The songbird is traditionally called the yellow-headed kinglet. It belongs to the Korolkov family; many individuals are found in Eurasian forests. It has a small size and a yellow, even golden strip in the crown area, which is called the crown.
Description
The yellow-headed kinglet is highly mobile, constantly moving from the branches of one tree to another. Can stay in different poses, even head down. Prefers the top of the crown, therefore, to see such a miracle, you need to climb higher.
Good for them forests full of pine needles. Also found in parks and gardens where there is spruce. In the winter, they can be seen in the company of tits. Together they wander between shrubs and deciduous thickets.
When the nesting period begins, the yellow-headed kinglet becomes the most vigilant and not prone to contact with humans, which can not be said about the rest of the time. In Luxembourg, this creature is recognized as a national feathered symbol.
Parameters
This tiny bird is capable of touching everyone who looks at it. The length of her entire body does not exceed 10 centimeters, the wingspan is 17 cm. Learning about such a small size, many are wondering how much the yellow-headed king weighs. Just from 4 to 8 grams.
Its back is painted in olive color, and the bottom is gray. On the wings you can see the transverse stripes of white. The crown is decorated with a yellow fragment. In males, it may be orange. For females, the lemon tone of this element is inherent. It rises in those moments when the bird is excited, a small crest appears. The eyes are framed by white feathers of short length. The beak is pointed and thin.
Young individuals look almost the same as adults. The only difference is the yellow stripes appearing with age on the heads. The yellow-headed kinglet has fourteen subspecies. They are distinguished by color.
Amazing singing
An amazing creation of nature is the yellow-headed kinglet. His voice is different from many songbirds. It is thanks to him that zoologists often recognize this creature. This is especially true when a person is on the ground and does not see in the thick of branches what is happening at the top. You can catch a thin squeak in your ears. Common callsigns include approximately two to three syllables.
An interesting fact is that people of advanced age may not at all perceive sounds that are in such a high range. Different variants of whistling alternate in a special melodic rhythm. Such a performance ends with a trill, in total it lasts about 6 seconds, and can be repeated five times at once. Sometimes a song is performed before a song, sounding like a pair of sounds. The tone is the same as the rest of the elements.
During the breeding season, males sing regularly. It takes a time interval from the second half of April to August. At the end of summer, chicks hatching in the second brood gain the opportunity to fly. Such melodies can be heard at other times of the year. They are not always associated with marriage responsibilities. This is a common expression of the excited state of the bird.
At home
In the spring he finds a pair of yellow-headed kinglet. A nest is a habitat that is an essential condition for breeding. As a rule, it is built on trees of great height. Old spruce trees, on which thick branches managed to grow, are great.
A spherical, slightly flattened house is being built on the sides, suspended and disguised at a distance of about 2 meters from the trunk. The distance to the ground can be 3-15 m. A round hole is created for departure and return inside. The diameter of such a house, as a rule, is 11 centimeters outside and 6.5 cm inside.
The yellow-headed kinglet does not require a large space. The weight of the bird allows it to build a fairly light and small nest. The building material used is moss, grass, lichens, spruce branches, aspen, fern, willow. The bonding agent is the web. For warming, fluff, wool, birch bark, feathers are laid out inside. This house is quite crowded, so the inhabitants have to sit very close.
Offspring
Two clutches are carried out per year, including from 6 to 12 eggs that are white. You may notice a creamy or yellow coating. Dimensions usually do not exceed 15x11 mm. Baby birds have very little fluff. Is that a little gray soft coating on the head.
For a whole week, the female does not fly out of the nest in order to monitor her offspring and ensure its safety. A male supplies her and the kids with food. Upon reaching the age of 17 to 22 days, the chicks can go outside themselves, sit on a branch, and then even take off into the air.
When the nesting period ends, the birds form flocks, combined with other species, and together look for food for themselves. On average, the kinglet lives 2 years. The long-livers turned out to be an individual from Denmark, whose existence lasted 5 years and 5 months.
Exotic in your home
The yellow-headed kinglet at home is the cherished dream of many wildlife lovers. He needs special care, since in reality such birds are rather gentle and demanding.
It is worth taking care of buying a special cage and proper feeding. An ordinary parrot is not suitable for a parrot. Better to sprig twigs and needles. They put food on them. Cut worms work well. There were times when the kings were caught from living conditions, put in a cage and put food to the bottom, but they simply did not eat it. This sometimes led even to starvation.
When your pet begins to peck the offered dishes from the branches, you can switch to using a tray suspended from the wall of the cage, but not earlier. Of great importance is not only the location, but also the composition of the food, because when feeding, the owner may encounter the problem of picky birds. Little simple bird food. The diet should contain worms, pupae of ants, bloodworms, cedar nuts, cottage cheese and hemp.
Taming
The technology with which the kings are caught is interesting. To do this, use the semolina, onions, weighed net. The bird is very trusting, so it does not have much resistance. There is no need to tie wings. The best time to catch is early to mid-autumn.
Korolkov is better to settle not one by one, but in pairs or groups. To do this, you need a large cage with twigs on which they can sit. The issue of feeding deserves much attention, since these creatures are so tender that they can die from a violation of their diet.
Also, the owner should know that during molting previously friendly birds can begin to conflict and show aggression, so at this time they should live separately. This wonderful creature can make any home an exotic castle.