Swallows are migratory birds belonging to the order of passerines. They are known to everyone since childhood. Remember the tale "Thumbelina"! The rescued bird helped the heroine of the fairy tale escape from the mole-groom. Since ancient times, this bird in Russia is treated with care, with love. Even the name of the bird - “swallow” - sounds affectionately, gently. She lives next to a man, trusts his kindness. In spring, swallows fly from the south, and people know that with their appearance, frost disappears. Many folk signs associated with this bird.
If it flies low - wait for the rain, because mosquitoes and midges descend closer to the ground. Birds swallows settled near the window, so good people live here.
Sometimes it is called a companion of man. There are over 120 species of these birds. In Russia, three species are most common: killer whale (or village), Daurian swallow and urban. They are better known to man.
The most virtuoso swallow in the summer is the killer whale. She has a long forked tail, and she settles on beams under the roof of wooden houses or sheds. It sculpts nests in such a way that they resemble bowls. The Daurian swallow has a difference - the back of its red color. It got its name from its living environment: it settles in the Amur region. He selects a larger, more solid house in the village, because he is building a larger nest than the village swallow. The entrance to it is on the side and looks like a pipe, like a bottle.
City swallows are birds bearing the name “funnel”. Their growth is smaller, the abdomen is white, the legs are feathered, and the tail, in contrast to the killer whale and Daurian, is weakly carved. For housing, he chooses stone houses. Under the eaves or under the roof visor, above the balcony, makes a small nest.
It is spherical in shape, and the hole-in is on the side. This species settles in large cities, they are not afraid of the noise of the metropolis!
Swallows of all kinds build nests with the help of soil moistened with saliva. Their saliva is sticky, the nest holds tight. A swallow is a migratory bird, sometimes its urban variety changes the metropolis and settles down on a rocky cliff, placing a nest between the folds of loose rock. Such places are called nesting. City swallows are also attracted by sandy cliffs. She uses the abandoned burrows of her beach sisters. Surprisingly, swallows are birds that are not afraid of the noise of cars and even nest in garages! When laying eggs, the male in good weather brings food to his girlfriend, but when it rains he manages to grab the midge only for himself. It is interesting to watch from the balcony how the swallow-parents feed their chicks. Zhelotorotiki actively squeak, open their mouths wide, and father or mother deliver a midge, mosquito in their beak. From the window of city apartments you can watch them train the chicks in the summer. A swallow bird, the photo of which can be found in every biology textbook, differs in flight from other birds. She flies very fast, often turns, turns in a zigzag.
An interesting fact: they never sit on trees. They rest on the ropes extended by people, telegraph wires,
cling to the eaves of houses with claws.
Autumn comes, at the end of September these birds fly away. But before flying, hundreds of swallows can be seen on telegraph wires. They seem to say goodbye to people. And we feel somehow sad ...