Steppe larks: description and habitat. The jubilant song of the lark

There are 65 species of tits, of which 15 live in our country. The lark family includes 60 species.

The most common among tits: great tit, blue (lozorevka), Muscovite, crested, brown-headed, gadget, or powdery.

great tit slightly smaller than a sparrow with a dark gray-green back, a yellow tummy, along which a wide black stripe runs, in females it is thinner. The head is black, with a blue tint, the cheeks are white. The beak has the shape of a thin awl, which helps the bird to get insects from cracks in the bark of trees; the paws are small, convenient for climbing, the tail is also small, thin, but elastic - the titmouse rests on it when it climbs up the tree. big tit often kept at home for good singing.

Moskovka- little tit. The upper part of the head, throat and goiter are bright black, there is a white spot on the back of the head, and the cheeks are white. The body is dark gray, the belly is whitish with a bluish or reddish tint. Flight and main feathers are brown with a light trim. The song is relatively quiet, but rather melodic.

Brown-headed Gadget(puffy) - a small tit. It has a black cap on its head, a gray back, a lighter belly with a brownish-gray tint, a small black spot on the throat, and white cheeks. The Gadget's song is unpretentious, but contains knees of high tones, for which it is appreciated by amateurs.

Blue Tit, or Blue Tit, - a small beautiful bird, with a very pleasant coloring. On the crown there is a blue spot trimmed with a white stripe, the cheeks are white, on the back of the head there is a blue transverse stripe. The back is yellowish-green, the chest and sides are yellow, the belly is white. The song consists of monotonous chirping.

The crested tit (grenadier) is similar in size and color to the Muscovite, but has a characteristic decoration - a crest, for which it got its name. Sometimes at room conditions they contain other tits.

lark.
The family of these birds has over 70 species. There are 15 species in our country. The most famous among them are field, forest, steppe and crested larks, which are most suitable for home keeping.

Steppe lark, or dzhurbay, the largest (up to 21 cm).
Forest- the smallest (up to 16 cm).
field lark- wonderful singing bird. Well, larks sing with iridescent trills and chirping when keeping them at home, of course, if you create the right conditions.
crested lark differs from the field one in a smaller size, its song is more modest.
steppe lark- a good singer. Its song is excessively sonorous, it is heard far away, therefore it is best to keep it in spacious rooms, if possible - on a veranda or balcony.

Cages for larks are prepared in medium size and large with a soft top and wire (as for a quail). Feeders and drinkers are attached to the outside of the cage so that sand does not get into them.

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Bird belongs to the order of passeriformes, the family of larks. On the territory of Russia there are 14 species of larks, of which the field, forest, crested and black larks are the most common. Larks prefer to settle in open spaces: in fields, steppes, dry tundras, high mountain meadows and forest clearings.

At lark rather long and wide wings. The legs of the birds are small, with a large hind nail. The color of the plumage depends on the type of bird, but these are mostly discreet colors. The forearm on the back has flaps that, when connected, do not form a pointed angle.

Bird nests are open. They are located mainly on the ground. Larks are famous for their beautiful singing, which fills the fields and forests in spring and summer. While singing, birds use fluttering flight. Larks eat seeds and insects.

lark field is a small bird, about the size of a sparrow, but has longer wings. Its length is 18 cm, weight - 40 grams. The color of the plumage is dominated by grayish, yellowish and brown colors. The tail of the bird is darker than the body. Thanks to this coloring, the bird becomes invisible against the background of grass and brown earth. The nail on the rear finger of the bird is shaped like a small spur. Males are slightly larger than females.

In Russia, the lark is found in the temperate zone. These birds are usually located in open areas (fields, salt marshes), where there is a large amount of forbs. On the territory of the forest zone, larks live on hills and sea coasts. Sometimes they are found in the tundra zone. In winter, larks leave the territory of Russia, going to warm countries located in the south of Eurasia. In early spring, these birds return to Russia again. The males arrive first.

Everyone's song male individual. Birds sing, rising high above the ground or settling on a small stone. Having occupied a certain territory, the males strictly monitor that rivals do not appear on it. Larks are monogamous birds, i.e. create pairs with only one female. At a time when the male is actively performing his songs, the female is looking for appropriate place for nest location. It may be a shallow hole or bump. Having made a cup-shaped nest, she makes bedding from hair found on the ground. The female lays 5-6 eggs. Their color can vary from reddish white to yellowish green. Larks incubate their eggs very responsibly without leaving their nest.

even when there is a person nearby. They fly away from the nest only after making sure that they are noticed. The bird carefully thinks its way back. At first, it is located somewhere nearby, and after small movements it returns to the nest.

In order to keep a lark in captivity, you need to make a lot of effort and carefully monitor the diet, otherwise the larks stop singing. You can feed the bird with grain mixtures, including millet, oatmeal, canary grass, rapeseed, colza, lettuce, flax, crushed hemp and sunflower, as well as field grass seeds. To such mixtures, it is necessary to add grated carrots with cracker crumbs, finely chopped chicken eggs, cottage cheese.

At the very beginning, when the bird is just caught, it needs to be given flour worms and white bread with the addition of milk, while grain feed must be present in the bird's diet. Gradually, the bird must be transferred to soft food, not excluding flour worms from the diet. With proper care of the lark, the bird lives up to 10 years, and the duration of its singing is 9 months a year. In August, during the molt, the larks stop singing.

In the vicinity of the Syrdarya and Amudarya rivers, there is a small field lark, which in appearance is similar to a field lark, but has a very small body. The singing of these two species is also similar, but the Lesser Steppe Lark has fewer knees.

lark forest in appearance is close to the field, but slightly smaller than it. For the nesting period, they fly to the territory of Russia, settling in the central European part and in the Caucasus. Larks prefer to settle on the edges of the forest, glades, in clearings. Their behavior is very different from other larks. The forest lark is very often located on the crown of a tree, quickly moving along the ground. While singing, he sits on a tree branch, located quite high. He makes his nest at the bases of trees, under bushes or near stumps. The song of the forest lark is quiet, but quite beautiful, reminiscent of a combination of sounds “yuli-yuli”. Because of such a song, this bird was popularly called the spinning top.

The black lark outwardly differs from other larks. Its body length is about 20 cm and weighs 60 grams. The lark has a large and powerful beak. The color of males consists mainly of black flowers, in some places white feathers are visible. The black color of the bird is emphasized by black legs and dark eyes. The plumage of the female in the upper part of the body has a blackish-brown color, and the abdomen is grayish-white. In young individuals, the color is almost the same as the color of females.

lark endemic to Russia, that is, it lives only on the territory of our country. In other countries, this lark is rare. He prefers to settle in the steppes, semi-deserts and salt marshes of the lower reaches of the Volga. Larks are mainly sedentary, but with a large amount of snow, they begin to fly to territories located to the south. They leave the limits of their nesting, flying to Central Asia, the Caucasus and Transcaucasia and the southern part of Ukraine.

Dubrovnik bunting - an inhabitant of floodplain meadows and swamps overgrown with shrubs, is considered one of the most elegant and gifted singers of its kind. Male Dubrovnik in breeding plumage is distinguished by a dark mask on the head, a bright yellow transverse throat stripe and a dark upper chest, while its lower part and abdomen are yellow. The back and sides are warm brownish tones, and on the wings there is a white transverse stripe. Unfortunately, after the first molt in cellular conditions, the Dubrovnik outfit fades significantly.

Good singers, similar in behavior to the aforementioned buntings, are found in Eastern Siberia and the Far East. These are grey-headed, yellow-throated, red-eared and red-necked buntings. All of them are small, modestly colored pichugs, the males of which have good voice abilities.

Oatmeal is best kept in cages with wooden twigs. Forage - grain mixture, which is based on millet and canary seed with the addition of seeds of cultivated cereals, weeds and seeds of coniferous trees. A full replacement for the latter are beaten Pine nuts. Greens, flour worms and carrot mixture are also needed.

Shchur This bird of the taiga forests is not often found among amateurs, since in the central regions the schur appear only in the autumn-winter time, and massive flights occur only in some years.

Large, about the size of a starling, the male bee-eater is very beautiful: the head, neck, chest and back are orange-red, and in old individuals they are crimson, the wings and tail are grayish black, and the white outer webs of the flight and covering feathers of the wings form two rows of longitudinal stripes. In young and females, the main background of plumage is grayish-orange.

The caught squirrels endure their captivity surprisingly calmly, do not fight and are immediately taken for food. They carefully observe a person, easily get used to taking a treat from the hands, and released to fly around the room, they willingly sit on the shoulders and on the hand of a feeding person.

Shchurs sing throughout most of the year. But in different time the sound of their songs is personal. Singing in full voice - sonorous, pleasant timbre trills, reminiscent of the song of a lark-yula. In the off-season, the shur sings quietly, as if in an undertone. This song is a long chirping of a pleasant silvery timbre. Like most songbirds, only the males sing.

Unfortunately, after molting at home, the plumage of the squirrels becomes less bright, apparently due to the lack of some substances in the feed. Receiving only the grain mixture, the scurry changes its red plumage to dirty yellow. But if during the next molt he is given plenty of mountain ash, greens, carrot mixture and semi-ripe seeds of cereals, the bird again puts on a natural colorful outfit. The action of the drug "Canary Color" is equally effective. It is fed by adding it to the carrot mixture, or with flour worms, which are given to the bird with tweezers, after dipping the previously crushed worm head into the preparation powder.

Inhabitants of the northern forests - schura are not afraid of the cold and winter well on balconies or in outdoor enclosures protected from the wind. And in the summer, they enjoy basking in the sun.

All squirrels are very fond of swimming and do it even in winter at temperatures down to minus degrees, you just need to put a bowl of water in the cage. Of course, the water quickly freezes, but the feathered "walrus" has time to swim and get drunk, and the rest of the time it can be content with snow instead of water.

Shchura willingly eat sunflower, oatmeal, coniferous seeds, including broken pine nuts, canary seed, gnaw watermelon seeds and apple seeds, hazelnut kernels and hazelnuts. They do not like millet, but they eat it after they choose more tasty food from the feeder. They love hemp, but from it, with excessive summer cottages, they get fat and lousy. This high-calorie feed is usually given only a few grains, increasing the amount of cannabis in the frosty season.

Various greens, mountain ash, from which the schura eat seeds, juniper berries, carrot mixture and flour worms (3-5 per day) serve as an addition to grain feed.

Crossbills Like smurfs, crossbills are inhabitants of taiga forests, although periodically, during the years of fir cone harvests, they also nest to the south, for example, in the Moscow region.

Crossbills are relatively large birds, larger than a sparrow, with a dense build, with very peculiar beaks. Their curved ends are crossed. And such an unusual device turns out to be absolutely indispensable when extracting seeds from unopened spruce cones. In addition to extracting and chewing seeds, crossbills use their beaks when climbing branches or along the walls and ceiling of cages. It is not for nothing that the St. Petersburg birders call crossbills "Finnish parrots".

Crossbills singing consists of loud chirping sounds and clear whistles. It makes an unforgettable impression in the snowy February forest, when crossbills celebrate their "weddings", and sometimes they are already feeding their chicks.

There are three types of crossbills in our forests. The crossbill is white-winged, the smallest and most elegant, dressed in a raspberry-colored feather with two white stripes on the wings. Lovers especially appreciate representatives of this species for the beauty of their plumage and the gentle sound of songs. Spruce crossbills are somewhat larger. Males of this species are brownish-red and only slightly inferior in brightness to white-winged ones. And the largest pine crossbill, growing from a schura, is distinguished by a powerful beak, swollen at the base.

Lovers appreciate the crossbills not so much for their singing, but for their trusting disposition, the originality of the "parrot" behavior and the beauty of the plumage of males. True, after molting at home, the red plumage is replaced by a modest greenish outfit, but the Canary-Color preparation allows you to preserve the natural plumage or restore the red pigment lost during the previous molt.

Crossbills are fed with spruce and pine seeds, broken pine nuts, sunflowers, oatmeal, and millet. In addition to grain feed, they need to be given mountain ash, juniper berries, carrot mixture. Individual specimens eat mealworms and fresh ant pupae. In addition to green grassy food, crossbills are given branches of coniferous and deciduous plants, from which they gnaw young shoots, buds and even bark.

