A huge variety of birds live on planet Earth. In total, birds are represented by 10 thousand different species, each of which has several subspecies. Birds live in different parts of the world, even in Antarctica and the Arctic. Small and large, domestic and wild, flying and flightless, monotonous and variegated, with a wide variety of shapes, colors and sizes of beaks ...
This article will familiarize readers with some red-billed birds in more detail (their names and photos are presented below in the article).
White Stork: Description
Storks belong to the order of ciconiiformes (family of storks). This also includes ibis and herons. The most famous representatives of the family are white storks. They have not only beautiful long legs and neck, but also a long red beak.
The stork is a beautiful elegant bird, although it has a considerable body size. Its mass can reach four kilograms, and the body length is 120 centimeters. The total wing span is 205 centimeters.
A stork is a bird with a long red beak of a conical shape, with the help of which it quite easily pulls food from a reservoir (swamp): fish, frogs , etc. It feeds on lizards, snakes, earthworms, snails, mice, moles and insects.
Why do storks have a red beak? This remains a mystery.
Adult storks have virtually no voice, due to the reduction of their vocal cords. More often than not they emit a simple beak clicking, which means a greeting.
The female storks are smaller than the males in size, and the plumage of both is exactly the same - they are covered mainly with white feathers, only the wings are black. Their life expectancy is quite long, its average duration is approximately 20 years.
Distribution and habitats of storks
The main distribution area of these beautiful red-beaked birds is throughout Europe, the Iberian Peninsula, Asia and North Africa. They winter mainly in Africa, in India, and storks from Central Europe mostly fly to Asia. They fly during a spring flight per day for about 200 kilometers. The main migration routes are through the Mediterranean Sea, the Strait of Gibraltar, the Bosphorus and the Suez Isthmus. During this period, in these places in autumn and spring at a high altitude in the sky you can observe an amazing, impressive picture - a huge number of white storks.
The main places of the settlement are various outbuildings, roofs of residential buildings, and, less commonly, trees and rocks.
It is important to note that the number of white storks decreases every year due to a reduction in their food supply, associated with the intensification and chemicalization of farmed agricultural products.
Feeding and habits of storks
The main type of food for white storks is a variety of invertebrates and small vertebrates that live both on land and in water. Their favorite food is reptiles, amphibians, insects and fish. This amazingly beautiful white bird with a red beak has, oddly enough, a predatory character, which is caused by the fact that it eats even small hares. Unfortunately, it also happens that storks eat inedible objects that are naturally mistaken for food. And this leads to the death of birds in connection with the subsequent blockage of their digestive tract.
The peculiarity of these birds is that many of them have been using nests for more than a hundred years, transmitted to generations from generation to generation. These are quite brave birds; they boldly protect nests and chicks from other birds of prey and animals.
Nests, in which a clutch usually contains 4-5 eggs, can reach relatively large sizes. The eggs are hatched by the female and the male in turn, of which about a month later the chicks appear, which after 70 days become completely independent.
Tales of the Stork
The name of the bird with a red beak and white plumage appears in many beautiful ancient legends and tales. From time immemorial, the white stork was considered a rather revered bird, and it was associated with prosperity, prosperity, luck and a happy life. There are also many good tales and legends associated with him both in the East and in Europe, and everywhere he acts as a defender against any evil spirits and as a guardian of the hearth of the family, bringing happiness.
It was believed that in the family whose stork flies to the house, a long-awaited child will certainly appear, and therefore many families without children have relied on the help of this bird.
According to folk legends, God endowed this bird with white plumage , and the devil with black wings, which is why it symbolizes the endless struggle between good and bad, between good and evil.
Sandpiper Magpie: Description
This bird belongs to the order Charadriiformes (sandpiper family). This also includes Fifi.
A very bright and noticeable bird is a magpie (magpie (this is the name of the black bird with a red beak). In addition to the bright scarlet beak, it is endowed with white breasts, red paws, a back and wings of black color. It is similar in color to another bird known to everyone - magpie, which is why it got such a double name.
The bird has mainly black and white plumage. The neck, head and tail are also black, the lower abdomen, the breast and partially the side are white.
The amazing bright red color of the beak is 3 times longer than the head. His red eyes are bordered with small eyes. Pale pink paws resemble the paws of birds of the order chicken. The body has a length of 35-48 centimeters, but the wingspan is on average only 85 centimeters.
It is sometimes surprising how a bird with a small neck and head carries such an amazingly long beak. On average, these birds weigh between 350-720 grams, which depends on the time of year.
Magpie Sandpiper Habitats
These birds with large red beaks are both migratory and non-migratory. They settle on the shores of lakes and rivers. In winter, they prefer not very cold places: the coasts of the Mediterranean and Atlantic. For nesting, such places are chosen so that there is good food for their young. These are mostly pebble and sandy shores, and sometimes they settle in the rocks.
