Which birds fly first in spring? Perhaps the answer to this question may interest both curious adults and curious kids. So who are these birds that can be said to bring spring on their tired wings?
Section 1. What birds can be called migratory?
Every educated person knows that birds are warm-blooded creatures. Their body temperature averages 41 degrees Celsius. Theoretically, they can remain active at any time of the year. However, in cold weather, they need more food, so many are literally forced to leave their homes with the advent of frost and go to warmer climes for wintering. The first birds arriving in the spring, as it were, become the guarantors of the fact that winter is over, and heat is inevitable.
In general, the number of migratory birds depends on how much their food conditions differ in a given area in summer and winter. About half of the cities and forests of birds flies away, and the inhabitants of the marshes, fields and ponds leave their homes in much larger quantities. This is understandable, because if in winter in the settled territories there is a chance to find grain and leftover bread, then they can not find insects.
If we talk about which birds fly first in the spring, we cannot but mention rooks, ducks, starlings and greenfinches. They are considered the harbingers of the retreat of the winter cold and the arrival of the long-awaited spring.
Section 2. The Rooks Have Arrived!
This species can very easily be confused with ravens. By the way, many of us do just that, especially if the birds are high on the trees. But remembering the difference is quite simple: the crows always stay the winter, but the rooks fly away. That is, it turns out that in winter our cities are inhabited exclusively by the former, but the latter appear later.
By the way, if we asked the older generation, for example, our grandparents, about which birds would arrive first in the spring, they would not hesitate to call the rooks. Their return has always been regarded as the arrival of spring and warmth. It was for such good news that they had a reputation for favorites, they always tried to feed them and were especially joyfully met in their gardens and kitchen gardens.
To know which birds arrive first is not enough. It is advisable to get acquainted with some of their features.
For example, have you ever heard of the so-called "white beak" in rooks? The source of this name comes from those ancient times, when the plowmen, and then the tractor drivers, began to loosen the soil with the advent of spring. Rook was their irreplaceable companion, because, like the workers themselves, he was engaged in painstaking work, snatching various insects from the ground - bugs, larvae, spiders and insects. That is why, erasing due to constant picking, a “white beak” formed in the rook.
Rooks, like all birds of the raven family, are very intelligent and quick-witted. Thanks to their attentiveness, they learned how to extract the butter and milk left in the packaging, as well as to soften stale bread in puddles.
Section 3. Which birds fly first in spring? Ducks, of course!
We look forward to these representatives of birds, as well as geese, with great impatience. And in the
early spring on the streets every now and then you can meet people trying to see someone high in the clouds. “Look, the ducks are coming back,” they will notice. “Winter has ended, therefore.”
If we talk about which birds fly first in spring, and cite ducks as an example, one cannot help but delve into the features of their physiology. Why aren't they afraid of the cold? The thing is that ducks in the paws lack blood vessels and nerves. That is what allows them to feel absolutely comfortable, to swim in the water frozen over the winter and to walk on snow and ice without any problems. By the way, thanks to the same webbed feet, ducks are able to move pretty quickly.
But that is not all. Duck feathers have a waterproof greasy coating that allows them to come out dry from the water in the truest sense of the word. Not every one of us knows that duck quacking under appropriate conditions echoes. Such a feature few can boast of.
By the way, depending on gender, male ducks are called drakes, female ducks are called ducks, and their small offspring are called ducklings.
Section 4. Is your birdhouse ready?
Primary schoolchildren very often learn about which birds to arrive first in the spring, not from environmental studies, but from occupational education classes. Why? Yes, because it is there that teachers try not only to introduce kids to the world around them, but, as a rule, they invite them to take an active part in it, for example, by building a feeding trough or building a real birdhouse.
By the way, oddly enough, not much is known about these birds to ordinary citizens. For example, most do not even realize that a male starling during the mating season shows an interesting ability: it loses almost all of its plumage from its head. Of course, then the feathers grow back.
Starling differs from the female in shiny, iridescent black feathers. But in the female they are more brown and look much more modest. In wild conditions, starlings can repeat the sounds of other talking relatives, but in captivity they are able to imitate the speech of a person!
Section 5. Modesty is always in price. Greenfinch
We have already told quite a lot about which birds fly first in the spring, but it is impossible not to mention this bird. By the way, greenfinch has a different name, the most common among people - forest canary.
You can meet a bird anywhere: in parks, in gardens, and simply on city streets. They usually arrange their nests on fruit trees, but they do not disdain ordinary ones, however, preferring those that grow on the edges.
Greenfinch only looks weak and defenseless from the side, in fact, with its beak, it is able to split even a fairly hard shell of a nut. And also this bird drinks in a very peculiar way: it collects a small amount of water into its beak, and then throws its head back so that the water flows further down the throat.