Unopened spruce cones provide crossbills not only with their favorite food, but also with entertainment. In years of poor harvest of spruce seeds, when open, already empty cones are still hanging on the trees, unopened cones can be collected under the trees, dropped by the wind or by the crossbills themselves. These so-called "sour cones", which have lain on the ground for several months, contain edible seeds and can diversify the menu of cellular pets.

So that the crossbills do not destroy the wooden parts of the cages with their powerful beaks, they should be given perches made of soft tree species that have not been peeled from the bark. Peeled and gnawed are regularly replaced with fresh ones.

Climbing around the cage and trying all its internal parts with their beaks, the crossbills easily open the locks on the doors and even open the lifting doors. To avoid this, it is necessary to arrange external locks or wrap the doors with wire.

LENTILS In our country there are several species of the genus of lentils.

The common lentil is the most common species that inhabits the edges, cultural landscape lands, swamps and floodplains in the forest, forest-steppe and forest-tundra zones. Her uncomplicated, but sonorous and pleasant song, successfully conveyed by the phrases: "Did you see lentils?", Or (in the Far East) - "Did you see chinook?" - is familiar to everyone. Arrives at nesting sites later than most other birds, which, apparently, is associated with nutrition, and most importantly, with the feeding of chicks with semi-ripe seeds of herbaceous plants.

The old male is colored very brightly, in brown-red, pink and bright red tones. Yearlings and two-year-olds are colored paler. Females and young in chick plumage are greenish gray.

Lentils in a cage are very shy at first, but gradually get used to a person, although they do not become completely tame. The flute song of lentils, pleasant in itself, is also good because it is easily adopted by other birds: larks, thrushes, blackhead warblers and other indoor birds, organically including it in their repertoire.

At home, lentils readily eat oatmeal, millet, canary seed, sunflower, semi-ripe grass seeds, as well as greens, fresh ant pupae, mealworms and carrot mixture. You should not limit the diet of lentils to only grain feed, as this makes the birds very fat and suffer from metabolic disorders. Observations of lentils in nature convince us that birds eat a lot of greens, half-opened leaf and flower buds, and later eat half-ripe dandelion seeds, cereals and weeds.

Having molted at home, lentils lose their red tones of plumage if they do not receive the Canary-Color preparation during molting. Under natural conditions, lentils molt during the winter, in latitudes where daylight is equal to night. The length of daylight stimulates the molting of these birds even when kept indoors. In order to achieve a normal change of feathers in lentils, one has to reduce daylight hours to hours, hanging the cage with a dark cloth, or place the bird in a box-type cage, which is placed on the window with the lattice side out, so that lentil activity stops at dusk.

Lentils are caught in the first days of arrival with a tangled net or hiding place, using a male of this species that has overwintered at the catcher as a semolina bird. In the absence of a semolina bird, the capture is preceded by birdwatching in order to establish trapping tackle in the bushes preferred by the bird.

Siberian lentil - similar in appearance, but more graceful bird, slightly smaller than a sparrow.

It gets along well in the cage, but does not have the voice data of the previous species.

The song is quiet, reminiscent of the chirping and whistling of kinglets. After the first molt at home, it changes the red plumage to pinkish, and later to silver-gray.

Pink lentil lives in the south Western Siberia. Growth with ordinary oatmeal. The main background of the plumage of the male is lilac-pink, females and young ones are gray. Caught birds quickly get used to the cage and sing a lot. The song partly resembles the trills of the robin, but, unfortunately, includes harsh whistles.

URAGUS It is also called long-tailed bullfinch or long-tailed lentil. Selected by zoologists in a special genus. Until the sixties of the last century, the bird lovers of Central Russia almost did not know these birds. But then uragus began to periodically arrive in pet stores, and lovers met and appreciated these wonderful birds.

The area of ​​distribution of uragus is riverine thickets in the subzone of the southern taiga of Siberia and the Far East. These medium-sized (smaller than a sparrow) granivorous birds with thick beaks and elongated tails look very unusual, especially males, in which the main background of plumage is pale pink or lilac-red (Far Eastern form). Females and juveniles are greyish, with pink loins and rump.

The Far Eastern form, in addition to brighter plumage, is smaller in size, as well as in behavioral features. These small birds with long balancer tails are forced to forage on the weeping branches of plants characteristic of Primorye with its maritime climate. Under such conditions, low weight and "blue" manner of foraging with hanging from swaying liana-like branches are typical for Far Eastern uragus, while Siberian birds of this species, which are taller and more solid in their behavior, are not prone to tightrope walking at the ends of swaying branches.

The first days of the uragus are rather shy, but they get used to it relatively quickly, becoming trusting and contact in relation to their caregiver. One of our uragus, kept in a room without a cage, became completely tame, like the bullfinch who lived with him. Both birds were not afraid of humans at all, they sat on their shoulders and arms, and during lunch they flew to the table and "tasted" our food. The same bird turned out to be a very capable mockingbird. Having spent the summer in the open-air cage of a pioneer camp near Moscow, our pet became a true "polyglot" - he learned the trill of lentils, the songs of a finch and a siskin. He performed each of them individually. And in his naturally poor song, he included the chirping of the repolov and the smart chirping. True, after this bird we had several more Uraguses, but not one of the new pets showed such abilities.

In terms of feeding, uraguses are unpretentious. Willingly eat oatmeal, canary seed, spruce seeds, broken pine nuts, millet. They love greens, apples and carrot mix.

Having molted in a cage, the birds lose their pink plumage, becoming silvery gray. But it is also a beautiful and original outfit.

Ornithologist and great lover of songbirds Elena Alexandrovna Lukina for the first time received offspring of uragus at home. Later, many Western European lovers became interested in breeding these birds. Success is most often achieved in aviary conditions. Bird nests are arranged in clumps of bushes or in canary nests-baskets decorated with branches. Nesting material - blades of grass, plant fibers, wool and feathers.

RAPPINGS Small gray reddish with crimson caps on their heads and with reddish spots on the chest in males are seen by residents of the middle zone from autumn to the end of winter in the company of siskins or isolated flocks. During the first winter, tap-dancers feed on the seeds of quinoa, nettle and other herbaceous plants on the edges of fields and in roadside weeds. Later they are interrupted by birch catkins, buds and alder seeds. Nimble and mobile pichugs compete in dexterity with siskins and tits, fluttering along the unsteady stems and branches of weeping birches, sometimes hanging down with their backs to reach seeds and earrings.

Adult lovers of songbirds almost never start these modestly colored pichugs, which do not sing, but only chirp softly, albeit melodiously. But most birders and pet owners keep fondest memories of tap dances, either as the first "hunting prey" or as the first bird purchased independently with money saved from school lunches.

In a cage, tap dancers bribe with gullibility to people, liveliness and grace. They are accommodating with their relatives and other peaceful birds. They do not refuse any grain feed, but they feel good only on a variety of grain mixtures from millet, canary seed, lettuce, spruce, birch and other seeds with the addition of greens and carrot mixture. On hemp, which is usually fed to tap dancers by boys, they grow weak rather quickly.

ROYAL, ROYAL or RED-CAP FINCHES Fans living in the middle lane recognized these birds only in the early sixties of the 20th century, when they began to be supplied to metropolitan pet stores.

King finches are inhabitants of the mountains of the Caucasus and Central Asia. The birds are small, smaller than a sparrow. The main background of the plumage is black-brown, soft elegant pattern. The head of adult birds is decorated with a fiery red cap, which is larger and brighter in males. Juveniles do not have this decoration. By behavior they are close to tap dancers, they are just as trusting of a person, although they do not become as sociable as siskins and bullfinches.

My acquaintance with red-capped finches began with the purchase of three specimens from the first batch of these birds that arrived in Moscow pet stores. Not having information about their feeding and maintenance, I planted new pets all together and began to offer a choice of different foods. From the proposed set of finches, at first they chose only canary seed, spruce and lettuce seeds. Subsequently, the birds, as it were, "cooled down" to the canary seed, but instead set to poppy, crushed sunflower and crushed hemp. In the future, their diet was replenished with fresh white bread and carrot mixture.

Those who limited the redhead diet to the standard grain mix for small granivorous pets, which was sometimes sold in pet stores, failed to save these cute birds. Not finding enough suitable food in the grain mixture, the birds begin to fluff, sink to the bottom of the cage, in a word, they seem doomed.

When I saw birds in such a state at a friend's "poultry house" and made sure that there was unsuitable food in the feeder, we poured spruce and canary seeds literally under the noses of our "dying" birds. Hesitantly pecking at the food once or twice, the finches perked up and began to eat in earnest. And an hour later they were all not only sitting on the perches, but also singing, to our greatest surprise.

The song of king finches is a silvery chirping with the inclusion of characteristic "lark" overflows. They get along well with their brothers and sing beautifully in unison with each other. Sometimes in their company there are bloodless "duels" of a purely symbolic or playful nature.

Unfortunately, most of these pichugas die within the first two years, although some specimens lived up to eight years. Do they lack some necessary food, or is the dusty air of big cities not suitable for these mountain dwellers?

FAMOUS VOCALISTS In our country, there are wonderful songbirds that have long been caught and kept in cages for their vocal abilities. Fans of certain singers do not stop arguing about who to give primacy to - a nightingale, a thrush, one of the larks, a black-headed warbler or another bird. Tastes, as they say, do not argue. Each of these species has its own merits, any of them can be considered equal among the first.

It's nice to have one or more of these wonderful singers in the house. But all of them require considerable care in terms of care and especially feeding, since they belong to the group of insectivorous insects (except for larks, which occupy an intermediate position in terms of nutrition).

LARKS It is unlikely that there will be at least one person in Russia who has not heard the spring singing of the lark. At the end of April, when there is a gross migration, larks can be heard even over our capital, since the floodplain of the Moscow River serves as a kind of route for migratory birds, and many of them sing in flight.

Most larks are ground birds of open spaces that never sit on branches, but in cages - on perches, except for the forest lark-yula, which uses both of these visits. Seeing larks singing in the air, many people think that they only do it in flight. In fact, these birds sing both sitting on bumps and just running on the ground, so their singing in a cage is quite natural.

There are fifteen species of larks in our country. Some of them are considered excellent indoor singers. Larks get along well in the homes of lovers.

An unpleasant feature of larks is their fearfulness, especially the first time after being caught or in the presence of strangers. Like any terrestrial bird, unable to hide from danger in the thickets, larks fly up in fright with a candle up. In an ordinary cage, at the same time, they break their heads or, at best, damage their plumage. Therefore, larks are kept in special cages with wooden twigs, without crossbars. Larks love to bathe in the sand, apparently, they need it for their well-being. But at the same time, they litter a lot, scattering sand around the cage. Increasing the height of the sides of the cage only partly prevents the spreading of sand. In addition, high sides prevent the bird from seeing what is happening around from afar, and a person approaching the cage appears suddenly in the bird's field of vision, each time frightening it with an unexpected appearance. It is most convenient to use several types of cages for keeping larks. Freshly caught larks are placed in cages with a soft top, high (9-11 centimeters) sides, with an external hanging feeder and drinker. The cages are placed above the level of human growth in order to avoid unnecessary disturbance of the birds, from which you want to hear their spring singing as soon as possible. If it is not possible to hang or place the cage high enough, then it is hung with a light-colored cloth, in whole or in part, depending on the conditions and behavior of the bird. In any case, you need to hang the side of the cage that faces the window, and the one from where the figures of people more often fall into the field of view of the lark. At the end of summer, when the birds stop singing and their molt begins, it is better to transplant the lark into a cage with a low (6-8 cm) front side, through which the bird sees what is happening around and is not suddenly frightened.

If the bird is shy, the cage is partially hung so that the lark can hide behind the curtain from the frightening "danger", and if desired, look into the room and gradually get used to people. Such a cage can be of the usual type or box type, but with a soft top. And food, sand and water should be given in a hanging feeder, sandbox and drinking bowl.

