The yellow-headed kinglet is a bird known for its singing. Her voice is rightfully considered one of the best in the animal kingdom. But, despite the great popularity, many facts from the life of this bird were hidden from the eyes of ornithologists for a long time. However, the advent of modern equipment has helped solve this problem.
So, what do we know about this bird: where does it live and what does it feed on? What enemies does she have? And why do people love her?
Korolek - songbird
Probably everyone who has been to the pine forest heard about the bird of the king. After all, Russian bor is often associated with her twitter. It's funny, but for a long time people could not understand who was making these beautiful sounds. And the fault is the small size of the bird, because of which it was difficult to notice among the crowns of trees.
As for today, now everyone will recognize her. But even so, not many people know that in the world there are about 7 varieties of these feathered creatures. The most common is the yellow-headed king population. But let's talk about everything in order.
Bird Korolek: description
Kings belong to the order of passerines. At the same time, they allocated a whole family, which is called "korolkovye". All birds of this family are tiny, which is why they are also called European hummingbirds. So, the body length of adults rarely exceeds 7-10 cm, and their weight ranges from 5-7 grams.
Almost all kings have a light gray plumage. In this case, the wings and back are painted in green tones, which are varied from light green to olive shades. The abdomen of the bird is much lighter than the rest of the body. However, the main feature is the crest on the head, which resembles a crown. He is the visiting card of the king, and its color changes depending on the type of bird.
Habitat
The bird of the kinglet does not tolerate the cold, so it lives only in the relatively warm corners of the planet. In particular, it can be found in Europe, Southern Siberia, Western China, North America, as well as in some regions of the Himalayas.
At the same time, the king prefers to settle in coniferous or mixed forests. It should also be noted that these birds are very friendly. They always come together in flocks of several birds and rarely leave each other.
Weekdays
Start with the fact that it is a very active bird. Korolek can spend the whole day moving, scouting the countryside or playing with his neighbors. And since such friendships are rare in the bird kingdom, they are very curious for scientists.
Nevertheless, the king spends most of the day searching for food. Despite its miniature size, it needs a huge amount of protein. So, during the day, the king eats from 4 to 6 grams of food, which is comparable with its own weight. It should also be remembered that this species of birds does not know how to crush its food with its beak, which is why they have to hunt only for small prey.
As for the diet, the Kinglet bird eats only insects. Only with the advent of winter does it switch to the seeds of spruce, because there is simply no other food in this period.
Life cycle
Alas, the bird of the king is not a long-liver. On average, it lives from 3.5 to 4 years, although most birds do not live up to this period. The reason is that they do not tolerate cold, and many individuals die in winter, from severe frosts.
Nevertheless, the population of Kings does not suffer much from this fact. Indeed, despite their low survivability, they reproduce very quickly. So, after the first year of life, the female is ready to create a new family.
Mating games begin with the first warmth. Thanks to this, in early May, the Kings are already building their nests. In this case, all work on the construction of the house rests with the female, and the males only protect their spouse. The nest itself has a spherical shape, which protects the chicks from possible aggression from other birds.
On average, one female produces from 5 to 9 eggs. After two weeks of hatching, chicks already hatch from them. In this case, the male is constantly taking care of both the female herself and her children. As for the chicks, after 18-20 days they can safely leave the nest.
Man and songbird
Kings will quickly get used to changes in the environment, and therefore calmly react to the presence of people. Recently, they are increasingly starting to settle near noisy megacities. True, they have not yet decided to change the forest to city parks.
Therefore, the singing of the kings can be enjoyed only by climbing into the forest. But perhaps this is for the better, because this is where the whole charm of the wild lies.