In the swamps of our planet many different creatures live. Among them, there are birds adapted to survive in such extreme conditions. Wetland birds are a group of feathered creatures wholly or partially devoted to the swamp area. They have a peculiar body structure that allows them to swim through the swamps and peat bogs without much difficulty.
What birds are found in swamps?
Ornithologists attribute different families of birds to wetland birds, for example, loon (black-throated and red-throated), grebe (small and large), cormorant, curly pelican, loaf, bittern, etc. But all of them are not so well known to a simple layman, as, for example, the queen of swamps is a heron, her eternal companion is a stork or the owner of peat bogs is a crane! They should pay special attention.
Birds on long legs
What is the name of the marsh bird on long legs? Probably most heron, heron, crane or stork will immediately come to mind. And it really is! Many species of these birds live exclusively in swamps and feed on what they find under their long legs. Usually their extraction lives on the surface of the earth or in shallow water.
Surviving in conditions of constant dampness, acidity and lack of oxygen is not so simple. Therefore, some cranes, storks and herons lead the lifestyle of typical collectors, eating in most cases abundant, but malnutrition parts of various plants. But there are so-called hunters. Their diet includes inaccessible, but the most nutritious animal feed. In this sense, such birds can be divided into “predators” and “herbivores”.
A long-legged wading bird does not look so in vain. The fact is that one of the important points in the search for food for these birds is the expansion of their visual field. It is very important for birds to look for plant rhizomes, shoots, large insects, lizards, amphibians, and small rodents in marshy areas. This greatly expands the review. That's why these creatures are so big.
Cranes
Typical representatives of the above form of life are cranes. Depending on their species, these birds prefer a different diet. For example, black cranes are mainly herbivores: sedge seeds, swamp flowers, young shoots of swamp thickets - this is the basis for feeding such birds throughout the summer. By August, the diet of cranes vegetarian is replenished with berries (lingonberries, cranberries, blueberries). Their abundance can be found in taiga swamps.
In addition to black cranes , Siberian Cranes - white cranes - live in swamps. This long-legged swamp bird prefers to feed on roots and rhizomes, sedge seedlings, etc. Cranes are also happy to consume animal feed: insects, eggs of birds, frogs, lizards, etc. Another species of wetland waterbirds are gray cranes. The range of their feed is quite wide and is subject to various changes depending on the time of year.
Herons and Storks
They are secretly called the queens of the swamps. The heron is perhaps the most famous and widespread marsh bird with long legs around the world. Often, storks can be observed next to herons, but they are still not as devoted to swamp swamps as herons. Outwardly, both herons and storks resemble cranes, however, this similarity is not at all evidence of their close evolutionary kinship. In addition, herons and storks are significantly different from cranes in the choice of food: their diet consists exclusively of animals.
The most famous heron species are gray, red and white. As part of its family, it is the largest marsh bird with long legs, living in such extreme conditions. Such herons, in search of their favorite food - frogs - prefer to constantly wander in the water or stand for hours in a swamp in complete stillness. Only in this way is it more likely to catch a well-fed amphibian. Storks are less patient. They prefer to be more in flight than in a wet swamp.
By the way, the beak of the queen of swamps is a real deadly weapon, and powerful and long legs allow these birds to search for food not only on land (for example, snakes, small rodents), but also in shallow water, large herons go there along the belly. The most famous stork is white. In general, his lifestyle is not different from the life of herons and cranes.