Feeders and drinkers, which are suspended from holes in the front side of the cells of the usual lark type, are heavily clogged with sand and rubbish, since these holes are made relatively low, 3-4 centimeters above the floor of the cage. Therefore, it is better to hang them higher, to the doors of the cage or to the edge of the side with sufficient gaps between the bars of the cage. And in order for the bird to reach such feeders and drinkers, a piece of turf or a stump or a chock is placed in the cage, which serve as a perch or stand for the bird. During periods of molting and off-season, when there is a break in the singing of larks, sitting birds can be kept in large cages in several pieces, for example, field larks, dzhurbay and yule.

In a room aviary and even in a large cage (100 x 60 x 60 cm), birds behave completely differently than in ordinary cages. Where does their shyness go? Birds do not fight and do not shy away even in a cage standing on the floor of the room, but simply run a little to the side when you approach or stick your hand into their room. You can observe their relationship, tame birds with the help of tasty mealworms, study the habits of larks, which are not revealed in cages of ordinary size.

Unfortunately, it is not possible to keep them in common cages all the time, since, having molted and gained good shape, the birds become aggressive towards their fellows. You have to seat the larks in separate cells, after which they soon begin to sing.

In large aviaries, you can keep several larks of different species all the time, but the floor of such aviaries is divided into sections by low (11 - 12 cm) sides. This is done so that aggressive birds during the current do not arrange battles among themselves.

In larks, only males sing. They differ from females in a denser build, broad chest, massive head, elongated "spur" - the claw of the rear finger. But all these signs are noticed only by an experienced eye. And the best guarantee that you will get a male is the capture or purchase of birds in the first days of their spring arrival. After all, in larks, like in many other birds, the males are the first to fly to the nesting grounds, and the strongest and best singers. Larks caught at this time sing in the cage already on the second or third day.

It makes no sense to catch or buy larks at the end of the first flying wave:

you will get either a female or a male already nesting who will not sing.

In summer, larks feed mainly on insects and semi-ripe seeds of herbaceous plants. From autumn to spring they feed mainly on seeds, especially crested, steppe and black larks wintering within the nesting territory. Naturally, in cellular conditions, it is easier to feed larks than purely insectivorous birds. From grain feeds, larks are given millet, crushed wheat, rye, barley, sunflower, seeds of various weeds, and hemp in small quantities. In addition, they give greens and a carrot mixture of the usual composition for insectivorous birds. Animal feed is also needed - a fresh or at least dried ant egg, flour worms, pupae and beetles, the cottage of which must be increased during periods of molting and intense singing.

From the end of summer until November, we usually keep our larks on the balcony in the conditions of autumn cold and shortening daylight hours. On the other hand, the birds taken into the warmth and extended day tune into the spring mood in a short time and from the end of November they delight us with their "spring" trills in full voice. However, we do the same with blackbirds, finches and some other birds.

Field lark. This is the most common representative of the family and, perhaps, the most gifted singer. Many lovers give this bird preference even over the nightingale and blackbirds for the melodiousness of the song, the variety of tones and knees, and also for the fact that a well-groomed lark, settled in a cage, sings for about 8 months a year, that is, much more than its famous rivals. The field lark is able to adopt the voices of other birds, including them in its iridescent multi-generational song.

In the first spring, a bird living with me surprised and delighted its listeners with a song into which it intertwined the trill of a forest horse, the voices of alarmed lapwings, and even the evening roll call of jackdaw flocks. Remarkably, it all sounded surprisingly soft, complementing, but by no means spoiling the main song of the lark. Subsequently, living surrounded by other indoor pets, this glorious bird replenished its repertoire with the tribes of the little tit and bunting. It happens that such borrowings spoil the singers.

From one Muscovite, a lark adopted the singing of a canary, and far from being the best. In the powerful performance of the lark, the canary trills sounded monstrously sharp, especially vicious for a canary "yelp". And although my friend was proud of such an original singer, true connoisseurs of bird voices did not enjoy listening to this bird.

Forest lark, or spinning top. The first name characterizes the attraction of this lark to forest edges, clearings, wastelands and sparse forests. This is probably the only lark that likes to perch on trees and on wires.

The name yula is onomatopoeic. The melodic flute WHISTLE - "YULI ... YULI ... YULI ..." serves as an onym from the main tribes of his song. Yul's gentle, surprisingly euphonious and varied singing puts him in the category of favorite room "vocalists". But, like all larks, the spinning wheel should not be started by a novice amateur, since this bird is demanding on the conditions of feeding and keeping, and is shy. Of all the larks, Yules are the most fragile birds. Animal feeds make up a significant part of their diet, and spinning tops do not last long on one grain feed.

Catch and acquire yule in the first days of arrival. In the middle lane, this is the end of March - the beginning of April. Individual individuals differ greatly from each other in both voice data and behavior. Mediocre singers and very shy, non-contact birds are released after listening immediately or in the middle of summer, when the bird begins to sing less. In winter, it is worth leaving only the best birds in all respects.

Unlike other larks, Yula willingly use not only "bumps" and blocks for sitting, but also perches.

Dzhurbai, or steppe lark. This large lark, from the starling, is common in the steppe regions of the European part of the country and in Central Asia. They are imported to the central regions mainly from the Rostov region and from Kazakhstan.

The singing of birds living in the European steppes and foothills is more varied and melodic. In this part of the range, dzhurbai coexist with skylarks, borrowing their manner of performance and set of trills. Whereas in the Asian steppes, the Jurbai include many crackling knees in their songs, adopting them from local birds.

Only males sing, which the trained eye of an experienced amateur distinguishes by a more massive build, dark spots on the sides of the neck and an elongated "spur".

Residents of the southern regions of the CIS and some countries of Western Europe really appreciate this lark for the richest set of trills and vocal power. Connoisseurs of bird singing from the middle lane believe that the voice of the dzhurbay is harsh for the room, and recommend this bird only for outdoor keeping in aviaries. By the way, in this case, the dzhurbay endures any winter cold.

The crested lark, or darling, is an inhabitant of the southern regions of the country, especially noticeable in winter, when, in search of food, birds move closer to roads, settlements and stockyards, where they feed along with sparrows and buntings.

It is intermediate in size between field and steppe larks.

The head of the prankster is decorated with a pointed crest, which the bird either raises or lowers depending on the mood. An adult male differs from females and young birds in its build, elongated crest and "spur". Despite its wide distribution, the crested lark is not often kept by hobbyists - most likely because of the commonness, everydayness of the bird, which can be seen even in the backyards. settlements. However, those who have met the posmetyushka at home appreciate it as one of the best indoor birds. This is perhaps the most unpretentious lark in terms of food and care. The crested lark is easier than others to get used to a person, sings in a cage throughout the year, with the exception of the molting period.

The prankster living in our house in a short time became a universal favorite. The lark is trusting in relation to all family members, while it is afraid of strangers. He calmly treats our dogs, it happens that he even goes to war with them, as if driving him away from his cage. At the same time, the bird takes a current pose, shouts out the most bravura knees and bravely moves towards the "enemy" or jumps on a stump and performs its martial dance and song. With a proudly protruding chest, a raised head and a raised crest, which almost touches the tail thrown over his back, and even with half-spread wings, our brave man becomes like a capercaillie, ready to fight with an opponent.

The singing of the posmetyushka resembles the singing of the field lark, but it has more borrowed knees and harsh whistles. Our pet grabs other people's voices literally on the fly. It was enough for him to spend one day with a Muscovite tit to supplement his repertoire with a new knee ...

Crested larks, like dzhurbay, like to play with pebbles and pieces of paper, dragging them from place to place, sometimes throwing them into the air. Perhaps this is a detail of their nest-building ritual. And some regard this rare penchant for games in birds as a sign of a developed intellect.

One day, at the end of winter, our daredevil suddenly felt ill. He poured out, trying to get on his feet, tipped over onto his back. Usually a bird in this state does not survive. But this one was saved by natural vitality and trust in the person from whom she took food from the hands. The lark rejected the flour worms, which were beloved in the usual time, but, overcoming weakness, pecked at pupae and beetles.

Having swallowed a dozen and a half of them, the patient got tired and dozed off, and by morning, as if nothing had happened, he was running around the cage. We still do not know what kind of disease struck the bird. Apparently, some qualitative insufficiency of the diet was not compensated by the larvae of the beetle (meal worms), but was compensated by pupae and adult beetles.

Tundrya (horned) lark, or ryum. This small elegant lark with original elongated feathers on its head in the form of black horns cannot be called a good singer. He is kept in aviaries with snow buntings, buntings and other birds for his peculiar appearance, habits and calm, accommodating disposition. The horned lark gets used to a person easily.

Nightingales The best singers of this illustrious family are the common, or eastern, and western nightingales, which are sometimes also called southern. In addition to these species in the eastern;

parts of the country are also found nightingale rubythroat, black-breasted rubythroat, blue whistling nightingale. All of them, except for the whistler, are interesting as indoor birds, as they are distinguished by elegant plumage and sing well. Catching and keeping nightingales at home is one of the old hobbies of the population of European Russia, which was indulged mainly by ordinary artisans, yesterday's villagers. People of a trading rank were engaged in this hunting not always disinterestedly, widely using it as an advertisement for their business and creditworthiness. There are cases when up to 2 thousand rubles were paid for an outstanding bird (I.K. Shamov, 1910), and the prudent merchant did not consider such a payment reckless. Here are excerpts from I. K. Shamov's wonderful book "Our Songbirds", which characterize the world of hobbies of the "poultry" of the distant past: "In Moscow at that time (1818 - Approx. V. G.) two birds were especially noisy. .. Both of these nightingales struck the hunters with their unusual good songs. The labial bird (trained by man. -V. / I) shouted Kursk songs and, by the way, 40 words of yellow. It hung in the Sedov tavern at the Kaluga Gate (where Bakastov's tavern is now). Hunters who wanted to hang young people from her (for training. - V. G. were assigned 5 rubles per hour or 25 per week. In turn, the Kursk "Kamenov bird", as it was called, surprised with its fractions and attracted the entire then hunting world;

from all parts of Moscow, as if on a temple holiday, hunters went and rode to listen to this wonderful bird. The large hall of the tavern where it hung (near the Small Stone Bridge, Vygodchikov's tavern) was packed day and night with people. Quietly, without uttering a loud word, the hunters sat at the tea tables in twos and threes, and with bated breath awaited the hour when famous bird. And as soon as the cage began to sway slightly, that is, the bird began to restlessly run along the perches, "get angry" before singing, the eyes of all listeners turned to the cage. And at the first sound, when the bird uttered a reception and after it a song, each hunter, as it were, froze in place, all turned into hearing ...

Inexpressibly wonderful songs resounded throughout the hall ... The hunters were thrilled and trembled with delight.

Undoubtedly, the true lovers of this fascinating primordially Russian "hunt" were not moneybags - the owners of outstanding birds, but ordinary people who, in order to meet the beautiful, were ready to walk across Moscow on foot, spend their hard-earned pennies to hear an extraordinary concert. This hobby was paid tribute to by I. S. Turgenev, who made a detailed analysis of the nightingale song, from the point of view of the then expert, in his essay "On Nightingales" (1855).

Fans of fascinating nightingale hunting have not died out in our time. At night, in the spring thaw, sometimes an amateur goes for many kilometers in search of "the bird of his dreams." More than a dozen nightingales will listen, choosing a future pet.

And in order to keep him vigorous and healthy, to listen to a beloved singer for more than one year, a lot of care, knowledge, and loving mastery of the culture of our ancient "bird hunting" are required. Nightingales are caught from arrival to pairing, that is, no later than May. A real amateur, and the only one worth starting a nightingale, will never catch the first bird that comes across or buy it from a market merchant. If he doesn’t know how, or because of being busy, he can’t catch birds himself, then he takes a nightingale from a well-known bird-catcher who will not “reward” a comrade in passion with a mediocre singer.

Catching nightingales is relatively easy. After listening to a suitable bird, they clarify the nature of the individual site chosen by it, which is usually small. Often the bird inhabits only two or three bushy clumps on an area of ​​50-150 square meters, where it has favorite "roads", perches for singing and places for fattening. An experienced hunter gets an idea about them sometimes at first sight or after a short observation of a bird, which at this time constantly calls itself or in response to the birder's call-beep. Of the tackles, most often they use a fly-beam or a simple bow with a bait of flour worms, less often they use a light weighted net with a mesh of 18-22 mm, which is thrown over a bush to drive a bird.