Magpie waders arrive in Russia in early May. They fly in the winter towards the northern part of Western Europe: to France, Denmark, Germany and Holland.
Features of sandpiper behavior
This numerous bird with a red beak can be recognized by its sharp cry. Its long beak with sharp edges allows you to easily remove sandbags from the hole or easily open the mussel leaves.
It should be noted that sandpiper behavior varies greatly during low and high tide. In the first case, they are quite active, digging through algae and sand in search of food. At high tide, birds wait for time, standing motionless on rocks protruding from the water.
Such a seemingly large and uncomfortable beak plays an important role in the search for food from both water and sand at large distances and in recesses.
Sandpiper feeding and nesting
From the characteristics of the habitat of the bird, we can conclude what the black bird with a long red beak eats. Due to the fact that the sandpiper magpie settles near the water, food is mainly obtained from water.
The basis of their diet includes small fish, mussels, mussels, amphipods and insects, the latter being mainly large, such as butterflies, dragonflies, beetles, and sometimes butterfly larvae. They can also feed on worms, crustaceans, and caddis flies. It happens that the eggs of other smaller birds can be in the diet of sandpiper.
Black birds with a red beak nest on the mainland and island shores. For this, the female trample a hole in a swampy place, at the bottom she throws shells and pieces of bark, then lays 2-4 eggs on top.
Couples create sandpiper individuals at 3 years of age or more. The bird is considered monogamous and prefers to settle in solitude.
The female and male take turns hatching eggs for up to 4 weeks, after which the chicks hatch, which remain in the nest only a day until they are completely dry. Then they, scattering in different directions, hide among the stones.
In the very first days of their lives, they move closer to the water, where they roam with their parents in search of food at low tide. Often, chicks bask under their mother's wings. They do not go far from their parents for a month, until they independently learn to fly.
Klushitsa: description, distribution
What is the name of the bird with a red beak, belonging to the order of the Passeriformes (family of corvidae)? There is one in nature.
The bird, which is slightly larger in size than the Alpine jackdaw (40 cm long), is a black bird with a red beak (see photo below), called a nymph.
She stands out among other birds with her slightly bent down red beak and red paws. Feathers of a napkin shimmer in different colors. Young chicks have legs and a yellow beak, and plumage is matte black.
These birds are distributed mainly in arid, forest-poor areas, on sea coasts, as well as in high mountains. A rare novice is in the Alps. Most of its habitats are mountains (3,500 m above sea level) in China, South Asia and Western Europe.
The reasons for the steady decline in the number of this bird, especially in northwestern Europe, over the past two centuries is the strong erosion of the mountain slopes, which occurs due to the significant impact of agricultural work.
Features of nesting nests
Klitsa mostly nests in colonies, and they remain in one place for centuries. Nests built from branches, these birds are usually located in caves or in crevices of rocks, away from strong winds and whirlwinds.
The laying of eggs is incubated only by the female for about 18 days. During the period of increased growth of chicks, parents feed their cubs every 60 minutes, bringing food in their submandibular sac. The cubs fly out of the nest after about 38 days, when they are already quite confidently flying. Despite this, the family has not broken up for a long time.
What does a klushka eat?
These birds are very gullible. They often pick up food on the tops of the mountains, where climbers throw it, and near mountain huts. Usually, the nestlings do not fly away for the winter, but in the mountains their colonies are empty because the birds descend into the foothills and valleys. The natives living in Spain, usually nesting in the walls of houses (both in ruins and in residential settlements), are not as timid as in the mountains. And they often get food near people's homes.
Compared with other birds, whose food cravings and methods of obtaining food are quite diverse, the nest is for the most part a consumer of small insects, primarily ants. This relatively small bird with a red beak still consumes worms, seeds and berries.
Usually klushitsy eat, gathered in small flocks. In this important process, they are well helped by long thin beaks, which small prey is extracted from grass or turf (residues from rabbits and sheep).
A bit about black water
The black water-cutter has an unusual beak not only among all waders, but also among birds throughout North America. Its uniqueness is not only that it is very thin and colorful (red and black strokes), but also that its lower part is longer than the upper.
This feature is very important for the nutrition process of the water cutter. How does this happen? Birds fly over water at high speeds, while the lower part of the beak cuts a channel along the surface of the water and sinks into the water. When a fish enters it, the top of the beak snaps into place. Such an extreme way of getting food, of course, is not without risks. Black water cutters sometimes collide with some underwater objects.
In addition, these birds also use their beaks to kill gulls that have the courage to invade their nesting sites.
Black birds with a red beak are water-cutters - the only bird species in South and North America with a similar feeding technique.
Conclusion
This article presents only a tiny fraction of all birds in nature with amazing colors and shapes of beaks. In fact, there are a lot of them: of extraordinary length, extraordinary shapes and colors, etc. Mother Nature endowed every living creature, including birds, with its own characteristics necessary for their normal life. Moreover, this was done by many with a certain taste, so they look aesthetically pleasing and beautiful.