Since ancient times, man has loved to watch the life of birds. Not all of them are distinguished by bright colors and outstanding vocal abilities. Nevertheless, their habits and behavior are of interest not only to ornithologists, but also to many nature lovers.
Our today's heroine (the small flycatcher) is a very small bird. Back in the sixties of the last century, it was considered very rare in the Central Black Earth Region, and today it has become a familiar inhabitant of protected forests. Moreover, the small flycatcher is a bird, which now feels quite comfortable in city parks. In recent years, this gray bird has also begun to settle on city streets.
Lesser Flycatcher: Distribution
This bird is widespread in Europe. In almost every country, these small gray birds settle in open spaces, preferring light forests, clearings, open forest clearings. Often they choose the countryside for living. They are not at all afraid of neighborhood with people, moreover, in villages and villages their favorite food is abundant - flies.
In Russia, a small flycatcher (pilot) nests north of the Leningrad Region. In the south, it occurs up to the borders of treeless steppe parts of Ukraine and in the Lower Volga. In addition, there are populations in the forests of the Caucasus, in Northern Iran, on Kopet-Dag.
The small flycatcher, the distribution of which is most often due to the reduction in the area occupied by spruce, prefers coniferous planting. In spruce-deciduous forests, spruce forests, sometimes overgrown and deaf, these birds nest.
The small flycatcher, a description of which can be found in many publications on ornithology, flies to the countries of North Africa for the winter.
Small flycatcher: external features
The small gray bird belongs to the order Passeriformes, the family Flycatcher. Its dimensions are small (no more than 12 cm), the plumage is rather dull, which is more of an advantage than a drawback: it is not so easy to notice it to birds of prey.
The small flycatcher has a slender, slightly elongated, oval body. The tail is thin and long. The head is large with large dark eyes. The black beak is medium in size. Paws are dark with short claws. The small flycatcher, whose voice is quite sonorous, makes quite original sounds. The song of this bird consists of two or three repeating βcircusesβ and four or five whistling sounds, which follow further, with decreasing tonality. This simple melody does not mix with the voices of other birds, for a long time and is easy to remember.
Color of males
In an adult male, the sides of the head and the upper part of the neck are painted in brownish-gray or dark gray. The tail and back are grayish-brown. Covering upper feathers of the tail are velvety black. The small flycatcher of the European subspecies has a large spot of bright red or ocher color on the goiter, neck, and upper chest. The color intensity of the spot and its size depend on the age of the bird. It is larger and brighter in older males.
From the neck, gray color extends to the sides of the breast and edges a red spot around the edges. The lower part of the chest and the lower covering feathers of the tail, the abdomen is white. Lower wing coverts from white to light ocher in color. Upper and wing coverts are brown. The central helmsmen are black, the rest are two-tone: in the bases are white and on the tops are black. Beak brownish-brown slightly lighter at the base of the mandible. The legs are brownish black. Brown iris.
How are females painted?
The adult female has a grayish-brown or brownish-brown plumage in the upper part of the body. Tail and upper tail covers are of the same color as the male. The sides of the head are slightly lighter than the upper part. The bottom of the body is white with a pale ocher hue. On the tail, the lower coverts are white. Upper coverts and fly wings are brown, have a small admixture of brown.
Nutrition
The small flycatcher is not at all picky about food. According to ornithologists, these babies eat everything that can fit in their miniature beak. The nutrition of the small flycatcher largely depends on weather conditions: on a fine clear day, these birds catch flies, medium-sized butterflies, dragonflies. The flycatcher will not refuse from a horsefly flying into the zone of its hunting grounds.
In bad weather, when it is impossible to fly, the bird eats caterpillars, small bugs and other insects that hide from the rain in the foliage of trees. There, our heroine also takes refuge from the rain. Flycatchers prey on almost all the insects found in the air, however, they do not bypass the creeping species either.
Interestingly, the flycatcher is able to cleverly lift the fallen leaves with its beak and underneath it she will surely find some food for herself. It can be spiders, ants, small bugs, etc.
Nest building
Interestingly, the nest of the flycatcher (female) equips only their natural materials. She neatly weaves it from moss, thin stalks of grass, wood fibers, bird fluff. Outside, the bird sometimes reveals it with lichen and thin branches.
Inside the tray is lined with moss, hairy tendrils of climbing plants, a small amount of horse hair is used. An open nest (not hollow) usually has the shape of a small bowl. In diameter it does not exceed 50 mm, depth - 45 mm. It is difficult to detect the nest of the small flycatcher, because it is well camouflaged, and the birds are very careful and stay in the upper branches of the trees.
Breeding
A flycatcher can nest very close to a person: under the roofs of houses, on lampposts, in gardens. This bird will not refuse to live in abandoned nests of other birds. These small gray birds arrive at the nesting sites quite late.
The mating season in these birds is interesting: the male flycatcher finds an empty hollow, is located near it and begins to display mating serenades. Having heard love trills, the female flies to her "groom". But small overlays also occur when the male manages to occupy not one but several empty hollows. Then he lures the "brides" first to one dwelling, then flies to the next, where he also publishes wedding trills and the next female flies to him. So, the male flycatcher becomes the owner of the "harem".
But we must give him his due: the male performs the role of father and head of the family with full responsibility. During nesting, he guards the nest and his offspring. The male helps the females to feed and care for the yellow-handed chicks. For this, a large father flies from one nest to another. Ornithologists have found a striking fact: during the nesting period, a couple of flycatchers fly up to five hundred flights a day and back to the nest to feed their yellow-handed chicks.
It is not surprising that the flycatcher is considered a very useful bird: the extermination of such a huge number of insects is an indisputable advantage of these birds.
Emergence of chicks
In June, eggs appear in the nest, which usually is no more than six. The shell is painted in a bluish color with a splash of dark shades. The female hatches eggs herself for two weeks. Egg size 19 x 14 mm. Feeling the danger, birds with anxious screams fly around the nest, sometimes they can even imitate an attack on an uninvited guest who is trying to inspect the nest, fly at him, turning off at the very face.
Both parents feed the chicks. The offspring grows very quickly, and by the age of one month they become independent. And parents during this time have time to make a second clutch.
Chicks: Plumage
The first plumage of the chicks is brownish-brown from above with light ocher spots on feathers. The goiter, throat and upper part of the breast are pale ocher with a scaly brown pattern. Its intensity decreases in the upper abdomen. On its lower part, the figure is completely absent.
The lower tail coverts are white. The first post-nest (winter) outfit of young birds is very similar to the color of an adult female. However, on the upper and maxillary coverts, the rims are less pronounced. A change in the nesting outfit in young birds from early broods begins already in mid-June. Such partial molting covers almost all small plumage, excluding the outer upper coverts and secondary fly.
In offspring from late broods, the first molt, as a rule, ends in late August and early September. During wintering, only rare first-year-olds show individual red feathers on their throats. Adult individuals molt twice a year: completely in the prenuptial period at wintering places and in postnatal time at nesting sites.