The nightingale is "simple", as the bird-catchers say, he willingly goes to the bait, even immediately after being disturbed by a person. Once, one nightingale did not go to the trap for a long time, but sang, sitting on a high birch. Then the catcher launched a snag at him, from which the bird flew steeply down into the saving bush and literally at that very moment was trapped ...

The tips of the wings are usually tied to a freshly caught bird so that at the first moment of captivity it does not beat and damage its plumage less. But if the thrifty birder has a special "cuteyka" - a small portable cell made of linen on a wire frame, then it is not necessary to tie the ends of the wings. At home, the bird is transplanted into a cage with wooden twigs and a linen top, covering it with a light-colored cloth. A freshly caught bird should definitely be offered mealworms and fresh ant eggs. It is impossible to confine oneself only to the latter, since the bird may not immediately take this unusual food, it will weaken and die. It happens that a nightingale lives for several days only on a worm, without touching the eggs. The addition of cut worms to this feed helps. At first, the bird begins to peck at worms, and then it will also be taken for the main summer food of our insectivorous pets. Nightingale, especially freshly caught, is quite voracious. Like all insectivorous birds, he does not tolerate starvation at all ... If he is caught more than 2 hours away from home, you need to offer worms on the way, throwing them into a portable cage or kuteika. On the second third day after the capture, the wings of the nightingale are untied. A bird caught before May 10 and starting to feed begins to give voice sometimes even in a portable cage.

Two - five days - and she is already singing in full voice (of course, in a cage covered with cloth). Many keep nightingales not all year round, but only the first 6-8 weeks after capture, when the bird sings intensively and it is easier to feed it with fresh ant pupae. In June, when the nightingales gradually stop singing, the birds are released, certainly in typical nightingale lands, and not in the window or on the city boulevard, where the bird, as a rule, dies in the claws of cats or from hunger.

The bird left in the winter is transferred to a surrogate feed in the fall - a common mixture for insectivorous birds. The transfer is carried out gradually. In order for the bird to take up new food, at first they put some fresh ant eggs and a chopped flour worm into it. A successful bird (with a good disposition and eager to sing, which is not characteristic of all individuals) usually sings in December. At first, she sings in an undertone, gradually singing, and by spring she is already "going in the swing", as the birders say. With good care, nightingales live at home for 10 years or more.

Nightingale eastern, or common. It is distributed in the zone of mixed forests and forests throughout the European part of the country and in Western Siberia. It gravitates towards forest edges, floodplains overgrown with bushes, ravines and gullies;

common in gardens, parks, roadside plantings. Especially loves riverside thickets. In appearance, it is a small, sparrow-sized, slender, high-legged bird. The plumage is brownish-brown. Large dark eyes characterize a bird that is looking for food under the canopy of trees and shrubs.

The plumage of males and females is the same. The best guarantee that instead of a vociferous male you have not caught or acquired a silent female is the timely, that is, early capture of the bird, since the nightingales arrive later than the males.

The singing of the eastern nightingale is powerful and varied;

individual stanzas of the song sound leisurely, solemnly, they are not performed together, but with pauses before each next knee. The seasoned nightingale, settled in a cage, sings up to 6 months a year.

Western or southern nightingale. It is distributed on the territory of Ukraine, in the Crimea, in the Caucasus and in Central Asia. In some places it is found in the same areas as its eastern counterpart.

Outwardly, it is almost indistinguishable from the eastern nightingale, except that the tail is slightly longer and the abdomen is lighter. The main difference is in singing, which is not so sonorous and is characterized by a more continuous performance of individual knees. The singing of the western nightingale is perhaps more varied than that of the eastern one, but it has more crackling "trifles". The best nightingales that I have heard were brought from the Crimea, they were slightly inferior to the Caucasian western nightingales;

the singing of large nightingales from Central Asia includes a bit too much, in our opinion, "cod" and "yelps". According to most amateurs, the singing of the western nightingale is worse than the eastern one. But in cellular conditions, these birds take root in the majority easier and they sing for a longer part of the year, up to months.

The red-necked nightingale is smaller than its illustrious counterparts. It lives in Siberia and the Far East up to Kamchatka. The general coloration of the plumage is modest, brownish brown in the male, the plumage on the throat is bright red. Inhabitant of low-lying waterlogged lands overgrown with shrubs. Migrant. Keeps from spring in pairs, then broods. The song is a relatively short, but melodic whistling trill, repeated many times. Fanciers hold the males of this species for their cute appearance and simple but pleasant song. In cellular conditions, on traditional food for insectivorous birds, it gets along well, in relation to humans, as a rule, it is trusting.

Nightingale black-breasted rubythroat. In general, and in the structure of the song, it resembles the bluethroat song, only instead of the blue "apron" on the chest of the black-breasted rubythroat, it is coal-black with a bright red speck on the throat. It lives in the bushes of the subalpine zone of the Tien Shan and the Dzungarian Alatau. It is highly valued by amateurs for its elegant appearance, relatively diverse song and sweet disposition. In cellular conditions, it gets along well, but requires careful care, especially in terms of feeding. From the spring of 1988, for three years, I lived with a charming representative of this species, caught near Alma-Ata. The pichuga had an enviable appetite, especially for flour worms, pupae and beetles, which greatly contributed to the domestication of my pet. But even after satisfying its appetite, the bird prefers to stay closer to humans, constantly watching the members of our family without any fear, and flying out of the cage, behaves exceptionally trustingly. Only some robins and willow warblers are characterized by such behavior, among which I often came across contact birds.

Blue nightingale. It lives in the southern part of Central and Eastern Siberia, as well as the Far East. Settles mainly in the dark coniferous taiga along the banks of rivers and streams. This is a medium-sized nightingale, much smaller than an ordinary one. The male is very ornate in his contrasting plumage with dark blue velvet upperparts and snow white underparts from mandible to belly. The author first managed to get this bird in the spring of 1988.

The freshly caught bird successfully survived transportation by air flight Vladivostok - Moscow in a kuteyka together with blue and taiga flycatchers. On the way, I fed them dry ant pupae and chopped chicken eggs, since there were no mealworms. In Moscow, the birds were seated singly and fed fresh ant pupae and flour worms. And the next day, my new pets were already in proper shape and soon pleased me with their singing. My blue nightingale turned out to be quite strict, but not a shy bird. He successfully molted at the end of the summer and soon began to sing again, although less intensively than in the spring-summer period. The song is relatively simple, to some extent reminiscent of the singing of a garden redstart. He eats carrot mixture well, but in the evenings I add a pinch of dry ant pupae to it, and during the day I feed from 5 to 15 flour worms. The blue nightingale, like all its relatives, loves to swim. Here, his sense of self-preservation even betrays him: there was a case when a bird, weakened by long transportation, bathed for so long that it died from hypothermia. To avoid this, weakened birds should be filled with water in their bathing rooms no more than 0.5 cm and provide them with round-the-clock feeding and heating near a reflector with 25-40 watt bulbs, preferably blue or red light.

The white-throated nightingale, or white-throated nightingale, is assigned by zoologists to a special genus. This inhabitant of the dry rocky slopes of the mountains, overgrown with shrubs, is found in the south of Transcaucasia and in the mountains of Central Asia. Unlike real nightingales, it does not nest on the ground, but on trees and shrubs not high above the ground. However, in appearance, demeanor and disturbing "minting" this is a true nightingale. The bird is relatively large, the size of an ordinary nightingale, tall on its legs. The male is very beautiful in his ash-gray plumage of the top and bright red plumage of the lower part of the body, with white superciliary stripes that stand out in contrast against the jet-black plumage of the "face", and even with a white spot on the throat, for which this nightingale received his species name. Singing - sonorous trills, sometimes interspersed with crackling shouts. The barnacle that lives with me is a lively, mobile, but at the same time balanced, not shy bird. He successfully molted without losing the natural brightness of plumage. In the fall, I easily switched to a surrogate carrot mixture. Unlike their relatives, who are always ready to feast on a flour worm, they do not always eat them, and little by little - in the hunt. Prefers pupae to worms, indifferent to beetles. Both this bird and the barnacles that lived with my friends are captivating in appearance, behavioral characteristics and the fact that, having excellent health and balanced disposition, they are always or almost always in excellent shape.

Bluethroats belong to the famous family of nightingales, and in terms of their vocal abilities and wonderful appearance they occupy one of the first places in it. Casual visitors to our house always look at this graceful, bright bird and usually ask: in what countries are these beauties found? Sometimes they simply do not believe that such birds can be found in the bushes in the nearest swamp. And indeed, bluethroat looks very exotic. Slender, fit, smaller than a sparrow, on high legs, she is dressed in an extremely "stylish", as they say in our time, outfit - brown, with a bright blue chest.

Despite its wide distribution, this bird is known and kept in cages only by a few avid lovers. In nature, the bluethroat often hides in the floodplain and marsh bushes, and in the cage it is rather tender and demanding to care for. But those birders who were lucky enough to get to know the bluethroat at least once, remain fans of this feathered vocalist for life. And not only because this bird is very cute in appearance and has a wonderful song. The bright individuality of each pichuga of this species, which is expressed both in character, in singing, and in appearance, captivates. For an attentive amateur, there is hardly even one pair of identical bluethroats. Outwardly, each bird differs from the other in the tone of its brownish plumage, the size and shade of the brilliant blue "shirt-front" and especially the "asterisk" - a mark on the chest, which is white, reddish-brown or two-tone, and varies greatly in size. Moscow "poultry-keepers" especially appreciate the so-called "white-star" bluethroats, arguing that such birds are not only more beautiful, but also have a more varied and melodious song. The fact is that with all the variety of singing and coloring of individual birds of this species, bluethroats from the same area have much in common in the set of song knees, the manner of their performance and color. The first bluethroats that appear in the Moscow region on April 15-20 are predominantly white-star birds nesting closer to the north. Their singing differs from the songs of birds near Moscow, among which there are more red-star bluethroats. Borrowing most of the song knees from neighboring nesting birds, bluethroats of the middle band replenish their repertoire with the chirping of goldfinches, repolov and other mediocre vocalists, while the singing of their northern relatives is dominated by the melodic whistles of shorebirds, bluebird chimes, flute whistles of thrushes and other birds with more melodic voices.

Catching these wonderful birds, as well as keeping them at home, gives the lover a real pleasure. This is a real hunt, filled with no less passion and emotions than, say, reconnaissance of capercaillie current. With the appearance of the first thawed patches on a peaty bog, the birder is already waiting for advanced birds, especially expensive ones, because they are the first, and, consequently, they will sing earlier and will delight the lover with their voices longer.

If you do not have a bluethroat that has overwintered in a cage that can be used as a semolina bird, then at first hunting will be far from easy. We will have to carefully observe the migratory bird, determine the area where it keeps, and, placing half a dozen self-trapping rays there, try to catch the desired singer.

However, this first bird is unlikely to suit an avid lover. After all, he does not need any bluethroat, but a previously listened to favorite singer of excellent color, and even with a good disposition, so that it is easy to tame him and pleasant to keep in the house. That is why this caught bluethroat is most often used by the bird catcher for only a few hours, in order to lure into a trap, to cover with a net or a bow exactly the desired bird or several of them.

Usually you catch two or three singers (even if you want to have only one), so that, after keeping them in a cage for 2-5 days, you can choose the calmest one, which will better take to food, sing earlier or like it more than others for some reason. signs.

I remember how on one of the spring days at the end of April I managed to catch four excellent bluethroats. It seemed that there would be no point in continuing to fish. But at this time, on the far edge of the swamp, a new singer began to sing, and his voice sounded with such a silver ringing that I immediately decided - only this, this particular bird is what I need!

