appearance, this bird resembles a crow rather than an ordinary starling. Shpak and pink starling have similar sizes, flight and some habits. And in color, these relatives have nothing in common.
Description of the pink starling
The plumage covering the head and neck is painted in black with a dark purple metallic tint. The black feathers in the wings and tail glisten with greenish-purple hues. The remaining feathers are painted in delicate pale pink tones. Young pink starlings are covered with brown plumage. The legs are reddish-brown. The color of males is brighter than that of females.
The pink beak of these birds is much thicker than that of ordinary starlings. The head of the original birds is decorated with a nice black crest formed by long feathers. Males flaunt a more pronounced crest than females.
Behavioral Features of the Pink Starling
It just so happened that the pink starling is a public bird straying into giant flocks. To see a highly social creature alone is almost unrealistic. Unique birds are held by huge communities. Birds gather in packs in dozens, and often hundreds. The flocks are combined into gigantic colonies, including tens of thousands of pairs, excluding the younger generation.
Feathered fly pretty quickly. They often flap their wings, swiftly flying over the ground. In flight, individuals adhere to each other. The flock that has risen into the sky looks like a solid dark lump. Having landed, the birds instantly disperse, continuing to run and making flights in one direction. As a result, the whole flock moves in one direction.
Distribution area
Throughout the winter, birds fly over to find food in desert regions that spread across Iraq, Iran, India and Afghanistan. In spring, they migrate to southeastern Europe and the lands of Central Asia. Inhabit the Caucasus and southern Siberia.
Nesting Features
For nesting birds, the pink starling selects unoccupied spaces near the water. It is tempted by steppes, desert and semi-desert plains, rich in fodder, teeming with cliffs and rocks with clefts, steep coasts with small shelters, cracks, and structures with niches. In these secluded, inaccessible places for predators, birds make nests.
Shpak is a relative of the pink starling, he nests quite differently. It is important for him in early spring to find a couple, build a nest, lay eggs and raise offspring. Relatives with a pink color are in no hurry to nest. Their colonies settle when an abundance of feed accumulates at the nesting site. The larvae of locusts and grasshoppers grow by mid-summer.
Starling Nests
Pink starlings nest in the clefts of rocks and fragments of cliffs, between stones, in minks built by swallows, in cracks on cliffs. In the steppes, nests settle in the recesses of the earth.
A bird's nest is formed from a thin layer of dry plant stems. A sloppy layer of stems is covered with wormwood leaves, feathers, dropped by the steppe birds. In the finished form, the nests are similar to massive small plates. Top nests barely covered with rare grass or pebbles.
On the territory of 25 m 2 pink starlings manage to place up to 20 nests. Nests are crowded together next to each other, sometimes touching walls. From the side, at first glance it seems that this is just a chaotic pile of garbage. With such careless construction, the masonry becomes the prey of a voracious locust.
Pale gray eggs in nests appear in May. In full clutch there are 4-7 eggs. Chicks, appearing after 5 weeks in an atmosphere of crowding and complete confusion, become the common property of all adults. Couples who have lost offspring due to locust faults painlessly survive the loss by feeding other people's chicks.
Mature chicks do not shy away from adult counterparts. They willingly take possession of the food of any bird that comes near. Adult birds in the realm of constant throng and confusion indiscriminately distribute food, satisfying the hunger of their and neighboring young animals.
Hunting Features
The birds hunt in an original way. A huge bird cloud, having landed in the hunting grounds, is organized in dense lines. Birds move in one direction, withstanding distances of 10 centimeters. On the run, they grab grasshoppers and locusts from the grass stand.
Each bird is absorbed in its occupation so that it is not able to interfere with the hunting of neighbors. During the period of coordinated hunting, not a single starling remains unprofitable. All not only feed on satiety, but also feed their offspring to the dump.
Offspring in the colony grow together. After a month and a half young growth flies out from secluded nests. As soon as the chicks get stronger and leave the nests, the colony will be removed from its habitable place, scattered into separate schools and begin to lead a nomadic lifestyle.
Pink Starlings Food Chain
Pink starling can be called a great traveler, an experienced nomad and just a flock of tramps. All these terms get to the point when it comes to birds from the starling family. Birds are forced to roam , because the food chain of pink starlings is based on a key insect - locusts.
Starlings, chasing locusts, involuntarily wander. Eating locusts is beneficial. A harmful insect is not adapted to life alone. Locusts move in huge arrays. Therefore, starlings are not just flocking creatures, like other birds. They are collective creatures living year-round in strong packs.
An adult for a day requires 200 g of complete feed. A colony of ten thousand couples burdened with offspring destroys about 108 tons of locusts per month. To feed, huge colonies settle on nesting in those places that are filled with locusts and other orthoptera.
Having caught locusts, the bird cuts off its legs and wings, striking an insect on the ground and deftly wielding its beak. Having broken the victim into pieces, she begins to swallow them. With an abundance of locusts, birds do not so much eat insects as they simply maim and kill.
The limited food chain of pink starlings forces them to chase insects, depriving them of the opportunity to own the habitable places in which they would return from the hibernation. The biology of birds is tied to the nutrition of locusts and other orthoptera. Feathered birds appear only where there is a locust. If in any place it is not enough, the pink starling, in search of food, is able to make huge flights.
However, locusts and orthopterans are not the only food of pink starlings. They enjoy treating with berries, weed seeds and rice. Birds can cause considerable damage in cherry and cherry orchards, vineyards and rice plantations. In addition, starlings feed on bugs, lepidoptera, spiders and ants.
Harmful or useful.
During the ripening period, the starling strollers turn into a real disaster for gardeners. Therefore, a logical question arises as to whether it is necessary to reduce the number of pink starling, characterized by excessive gluttony. Does the benefit brought by the destruction of pests during their mass development compensate for the damage caused to the crops in the gardens?
To answer this question, simple calculations should be made. In captivity, a bird is able to eat up to 300 harmful insects. A colony of one and a half thousand couples within a day will destroy approximately a million harmful creatures.
In addition, pink starlings settle in huge colonies only where pests reproduce en masse. Moreover, birds know in advance about the danger that people are able to notice only when it becomes apparent. Given that the locust destroys everything without regret, starlings become a real salvation for the harvest. The harm of birds against the background of the disaster delivered by the locusts simply fades.