Common pika - a bird from the order of passerines. Of the representatives of her family, she is the most common. The bird is very hardworking, most of the day is in motion. Thanks to its color, it is perfectly masked. Constantly searches trees for food. And thanks to its sharp, sickle-like beak, it can check for the presence of insects even the narrowest crack in the trunk. In addition to trees, the bird, being in the city limits (or in the vicinity of villages), is looking for food in wooden houses, log cabins, in those places where insects gather.
Common Pischa
The common pika bird, the description of which is in this article, is very small in size, smaller than a sparrow. She has a stiff, pointed stepped tail. Bill is long, sickle-shaped, thin. Paws short with strong claws. The body length for the male is from 110 to 155 mm, for females - from 121 to 145 mm. The weight of pikas ranges from 7 to 9.5 grams.
She crawls beautifully through the trees, using her rigid tail for support. It climbs the trunk, always starting to move from below, in a spiral, circumambulating the trunk. When it flies to another branch, it always sits lower than it was before. And again begins to rise from the bottom up.
It moves in short jumps and the beak thrusts into each crack. This bird is one of the best orderlies in the forest. Thanks to the thin beak, the pika even takes out larvae deposited by tree pests. But she does not pursue fast-running and flying insects.
Habitat and habitat
Pisukha is a bird leading a sedentary, less often nomadic way of life. It is common in Europe. And also in North Asia, Canada and America (USA). In Russia, pika can be found in the European part, starting from Arkhangelsk and ending with the Crimea and the Caucasus. There is no such bird only in the steppe and places where trees do not grow. During migrations, it can fly far beyond the border of the breeding range. Often found in small towns. In Asia, the pika is found in the forest belt of Siberia, east of Sakhalin and the Sea of Okhotsk, south of the Tien Shan, Mongolia, Northern Iran and Kazakhstan.
Prefers deciduous, coniferous and mixed forests. Pisheha prefers old trees. During the nesting period, he selects old deciduous and mixed forests. Less commonly, it can be seen in conifers. During wanderings it is found in gardens, parks, groves - wherever trees grow.
What does a pika bird look like: color
The back of a pika is grayish or brown-red, with pale white spots. Loin and nadhvoste - grayish-brown. The abdomen is white, silky. Fly wings are light brown with small bright spots. The helmsmen are of the same color, but they have light edges and superstars.
Beak brownish on top and lighter below. Brown iris. The legs are the same color, but with a grayish tint. In young pikas, the spots on the back are round, in adults - elongated. The color of the young is more dull, and the abdomen is yellowish.
Nutrition
The main food of the pika is insects and spiders. Mostly birds eat dipteran insects, spiders and beetles. Most of all weevils are loved. Also in the diet of pikas there are aphids, caterpillars, centipedes, bugs, moths, weevils and other pests of forests. Birds feed on seeds, but mostly from conifers and in winter. In search of food, these birds search the trunk of the tree, not losing sight of a single crack. If the tree has a lot of food, then the pika can return to it several times.
In winter, this bird can be trained for a while at one feeding place, if you smear soft food and beef fat on the bark. In the summer, a small house is hung, in which food is constantly placed.
Bird Pika: Description of Breeding
The mating season in pikas begins in March. At this time, you can see the fights of males and how they sing. Nests build pikas later. First carefully choose a place. Insects prefer narrow hollows or lagging bark. But the nest is always low.
Pisas build nests from eight to twelve days. But only females prepare it for themselves, males do not care about posterity. The bottom of the nest usually has a loose platform and consists of pieces of bark and thin branches. They abut against the walls of the hollow. It turns out that the nest does not lie in it, but strengthens in the middle. Above, the dwelling is built from bast fibers mixed with small pieces of bark, lichen, wood and bunches of moss. Inside, it is lined with many small feathers mixed with wool, cobwebs, and cocoons of insects.
An ordinary pika lays five to seven eggs. Eight or nine is extremely rare. Eggs are reddish-brown, with dots and specks. They are most at the blunt end. Sometimes in the masonry there are white eggs with a barely noticeable pinkish spot.
The female hatches the clutch from 13 to 15 days. After birth, the chicks remain in the nest for the same time. The female feeds them with spiders and small insects. The chicks of the first clutch begin to fly in May-June. From the second - in June-July. Having strengthened, the chicks begin to roam, but not flying far from the nest.
Molting
Pisukha is a bird molting in the first year of life. She begins to change plumage in July. Moult ends in September. In older birds, this period lasts from June to August. Moreover, the contour large wings are the first to change. Small ones - later, at the end of molting. After the change of plumage, it becomes brighter. And the color of the feathers is red.
Subspecies and Changing Attributes
Pisukha - bird with geographic variation. This is manifested in body size and discoloration of feathers in the upper half of the body. But it can be seasonal or individual. And this greatly complicates the definition of geographical species. Now there are twelve of them. The differences between them are very small, and it can be very difficult to distinguish between them.
In England and Ireland, the color of pikas is darker than in Western Europe. In Japan - with a pronounced red tint. The singing of different subspecies also varies. Basically, their trill is loud and long, with short pauses. It was for his squeak that the bird got its name.
Piku lifestyle
Common pika flies little and bad. Basically, these are only flights from one tree to the foot of another. Thanks to the long and curved claws, this bird clings to the bark very tightly. Pikas live mostly scattered. They are single. But when autumn comes, they join in flocks. And with other species of birds. For example, with titmouse.
In the cold, they can sit in a dense ring of 10-15 birds, warming up. In autumn, pikas seek out places with a large number of trees - parks, squares, forests. But in the rest of the seasons, birds have their own feeding and sleeping areas, which they defensively defend.
Pisukha is a fearless bird. When she is in search of food, even when she sees a person, she will not fly away.
She even knows how to sing. True, her trill is double, like a piercing squeak. The second is always lower than the first.
Since the tail of a pika is a support when searching for food, it erases with time and the feathers become tousled. Therefore, the tail of this bird molts more often than the rest of the plumage.
Finding a pika is not easy. She always keeps imperceptibly, and the color of her plumage is well camouflaged. But sometimes, noticing something suitable in the snow, it can still jump onto it. Grabbing the prey, she again hurries to the trunk.
With the end of winter, the pika becomes more energetic, livelier. On the trunks, she begins to crawl much faster, and when meeting with relatives, she even fights.