The coveted bluethroat turned out to be quite "strict", as the pigeons and birders say. At first, she flew off to the side and seemed not to pay attention to the cage with the semolina bird placed near the net. She either pecked at some trifle along the shore of a peat quarry, then flew up onto a bush to once again whistle her amazingly clear and sonorous song, composed of the best tribes of our wonderful vocalists: a lark-yula, a black-headed warbler, a warbler and its own, bluethroat motives. So she noticed her opponent, flew up to the top of the willow bush, sang her song again, but in some major, self-affirming tone and with a threatening minting she rushed into the fray, trying to peck her opponent through the wooden twigs of his cage. A few more moments, and the bully was in my hands.

The previously caught and semolina birds were immediately released. Happy, I hurried to the train, carefully holding the linen kuteika with my hand. I treated my precious captive with worms already at the station, waiting for the train. In a translucent linen "dungeon" she was not afraid to "starve", or rather peck, a worm. On the way, the bird behaved heroically, about which she "spoke" herself, periodically shouting out her defiant "check", "check". At home, I put the bluethroat in a cage with wooden twigs and a linen top, after placing there a drinker, a jar of worms and a feeder with a mixture of grated carrots, crushed white crackers, cottage cheese and dried ant eggs (pupae). The very next morning, a whistle was heard in this cage hung with a light cloth, at first timidly, in an undertone. And two days later Blue bird"My dream went "in the swing" to the envy of my friends and fellow passions.

During the first season of their stay in the house, bluethroats sing in full voice until the molting begins at the end of July. Having molted by autumn, they sing again, but already in a low voice and sing in the same way in the second season of their stay in the house. But in the third and in all subsequent seasons, the well-aged bluethroat again sings “in the swing”, completely loses its natural wildness and gives its owner a lot of joy both with its singing and habits, not to mention an extremely sweet appearance.

THRUSHS There are about twenty species of thrushes in our country, among which are the best singers of our forest - the song thrush, black, gray, as well as wonderful elegant and vocal birds from the group of stone thrushes - motley, blue and small.

Many prefer thrushes over nightingales and larks.

Catching careful thrushes is a real hunt that requires knowledge of their habits, endurance and skill. But the difficulties are exacerbated by the need to catch not "generally" a thrush, but a bird that has caught a fancy, listened to, and even in the first week after arrival. Of course, in autumn it is easier to catch a thrush, but here you have to spend time and effort on keeping a bird, which can turn out to be a mediocre singer, or even a female ...

It is not so easy to endure a thrush. And not only because these large birds require a large room, a lot of food and careful care. To defeat the natural distrust of the caught thrush, to accustom it to cellular conditions, you need a lot of patience, knowledge, love for picky pets. Often all this is spent in vain, since among the Drozds there are many extremely wild, nervous individuals, with whom you are transported for more than one season, and you never hear their singing. But a successful bird of a calm disposition and eager to sing becomes a real decoration of the house in which it lives.

The sonorous clean whistles of thrushes do not cut the ear even in a small room, as they are very melodic. A bird that has taken root in the house pleases its owner for many years, and every year it sings more, and not only in the spring and summer months.

At the beginning of last winter, I kept my black, song and gray thrushes on the balcony until mid-November, when it was no longer frosts, but real cold.

Of course, in late autumn (and even when kept outdoors), the birds did not sing, but they dressed in dense thick feathers and felt so good that they swam even at sub-zero temperatures, it was worth replacing the frozen water with fresh water. Taken into the room after passing through this peculiar stage of "vernalization", the birds found themselves not only warm, but also with extended daylight hours. As a result, the spring mood came to them already at the beginning of winter and the thrushes delighted us with singing at the top of their voices during the most frosty and dark winter months.

Feeding a thrush that has settled down in the house is much easier than most other insectivorous birds. Indeed, in their diet, a significant part is occupied by berry feed, of which they most of all love white berries from derain bushes (which are planted in lawns in cities), mountain ash, honeysuckle, currants, strawberries, blueberries, elderberries, scalded and chopped raisins. And when these berries are not available, unpretentious birds are content with grated carrots - the main component of the mixture for insectivorous birds. Thrushes do not disdain white bread soaked in milk, steep friable porridges of millet and rice). The protein part of the diet of these large birds can consist not only of ant eggs, but also of gammarus, which they eat even in dry form, from earthworms, slugs, boiled and raw meat, cut into pieces. On occasion, thrushes swallow even blind and naked mice. In winter, I feed my thrushes with the usual mixture for insectivorous birds with the addition of dried berries of mountain ash, deren, elderberry. More than usual, I add gammarus to this mixture. In addition, I also knead sunflower crushed with husks, sometimes boiled minced meat.

The ratio of the components of the mixture, including cottage cheese, dry ant eggs and others, is determined by the individual tastes of pets. You look - what kind of food is eaten better, and take this into account when preparing a new portion. During periods of molting and intense singing, you increase the protein part of the diet, at least at the expense of mealworms and raw meat. All thrushes eat apples chopped or cut in half well, pecking out the pulp from them and leaving an empty skin.

These birds need daily bathing in a hanging bathing suit. And one of my blackbirds, completely tame, I released into the room for water procedures, placing a basin of water near the low-standing cage. Having splashed a lot, the blackbird fluttered with difficulty onto the back of a chair, shook itself off and began to put its plumage in order. After letting the bird dry, I showed it a few mealworms, put them in a cage, and the bird went home.

It happens that at the end of winter, some thrushes begin to go bald. The sun, bathing, fresh and varied food, as well as ordinary earth, which all thrushes periodically eat with greed, help from this misfortune. The fact is that soil humus contains many enzymes, salts, even vitamins, not to mention the smallest and smallest living creatures that live in the soil.

Freshly caught thrushes should not have their wingtips tied. Thrushes should not be transported in sacks like other small birds in order to avoid shock phenomena.

Song Thrush. One of the common birds of the forest zone. The spring singing of these birds is sonorous and solemn, in unhurried chords, continues from the appearance of the first thawed patches until mid-July. True, in the middle of this period in nature, the intensity of singing decreases somewhat for the time of departure of the first brood of chicks, but then resumes with renewed vigor.

The song thrush is an elegant, slender bird the size of a starling, dressed in yellowish-gray plumage with a light chest and belly, decorated with dark teardrop-shaped specks, larger and contrasting in males.

In the singing and character of individual singers, individual characteristics are sharply affected.

The classic repertoire of the thrush song is made up of very expressive and euphonious whistles, which lovers retell with the words: "Spyridon!

Spiridon!", "Drink tea, drink tea!", "Let's drink! Let's drink!" etc.

To become a good singer, a young thrush must learn from the old one, and not only adopt individual "words" or song knees, but also a manner of performance in which the purity and noble sound of each chord are especially appreciated. At the Moscow lover Yakovlev, song thrushes successfully nested and raised chicks in an aviary with a curtain of bushes, where the birds made their nests. However, birds bred in captivity, like fosterlings, often have a disposition no less wild than those caught by adults, and, as a rule, they sing worse. After all, they must take a course of study at the "forest conservatory" with its many voices and unique teachers.

At home, the song thrush remains a strict bird, avoids close contact with a person and does not like intrusion of hands into his cage. In the aviary, he gets along peacefully with other birds, but, of course, he sings less.

Blackbird. AT Central Russia- a cautious forest bird, whose flute, somewhat minor song you usually hear from afar, while the singer himself tries not to catch the eye. And in the West of Ukraine and in the countries of Western Europe, the singing of a blackbird can be heard in busy squares and streets of large cities, where these birds have received a permanent "registration" and even switched from a migratory to a sedentary lifestyle. Such worldly flexibility, the ability to adapt to changing conditions characterize the blackbird at home.

At first, the caught blackbird is shy and distrustful, but then gradually gets used to it, begins to accept a tasty treat from the hands of an amateur and becomes a contact, trusting house bird, which cannot be said about its singing brother. Amateurs do not get tired of arguing about the advantages of the vocal abilities of these two types of thrushes, but this is a matter of taste. As for behavioral characteristics, here an undoubted advantage has to be given to the intelligence and tameness of the blackbird.

The anthracite-black, shimmering blue yellow-billed male is very handsome. Non-singing females and young are brownish brown. In autumn, young males put on a jet-black outfit for departure, but their beaks are still dark, and their plumage does not have the shine characteristic of adult birds. Birds from the middle zone sing indoors for 4-6 months a year, and blackbirds from the Caucasus, Crimea and Central Asia have a longer singing period. Blackbirds should not be placed in common enclosures with other songbirds that are terribly afraid of these black neighbors, although I have not had to notice aggressiveness from these blackbirds.

Thrush mischief. Plumage resembles a songbird, but much larger than it. This slightly numerous and cautious bird does not often get caught in bird nets. In terms of the duration and variety of modulations of the song, the mistletoe is inferior to the songbird and blackbird. However, its powerful and exceptionally melodic trill, performed at home, can give a lover of thrush singing great pleasure. Maintenance and care are common for thrushes.

Blue Thrush. Distributed in the southern regions of the Far East. Per last years these beautiful medium-sized thrushes were repeatedly brought to the capital. And Muscovite R.N. Barto even received offspring from them in a small indoor aviary. The plumage of these birds is quite bright: the top is bluish-gray, the lower part of the chest and sides are bright red, the belly is white.

It is well tamed and lives for many years in cellular conditions. However, these birds sometimes have difficulty with feather change, which is slowed down, despite the wear of the old plumage. In these cases, the use of special patented drugs produced by foreign companies helps. And in the absence of such, the placement of the bird in a large aviary, increased feeding with natural animal feed and plucking of an old, worn feather helps. In my house, these birds lived safely for 12-13 years.

The case of an unsuccessful nesting attempt of these birds at the Vladivostok amateur Yu. M. Zagnetko is typical. Usually, open nesting birds nested in an aviary in a nest box, but under these conditions, the secretions of the incubating bird polluted the nest so much that they caused the death of the clutch ... Under natural conditions, birds use half-open hollows for nesting, and most of the secretions get out.

Blackwing thrush. The smallest of our thrushes is distinguished, in addition to size, by a light superciliary stripe. Unlike the species described above, this is a colonial nesting species, widespread in the forest and even in the tundra zone - from the western borders of the country to the Indigirka River in Eastern Siberia.

The singing of males of this species is distinguished by the fact that characteristic thrush whistles serve as the beginning of the song, and then a very peculiar chirping follows, as if under one's breath.

Inveterate lovers of bird singing do not keep these birds, but once I had to take into my care a male redwing, who became disabled as a result of a blow to an electric wire. The bird recovered, but could not fly and lived with me for more than 10 years, right up to old age. She became completely tame and sang almost all year round, with the exception of the molting period. The song was not rich in classical thrush whistles. On the other hand, the so-called chirping turned out to be an endless and very sweet improvisation, composed of separate knees of songs of the entire bird population of my apartment and unknown forest voices, assimilated by our singer in natural conditions. Of course, this "chamber" singing was often covered by the voices of other singers performing their repertoire in full voice. But when I managed to listen to this red-browed one without interference, his singing gave me great pleasure.

Thrush fieldfare. One of the large and elegantly colored representatives of the genus.

It is distinguished by bluish-gray plumage of the head, neck and uppertail. In nature, it can be recognized from a distance by a sharp chirping alarming cry. The singing is crackling and obviously not suitable for the room. In an outdoor aviary, it gets along well with other medium-sized birds, but borrowing separate knees from the song of this thrush spoils the singing of other mockingbirds.

Stone thrushes. The group of stone thrushes has been identified by zoologists as a special genus, which occupies an intermediate position between true thrushes and wheatears. In the mountainous regions of the south and southeast of our country, there are three representatives of this genus: motley, blue and forest. The size of a starling, a thrush species, all stone thrushes are distinguished by excellent singing, which consists of clear and sonorous whistles of the species song and borrowed songs of other birds, which are surprisingly melodic in the transfer of these provisers.

The remarkable vocal abilities of the male rock thrushes are fully consistent with their elegant appearance. Fairy bird happiness looks bluish-gray, with a flashing azure at every turn, the male blue stone thrush. No less elegant are the males of the motley and forest stone thrushes, in the plumage of which bluish-gray and bright red tones are softly and colorfully combined. Brownish, with dark dotted specks, female rock thrushes are not so spectacular, although they are good in their own way, with dark eyes and soft pastel tones of plumage. By the way, females of these birds also sing, but their singing is somewhat softer and not as varied as that of males.

Caught adult birds are very wild at first. They need to be kept in wooden cages with a soft top and hung with fabric or in linen kuteys of sufficient size. At the same time, you need to carefully monitor the cleanliness of the room and the legs of the feathered captives. These birds often bruise their legs and then pollute them, which often leads to death of the birds. Having settled in a cage, stone thrushes gradually get used to a person and live for many years, delighting those around them with their exotic appearance and singing. From this group of thrushes, all lovers give primacy for grace and a beautiful whistling song to the forest stone thrush, an inhabitant of the south of the Far East.

Pied and blue stone thrushes lived in the author's house for a long time. I liked the comparatively varied singing of the motley rock thrushes better. As for the appearance, the most exotic of this group is the subspecies of the blue stone thrush, which lives in the Far East. This relatively large form captivates with contrasting plumage with bright blue upperparts and reddish-rufous underparts. It is believed that his singing is richer than the singing of his Caucasian and Central Asian relatives.

Fanciers from Western Europe have long appreciated stone thrushes as indoor birds and were able to breed them at home. X. Brem-Otets wrote about this in the book "Indoor Songbirds", published in Russian in Moscow in 1869:

“Stone thrushes are more capable of learning than bullfinches, blackbirds and repols. They learn songs more easily and quickly and do not forget them longer. Moreover, they are bred in captivity without much difficulty, for this it is only necessary to arrange a garden in the house, cook between stones nests material for their lining ... "

The blue bird, or purple thrush, is perhaps the most interesting member of the thrush group. It lives in the Tien Shan mountains, in the Himalayas, descending along their slopes to the countries of Indochina. In the last decade, an expansion of the range of this bird has been noted in the Central Asian republics and, apparently, in the eastern part of the range. The appearance of these birds in our Primorye, noted in the autumn of 1988, was a sensation. One of the Vladivostok birders observed a whole group (probably a brood) of these birds and even caught one of them. It was probably a flight from China.

The bluebird nests, as a rule, in the mountains, near streams and rivers. The nest is often arranged in a rocky niche on a ledge, above water, sometimes under a waterfall. This thrush is about the size of a jackdaw, but much slenderer and taller on the legs, in a brilliant purple-black plumage with light rows of pearl spots on the wing coverts, on the chest and with yellow beak. The bird is very beautiful. In the home of the amateur and in the river valley in his homeland, this bird is firmly convinced of its superiority over all living around. It does not tolerate rivalry and therefore is extremely quarrelsome with relatives. In a cage and even a large aviary, this rivalry, as a rule, ends in the death of the weakest individual from powerful blows from the beak of a quarrelsome fellow. It is said that even during the nesting season, consort birds prefer to go hunting up or down the river valley, but certainly in different directions.

Produces a wide variety of insects, catches fish in shallow water, collects mollusks, and, on occasion, hunts for small rodents, lizards, and young snakes. In behavior and intelligence it resembles corvids. But the way you eat big booty typically thrush. To finish off the prey, the bird tries to deal a crushing blow with a powerful hooked beak, or, grabbing the prey like pincers, beats it against a stone, without using its paws to hold and tear the prey.

The voice of the bluebird is powerful and varied trills of flute sound, blocking the noise of the waterfall, and in the conditions of the city - audible for several blocks. But the timbre of the performance of these songs is so melodic that, despite the volume, does not cause negative emotions. Nursing birds of this species perfectly master the melodies whistled to them in tune and imitate them, as if by notes, ennobling these melodies with their richest timbre. True, these same birds have an alarming cry of a not very pleasant sound, penetrating even through the main walls. But birds make this sound only in the first weeks of their captivity, to which they get used quickly enough.

These thrushes are very fond of bathing and do it as many times as you have the patience to change the water in the bathing suit. Great for catching small fish thrown into the water. With a mouse or a vole, they are dealt with with one blow of the beak. They eat a traditional mixture for insectivorous birds, cottage cheese, white bread, fruits and berries. A bone from soup, especially chicken, is gnawed no worse than a dog. So there are no problems with feeding these birds.

The blue bird Senka, who lived in our house for about 15 years, skillfully got out of the cage through a poorly closed door, and sometimes we ourselves let her fly into the room. In the room, Senka immediately threw small things off the shelves and cabinets, but on the other hand, he took out and laid out in the middle of the room all the carnations, washers and coins that had rolled under the cabinets and other furniture for some time. The blue bird returned to its cage very reluctantly, only fairly hungry. At first, I managed to lure our pet into a cage with a piece of paper or a plastic bow on a string, with which the bird played like a kitten. However, this method worked only 2-3 times, after which the bird refused to enter the cage even for the most tempting toy.

With my terriers, brave and aggressive dogs, the bluebird had a rather complicated relationship. Attempts to stick the dog's nose into the cage were stopped by a painful blow of the beak and all sorts of "swearing" by an angry bird. The dogs preferred not to mess with the bird that had flown into the room, mindful of the pinches received and my prohibitions. On one of Senka's walks around the room, fearing for the bird, I tied the dogs to chains in the corners, and I myself dozed a little;

suddenly I was awakened by the growl of a dog and the ringing of a chain. Before I could open my eyes, I sternly shouted: “No!”, but immediately burst out laughing when I saw what was happening - it turned out that the feathered aggressor himself molested the dogs, pulling the chains and trying to peck at the clawed paws of my dogs. And when a four-legged guest appeared in the room - a three-month-old Scottish terrier puppy, the bird immediately decided to prove to him who is the boss in the house. Spreading its tail and wings, with a loud bravura song of the current mood, the blue bird went to "war" on the four-legged fool, who, barking, but with his tail between his legs, preferred to retreat under the closet.

I suspect that our pet treated both me and my pets as second-class residents, whom she had to endure only as servants. One way or another, but among my domestic animals, this is the "No. 1" bird and everyone's favorite.

Due to its large size, very loud song, limited distribution area and low abundance, the bluebird, of course, cannot be recommended for mass keeping by amateurs. However, observations of it under cellular conditions are of considerable zoological interest. Of great interest is also the breeding of this beautiful bird in captive or semi-free conditions. In case of luck, the list of ornamental birds bred by man will be replenished with a new wonderful object. Perhaps in the near future animal acclimatization will have aesthetic or conservation incentives. And then you will need in-depth information about the habits and breeding of a wonderful bird that people want to see in the mountains of the Caucasus, Crimea or in other places.

Warblers Along with larks, nightingales and thrushes, many warblers are highly valued as outstanding singers.

The black-headed warbler is undoubtedly the best house bird of all representatives of the genus. Fans have long appreciated its sonorous melodious singing, as well as the fact that the Chernogolovka gets used to home conditions well and eats berries, fruits and carrot mixture with a minimum addition of animal feed better than all other small insectivorous birds.

In appearance, this small graceful bird is ash-colored with a black cap in an adult male and brown-red in young and females.

Only males sing. The song of Chernogolovka consists of two parts. The first is a quiet, sometimes prolonged chirping, in which the bird also includes borrowed knees from the songs of other birds. The second part of the song, the so-called "tops", is a sonorous flute trill. In the off-season, during the molt and the first time after it ends, Chernogolovka usually sings an incomplete song. When the bird is in its best shape and sings, as they say, "in the swing", then the murmuring - chirping - knee of the song is shortened and the bird "goes on top" more.

A freshly caught bird (in central Russia, blackheaded warblers are caught from arrival until the south of May) is kept on a mealworm and fresh ant pupae. When blueberries, currants, strawberries and others appear, they will significantly complement the diet.

When the elderberry and derain berries ripen, they will become the main food until late autumn. In winter, blackheads are fed with the usual mixture for insectivorous birds.

They also give apples and dried elderberries (scalded or slightly softened in grated carrots). Some birds also eat small mountain ash, boiled for softening and chopped raisins. I also give my blackheads a mixture of equal parts honey and condensed milk, which birds love very much. I put this kind of food about half a spoon into a wooden tray-feeder, which I insert between the twigs of the cage. Receiving such a diet, Chernogolovki sometimes refuse both mealworms and dried ant eggs included in the mixture. Although from time to time (during molting and during periods of intense singing), birds wake up with an appetite for these animal feeds. It is not surprising that such an undemanding to feed and well-singing black-headed warbler has become one of the favorite indoor birds. With proper care on the part of a person, black-headed warblers delight those around them with their gullibility, voice and excellent shape for many years. Chernogolovka, who lives with me, is already about 10 years old, but she is cheerful, smart and sings a lot, just like in the first season after her capture. And at one of the Moscow exhibitions of songbirds, a bird was exhibited that was caught 18 years ago, and looked like it had just come from the forest. By the way, this bird lived up to 20 years.

Garden warbler. Slightly larger than Chernogolovka, grayish-brown plumage. The singing of the best specimens is almost as good as the singing of Chernogolovka, differing only in the murmuring tones of chirping that precede the flute trill. Fanciers keep this warbler less often than Chernogolovka, apparently because in this species it is more difficult to distinguish a male from a non-singing female. In addition, the garden warbler is not so graceful compared to its illustrious relative, and most importantly, with a cellular content, this warbler needs more animal feed.

Warbler hawk, or hawk warbler. It got its name for the peculiar coloration of the male, in which the lower part of the body is covered with a yellowish-gray feather with transverse stripes, like a hawk. The similarity is aggravated by bright yellow eyes, like those of birds of prey. This is an inhabitant of lighted, bushy edges, clearings, copses and gardens, like all whitethroats.

Strictly speaking, the hawk-warbler should be classified as a singer of the second category, since there are quite a lot of crackling knees in her specific song. But on the other hand, this warbler is a wonderful mockingbird, its singing is long and varied, and in each bird it bears the stamp of individuality. It is no coincidence that the hawk is sometimes called the "song magpie".

It is a difficult bird to keep. It is recommended to start it only for experienced lovers, experienced in caring for insectivorous pets. Many freshly caught hawks refuse even fresh ant eggs, and take only mealworms and live moving insects. The autumn transfer of these birds from a fresh egg to a surrogate mixture is also difficult. This warbler eats berries and other fruits rather badly. vegetable feed. In the mixtures prepared for her, there should be more cottage cheese, ant pupae, and flour worms should be given to her every day at least a dozen. It is difficult for a hawk to get used to a person, it does not always tolerate molting safely. But nevertheless, both I and the familiar poultry houses of the capital lived for several years excellent specimens of these interesting birds completely settled down at home.

Warblers Warblers are small birds of an inconspicuous grayish-brown or greenish color. From warblers similar to them in appearance, they differ in a stepped tail, a relatively wide flattened beak. Habitats - shrubs and reeds, preferably in floodplain and marshy lands. In spring and early summer, all warblers become quite noticeable, as they sing a lot (both during the day and at night). Warbler songs are long, varied, but, as a rule, they contain a lot of crackling sounds, which drops these birds in the eyes of connoisseurs, and most importantly, spoils other indoor singers who are prone to borrowing other people's voices.

There is, however, a species in the warbler genus which is considered by many to be one of the best singers in our gardens and copses. This is a garden warbler, a small greenish-gray pichuga, which finds refuge in thickets of currants, raspberries and other shrubs, or even simply in weeds and nettles in the backyards of settlements. It is not easy to see this nimble pichuga when it deftly climbs branches and stems, but it constantly makes itself felt either by alarming “chigging” or by singing, which is heard literally day and night until mid-summer.

The song of the garden warbler approaches the nightingale in order, since its individual tribes are not played together, but separately, with short pauses in between. But the voice of this bird is much softer, not so harsh. If in the nightingale it can be conditionally called "opera", then in the garden singer it is clearly "chamber". However, for a room singer, this is not a vice, but a virtue. The garden warbler includes in its singing the knees borrowed from other birds. Actually, the main part of the songs of these wonderful birds is onomatopoeia. But what! The nightingale trills that the garden warbler reproduces are considered by many to sound much better than those of the nightingale. But besides them, melodic whistles of waders, roulades of thrushes and crane "trumpets" are heard in the singing of the warbler. And all this is ennobled by the silvery timbre of the performer himself, complemented by his pure whistles and quiet, fortunately, chatter, without which the singing of all warblers is indispensable. The set of trills and their sounding are individual for each bird.

Larks, of which there are 40 species in the CIS, are birds of open spaces that inhabit our steppes, semi-deserts, meadows and treeless slopes of mountains and hills.

Larks- birdies, painted in most cases in dull clay-gray colors, with darker backs and with a lighter underside of the body.
For its excellent singing, the lark is one of the most beloved birds, which are often kept in cages.

Of the large number of larks that inhabit our country, let's focus on a few of the most common or interesting for their features.

It is a bird, which, for its wonderful spring singing, rushing from the bottomless blue sky, is probably known to everyone. This lark has a monochromatic ocher-brown upper body with small dark stripes on the trunks of feathers, its bottom is whitish-clay with blackish-brown mottled on the goiter and throat. The wings and tail are dark brown, with light edges on the outer webs of feathers.

The field lark is found with its subspecies throughout our country.

The only one of all representatives of this group, associated with the forest in its way of life.

Yula is about one third smaller than the field lark in size and differs from it in a darker, brown-buffy part of the body; on the trunks of the feathers of its crown, neck and back there are wide black stripes. The underside of the body is whitish with reddish cheeks, throat, goiter and chest. There is a light strip above the eyes, which is called bird-catcher's "glasses". (There is a sign among birders that the more “glasses”, the better the top sings, but, of course, this is not true.)

Yula, or forest lark, is common in the European part of our country, as well as in the Crimea, the Caucasus and Transcaucasia.

It differs from other members of the family in its relatively bright coloration; in spring, rusty-red tones predominate in males.
The white-winged lark has a rusty-red top of the head, ear coverts and rump. The back and shoulders are grey. The underside of the body is white, sometimes with a grayish tinge. Large flight feathers are brown with an admixture of white, small flight feathers are always white. The tail is blackish-brown, with white edges on the outer tail feathers. There are indistinct pale brown spots on the sides, goiter and throat.

White-winged larks are common for nesting in the steppes of Western Siberia and Kazakhstan, in autumn and winter they fly to us in the European part of our country, the Voronezh and Rostov regions. (In 1926, Prof. V.G. Geptner found nesting white-winged larks in significant numbers in the Caspian steppes of the Kizlyar region of the Stavropol Territory.)

black lark

The only one of all larks - the male of which in the spring does not have gray and brown feathers at all in his plumage. Its plumage color is completely jet black without any shine. In black larks, the beak is milky white, it very effectively sets off the black color of the bird.

The habitat of the black lark is semi-desert, saline steppes of the Trans-Volga region and Kazakhstan to Altai in the east. In winter, black larks fly into the steppes of the North Caucasus, the Don and Turkestan.

It lives together with the snow bunting in the northern part of the tundra zone of Europe and Asia, as well as on the islands of the Arctic Ocean. Mountain subspecies of rum inhabit the ranges of the Caucasus, Altai, Tien Shan, and Kazakhstan.

In winter, flocks of rums are common birds for the entire territory of our Union, they are found in the European part of the country right up to Azerbaijan, Georgia and Armenia, in the Asian part - up to the southern state borders.
The adult rum is painted simply, but very elegantly.

In the male, the upper side is smoky gray with a slight pinkish-wine tint. Forehead, throat, stripes above the eyes and the back of the cheeks are sulphurous yellow; the front of the crown, "ears", cheeks, a large spot on the goiter and lower throat are black. Belly and undertail are white. Wings and tail are dark brown. A characteristic difference between the rums is their black, slightly curved "horns", or "ears", from narrow black feathers, located on both sides of the back of the crown.

Together with the field bird, it is one of the most common and widespread birds in most areas of the central strip of the Union. It leads a sedentary life and is found in these places throughout the year.

The crested lark is colored very similar to the field lark, but somewhat dimmer and grayer than it. Its distinguishing feature is a pointed crest of rising dark brown feathers, which is located in the middle of the crown.

All larks are either sedentary (black, crested, and for the south field), or one of our earliest spring birds arriving. “The snow is still whitening in the fields”, and from the azure heights the inspired ringing trills of larks are already rushing, which, fluttering their wings, almost motionless, “hanging” in the blue sky, or less often sing their “hymns to spring”, sitting on some snow-free mound or on a spring thaw.

Interestingly, the awakening of the "spring instincts", expressed in singing, begins very early in black larks. Black larks winter in large numbers in the steppes of Central Kazakhstan with their harsh winter, sharply continental climate. Here is a small extract from my diary devoted to this issue: “1945 ... The temperature at 8 am is -2 ° C. A snowstorm is blowing with a little snowfall. On the highway (not far from the city of Karaganda) there are many flocks of black larks, in which, as always in autumn and winter, black males keep separately from gray females, grouping in one-color and same-sex flocks. Despite the severe frost and snowstorm, the males begin to sing.

A few larks sit on piles of rubble prepared for highway repairs, as well as on posts of land surveying signs and purr, still very timidly, their "spring" songs. From time to time, then one, then another of them, or even several at a time, rise up and, swayed by gusts of wind, fly in circles, strongly flapping their wings, “current flight” over their comrades, again singing their trills. It seems that they do not care about the thirty-degree frost, nor the blizzard penetrating through." . .

The lark is caught in early spring at special “lark” points arranged on spring thawed patches using bows and hiding places.

Caught larks in the first days of captivity beat quite strongly in cages, but very soon, placed in cages with soft tops (which are hung in higher rooms), they begin to sing.
The song of the larks, which at first sounds in an undertone, gradually intensifies, the bird begins to sing it louder and louder, and usually by the end of the first month of being in captivity, the "successful" lark "rattles" in full voice.

“In terms of hunting, the whirligig takes second place after the nightingale and is recognized as the best singer of all larks,” writes I.K. Shamov, but, he adds, “it seems that it is still debatable who should be given the advantage: Yulia or the field lark. True, the scattering and clatter of the spinning top are wonderful. . . but the scatterings of the field lark and its whistles also do not leave much to be desired. and, of course, among all songbirds that are kept in cages, the singing of larks - yule, field and dzhurbay - is one of the most melodic and musical, it sounds almost continuously, with great enthusiasm and passion.

The lark (Alauda arvensis) is a small bird in the lark family. This little bird is known for its rather loud and melodious singing.

Length:	18-19 cm.
Wingspan:	30-36 cm.
Weight:	male - 30-45 g, female - 25-38.
Puberty:	in year.
Nesting period:	from April.
Carrying:	2 per year, 3-5 eggs
Incubation:	12-14 days.
rearingchicks:	8-11 days.
Food:	worms, insects, seeds, plants.
Lifespan:	5-6 years, in captivity up to 12 years.

Description

The lark bird has a protective color to match the color of the soil, very small or medium sizes: weight 15-80 g, length 10-25 cm. The legs of the lark are short, but perfectly adapted for movement on the surface, because the bird finds food on the ground: insects, molluscs, parts of plants (buds, seeds, flowers, etc.). On the ground, the lark builds a nest, masking it with a bunch of grass, a bush, a stone.

area

Larks settle in steppes, meadows, fields, deserts, semi-deserts, and only a few species (and there are 75-90 of them in total) are found in forest glades, forest edges, in mountains (up to 4000 m in height). The only place where you will not meet this little bird is the forest. After wintering, field larks arrive at the nesting place in early spring, when there are still no insects for food, they keep in small flocks in areas warmed by the sun, hide from the wind and rain on the edges.

The range of the field lark is very extensive, it includes almost all of Europe and most of Asia, as well as the mountains of North Africa.

Nutrition

The diet of the lark is varied. In summer it catches caterpillars, centipedes, various insects and earthworms. At least half of his food is not of animal origin, but of vegetable origin. In autumn and winter, these birds eat grass seeds and grains of cereals (mainly wheat). Birds eat the green parts of plants. In cereal fields, large flocks of larks can cause harm by feasting on the young shoots. This is because larks' favorite food is weeds.

Nesting

Birds start breeding 2–4 weeks after arrival. They nest, like all larks, in separate pairs. The nest is built on the ground, among crops of various agricultural crops, in a meadow or pasture, in areas with not very dense and high herbage, on borders, in moist places - on hummocks or at their base. At the same time, they either use a ready-made depression in the soil (a trace of ungulates) or make it themselves.

The nest is quite loose and consists of dry grass stalks, roots, and straws. Its inner part is lined with thinner soft blades of grass with an admixture of horse hair, and in some cases - wool. The nest of the skylark is most often placed under a bush of grass, skillfully covered and well shaded, so it is almost imperceptible. Nest diameter 8-11.5 cm; tray depth 4-5 cm, diameter 7-7.5 cm.

In a full clutch 4-5, less often 3 or 6 and, as an exception, 7 eggs. The shell is slightly shiny, off-white or yellowish, in some cases bluish-gray. Spots and specks of dark gray, brown and dark brown color of various sizes are densely scattered over its entire surface, often forming a corolla at the blunt end. Egg weight 3.5 g, length 20-25 mm, diameter 15-18 mm.

Offspring

There are two broods per year. The first fresh clutches are found in late April - early May, the second - in June. The female incubates for 14 days. In case of danger, she tries to leave the nest in advance (only sometimes she flies off the nest from under her very feet).

Chicks of the first breeding cycle appear in the second half of May, the second cycle - in the third decade of June - the first half of July. The chicks hatch covered with long gray down, but they are blind and helpless, so that otherwise development proceeds according to the chick type, as in other passerines. Not yet able to fly, at the age of 9-10 days, young larks leave the nest. For some time, the parents continue to feed them. At the age of 18–20 days, young larks begin to fly and forage independently. The rise of the young on the wing falls on the second half of June - the beginning of August. Grown up young gather in flocks and wander through the fields and meadows. In August, adults and young wander through the stubble, pastures and fields.

These birds fly away in September-October, some birds are found until mid-November (in the south of Belarus). Birds fly not only during the day, but also at night in small flocks (sometimes singly), either silently or uttering calls.

Wintering

Larks belong to migratory birds, but they do not fly far from the nesting place and are among the very first to return back. The mass arrival begins even when the snow has not melted, at the very beginning of March. The first to arrive are the males, it is the males who occupy the first, warmed by the sun, thawed patches, where they gather in groups and bask in the sun. Then the females arrive. It is they who are looking for the most convenient place for nesting, while the male is busy guarding and singing.

Enemies of the lark

Singing high above the ground makes the skylark very vulnerable. , the main enemy of these little birds, hunts only in flight and it is difficult to find a better target than a male lark keen on singing. Only his famous fall to the ground with a stone can save the little singer, but still, many males die precisely in the midst of their famous song.

Not only in the sky, but also on the ground, the field lark has enemies. These are such predators as and, and, and they are very fond of ruining the nests of a little singer, drinking eggs or eating small and defenseless lark chicks.

Kinds

Field Lark / Alauda arvensis

The field lark is a medium-sized bird, the size of a house sparrow: its body length is about 180 mm, its weight is about 40 g. The body is dense, the head is large with a relatively small cone-shaped beak. The bird looks somewhat heavy, but it quickly and dexterously runs on the ground. The rear toe is armed with a very long, spur-like claw. The plumage of the dorsal side of the body is earthy-brown with yellowish-grayish-white dashes and black-brown spots. Head, throat, upper chest and body sides rusty brownish with dark stripes; the rest of the breast and belly are yellowish-grayish-white. Wings have two pale transverse stripes.

The tail is brownish-black, with a shallow notch at the end, the outer tail feathers are white. Field larks are distributed throughout the Palearctic (except for the tundra, the Anadyr Territory and some desert regions of the extreme south, Central and Central Asia), as well as in northern Africa. Among some other European birds, the skylark was introduced by humans to North America and New Zealand. From the northern regions of their habitat, larks fly away for the winter, in the southern they lead a sedentary lifestyle. These birds winter in the countries of Western Europe, in the south of Asia and in the north of Africa.

Finch Lark / Ammommanes deserti

The color of the finch lark is sandy-gray, the ventral side is whitish with an ocher tinge. The plumage of the bird is loose and soft. This is a medium-sized lark: its length is about 175 mm, its weight is 30 g. Finch larks inhabit the desert areas of North Africa from Algeria to the Red Sea (in Algeria, Libya, the UAR, in northern Sudan, Ethiopia and Somalia), Arabia, Iraq, Iran , Afghanistan, Pakistan and Northwest India, as well as the south of Central Asia.

Favorite habitats of this lark are low barren rocky mountains, clay plains, semi-desert areas. Here he leads a settled way of life, making only small vertical migrations in the mountains and descending to the plains in winter. This bird avoids vast sandy deserts, as it needs the immediate vicinity of water: several times a day, larks fly to the watering place. At the same time, it is one of the few birds that can endure the scorching sun of the Arabian Desert and the Sahara. In the hottest hours of the day in June and early July, in an absolutely silent desert, you can hear the singing of this bird. The song of the lark is melodic and very pleasant to the ear. Birds nest twice a summer. They feed on caterpillars of butterflies, beetles, spiders; often peck seeds, as well as young shoots of plants.

Wood Lark / Lullula arborea

The forest lark is very similar in appearance to the field lark. The difference lies in the fact that the forest lark is slightly smaller (length 160 mm), its tail is shorter and there is a barely noticeable crest on its head. Forest larks nest in northwest Africa, in Western and Central Europe (except for the extreme north), in the Caucasus, in Asia Minor and somewhat to the south of it. In the southern parts of the range they are sedentary; from the north for the winter they fly to southern Europe, to the north of Africa, north-west of Western Asia. In spring, forest larks inhabit the edges of forests, glades, wide clearings, overgrown burnt areas and clearings.

With their habits - to stay in the crown of a tree, to run quickly along the ground, chasing some insect, to sing, sitting on a high branch, and even to build a nest at the foot of a tree, bush, under the protection of a tussock or stump - they are not at all like larks, but they are very reminiscent of a forest horse, with which they are often confused. The song of the forest lark is a soft, but melodic “yuli-yuli-yuli, yuli-yuli-yuli-yuli”, which the bird often sings in early spring, rushing over the tops of the trees. For her, this bird is popularly called a top.

Lesser Lark / Calandrella cinerea

The little lark is called small because it is smaller and more graceful than most other representatives of this family. Its length barely reaches 160 mm, and its weight is about 20 g. The color of this bird is of the lark type, but less variegated, and there are dark spots on the sides of the neck, clearly visible at a short distance. Small larks are widespread in Southern Europe, in Western, Central and Central Asia, in North and East Africa. In the northern regions of the range, these birds are found only for nesting, and fly to warm countries for the winter. In the rest of their range, they lead a sedentary lifestyle.

Song Lark (Javanese Lark) / Mirafra javanica

The song lark is widely distributed from northeast Africa, through the western parts of Asia south to Australia. The Javan lark is perhaps the smallest representative of the larks: its length is only 130 mm. The top of the bird is brown with black spots, the ventral side is light brown. The beak of the Javan lark is similar to that of a granivorous bird - strong and shorter than that of other species of larks.

The Javan lark leads a sedentary lifestyle, but in the south of its range (in South Australia) - migrant. It is found not only among shrubs: for example, in Australia it often nests on open grassy plains (including among agricultural lands), in vast forest glades; does not avoid neighborhood with a person - willingly settles on the lawns of parks, squares, sports grounds etc.

The song of the Java lark is long, consisting of very varied, though sometimes harsh, sounds of varying frequency, and is very melodic. A bird sings, sitting on a branch of a bush, on a hummock, or making a kind of fluttering current flight. It is usually heard on quiet, cloudless moonlit nights. The nest is arranged in a small depression on the ground among thick grass covering the building from above. The bottom and walls of the nest are lined with a thick layer of grass, and at the same time the walls extend so high upwards that the whole building is almost dome-shaped, with a wide entrance from the side or from above. The clutch usually contains 3-4 gray-white eggs, covered with speckles of olive, dark gray and brown colors.

Desert Lark / Alaemon desertorum

The desert lark has a color that is quite in harmony with the environment. The predominant color in the plumage of this bird is sandy-gray, with a slate tint on the forehead and upper tail coverts. The primary flight feathers are black with white bases; the tail feathers are black with yellowish rims, but the median pair of tail feathers is yellowish-brown with wide yellowish edges. The throat and belly are white; crop and chest, yellowish with black spots. This is the largest bird of the larks: its length is about 230 mm. The beak of this bird is peculiar: it, unlike the beaks of other larks, is long and thin, slightly curved down at the end. The fingers and claws of the desert lark are very short.

These larks inhabit the waterless plains of Africa and Arabia, meeting east to Afghanistan and Western India. These birds are especially willing to populate sandy deserts. The desert lark is a real desert bird, running very fast on the ground and skilfully hiding due to its protective coloration. During the mating season, males emit a short and not very melodic song. Usually in May, the formed pair makes a small hole in the sand; in this hole, a nest is twisted from dry blades of grass. The clutch consists of 3-4 grayish-white eggs with yellow-brown mottling. After the chicks fly out of the nest, the whole family stays in a small flock until spring. Desert larks feed on various desert insects, as well as seeds picked up from the ground.

Rasun's Lark / Alauda razae

Razunsky lark - a small bird is closely related to our field lark, to which it is very similar in plumage color, size and habits. However, her beak is much longer and stronger, which allows her to easily dig out insect larvae and small soil invertebrates from the ground, which this bird feeds on. The Razunsky lark sings, flying up steeply, ending the song, it descends vertically, and does not fly in a spiral, as the field lark does. It is believed that this nature of the current flight is an adaptation to life on a small piece of land (Razu Island has an area of ​​\u200b\u200bonly 8 km2), the only place on our planet where the Razunsky lark lives.

Horned Lark / Eremophila alpestris

The horned lark differs from other larks by the presence of elongated feathers on the sides of the crown, forming very peculiar ears, or horns (in young birds they are not clearly expressed). Its dimensions are average for birds of this family: length 180 mm, weight 36–39 g. The claw of the hind finger is long and straight, the beak is short and weak. The coloration is very characteristic. In an adult male, the dorsal side is grayish with a pinkish tinge, the ventral side is whitish. Against the background of this inconspicuous coloring, the mask stands out sharply: the forehead, throat, superciliary stripes, the back of the cheeks, and the neck are gray-yellow; the anterior part of the crown, horns, cheeks, a wide transverse stripe on the craw and the lower part of the throat are black. The females are paler.

Young birds are brown above with buffy dashes and spots, dirty-buffy below, with brown spots on the sides and craw. Of all the larks, the horned one is the northernmost. It inhabits the tundras of Europe, Asia and North America, and is also widely distributed to the south: in Northwest and North Africa, Northern Arabia, the Balkans and from Asia Minor to the east to the western and northwestern provinces of China. It is ubiquitous in North America, and also breeds in isolation in some northern regions of South America.

Crested Lark / Galerida cristata

The crested lark is distinguished from other larks by its rather large tuft on its head. In addition, it is larger than them (its length is 180–190 mm, weight is about 45 g). The color of the plumage of the crested lark is grayish-brown with an ocher tint and dark streaks on the dorsal side; the ventral side of the body is buffy-white, with black-brown streaks on the crop and upper chest. The crested lark is widespread in the countries of Western and Central Europe, in the south of the European part of our country, in the Caucasus and Transcaucasia, in Central and Western Asia, in a significant part of China, India and Pakistan and on the Korean Peninsula, as well as in North Africa (where extends south almost to the equator).

On the territory of its vast range, this lark forms about 40 geographical forms (subspecies), differing from each other in size and plumage color details. The subspecies living in the north of the range lead a migratory lifestyle, but those that inhabit the southern parts of the range, especially numerous in Africa, are sedentary and partly nomadic birds.

Black Lark / Melanocorypha yeltoniensis

The black lark differs in coloration, build and size from most other larks. This is a large lark: its length is 200 mm, its weight is about 60 g. The beak of the bird is thick and strong. The coloration is especially peculiar: unlike all larks, and indeed from most other passerine birds, the plumage of males is black, but the shoulders, small flight and tail feathers, as well as feathers on the sides of the chest are trimmed with a pale stripe. From this, against the background of black plumage, the back and sides of the bird seem to be covered with whitish semilunar spots. By spring, the bird, which has already worn out its plumage (the light edges of the feathers are upholstered by this time), seems completely black. The jet black color of the bird is complemented by black legs and dark brown eyes.

And only the grayish beak stands out sharply against the general black background. The female is blackish-brown above, with pale brownish-gray edges of feathers. From the ventral side, it is dirty-whitish, with brown mottles on the goiter and sides of the body. Young birds are colored similarly to the female, but their plumage has more dirty shades. The distribution of the black lark is limited - it is endemic to Russia. These birds nest in the sagebrush steppes, semi-deserts and salt marshes of the lower reaches of the Volga and in Kazakhstan. Although this is non-migratory birds, in autumn (especially when there is a lot of snow) they gather in flocks and undertake wide migrations (mainly in the southern, southwestern and western directions). During the nomadic period of life, these birds can be found far beyond the nesting range - in Central Asia, the Caucasus and Transcaucasia, in southern Ukraine. And some stray birds were observed even in Great Britain, France, Italy.

• Each male has its own timbre of voice and its own abilities, they perfectly imitate the voices of other birds, they can be taught human speech;
• On average, the song of a lark lasts 10-12 minutes, after which the singer rests.
• If the lark is in danger in the air, it falls down like a stone and tries to get lost in the grass stalks.
• In the old days, the lark was considered the herald of spring, it was believed that these birds could beg for rain during a long drought.
• On the day of the Forty Martyrs, the Slavs baked figures in the form of larks, they were distributed to neighbors, children, passers-by - they were a symbol of the new harvest.
• Once upon a time, people sought to teach the lark to follow certain melodies. In 1917, a collection of musical works created for field, forest larks and other bird species was published. They were supposed to be played on a special flute - a harmonica.
• Like all songbirds, larks must learn their song. This is confirmed by the fact that a young lark, taken from the nest even before it has learned the song of its parents, can accurately repeat other melodies it has heard.
• The songs of most birds of the same species living in different parts of the world tend to be very different. But all the skylarks in the world sing the same way.
• The lark is one of the few Central European songbirds that lek on the ground. The male regularly jumps into the air during courtship.
• Larks that live in nature are good mimics. They perfectly imitate the voices of other birds.
• The field lark often falls prey to the sparrowhawk. But, when he manages to free himself from the clutches of a predator, he quickly flies as far as possible, and continues his song.

Vincent van Gogh "Wheat field with a lark"

Cell content

Catch

Spring larks are selected for keeping in captivity. The earlier the bird is caught, the more likely it is to sing in the cage. They catch larks on the first thawed patches. The most common way is for bait. The lark descends and lands on the ground in almost the same place. Nearby they clear the ground and make bait from a grain mixture, flour worms, ant eggs. After a day or two, the bait is checked, and if the bird has found it and visits it, they install gear: a hiding place, a beam, a fly-beam. The only condition is that you cannot leave the samolov for several days. The bird will either die or be torn to pieces by a predator.

home furnishings

Cage for a lark

Skylarks have long been revered by hobbyists and kept in cages. The bird is strong and dies only with the complete absence of care for it. As with other birds, among the larks there are calm specimens, and there are also ardent savages who knock out their plumage in a week.

A cage for a lark needs a special one, it is called a lark cage. It must have a soft top, i.e. instead of the usual wire, the ceiling is covered with dense matter. The side walls can be ordinary, or made of plywood (box). All drinkers, feeders are hung from the outside. It is necessary to take into account the dimensions between the bars of the cage and the height of the sides so that the lark can reach water and food. The cage is located as high as possible so that the bird does not worry once again, especially the first year.

Many lovers of summer season transfer larks to balconies and loggias. And for the field lark, this is the best option.

Feeding

When feeding a bird, it should be borne in mind that in the summer it becomes practically insectivorous, it consumes grain only in the absence of insects in nature. It is necessary to feed the lark as an insectivorous bird, and use the grain as an additive. Without proper feeding, the lark will not sing, especially in the first spring. In any case, the first year the song is rarely performed. The bird is so strict and shy that at the slightest movement in the room it interrupts the song.