Kingfisher: description on this photo

A kingfisher is an ordinary bird - a little larger than a sparrow. Those who were lucky enough to see this baby, were sure to admire his bright plumage and wanted to know better what kind of miracle.

General description of the bird

The kingfisher (photo of it we provide in the article) can also be known as fishing, or kingfisher blue. It belongs to the family of kingfishers. This bird attracts attention with its bright plumage, it has an elongated beak and a short tail. Its size is quite small, with an average weight of 25-45 grams, and the length of the wings is up to eight centimeters.

You can find out the kingfisher according to the colors. The back of the bird is painted in a bluish-green hue with a shiny drop. On the head and wings are visible small specks of light tone. Abdomen reddish, neck on both sides and neck white. Small legs have a bright red color. If you look at the kingfisher near, its color will seem less saturated, but in the distance or during the flight due to the refraction of light, the color spectrum becomes bright and unusual.

This species of birds tries not to move on the ground, because their feet are not designed for walking. In general, the kingfisher is ordinary, if he wants to move, then flies. He can rest for a long time sitting on a branch, a stone or on the plexus of roots, which hang over the water.

Sexual signs

At first glance, males and females do not differ from each other. If there is an opportunity to look at and compare the pair, the differences become more noticeable. Thus, it can be noted that the male plumage is slightly brighter. Samochki are inferior to their partners in the amount of. Another sign is the beak. In males, it is monophonic black, while in females, the subclavian can be partially or completely red.

Habitat

If we consider that the species of kingfishers consists of six subspecies, then these birds are very common. They can be found in the northwestern part of Africa, in New Zealand, Indonesia and Italy. But it is especially interesting that the kingfisher is common in some reservoirs of Russia, Ukraine and Belarus. Since wintering in the middle lane of Russia, the bird is returning at the end of April.

Kingfishers prefer to dwell near water bodies. But these birds have rather high requirements to the nesting place. They select clean water bodies, usually shallow, but not too shallow. The water in them should be flowing, and the banks - with steep and overgrown bushes. In addition, these birds do not like neighborhood with other birds. As such places are becoming less and less due to human activities, the number of kingfishers is steadily declining.

What feeds on

The kingfisher does not live in vain near water bodies, he likes to eat small fishes, for example, steers and slicers. Sometimes he catches aquatic invertebrates, such as freshwater shrimp. Also in the diet of a kingfisher there may be insects living near water, a frog or larva of dragonflies.

If a kingfisher does not have a family, a day he can catch and eat up to 12 fish. Kingfishers are able to hunt from the air, but more often to catch prey, the bird sits on a twig above the water and watches the victim. Usually these are secluded places where the bird is not seen.

At a convenient opportunity, he attacks, diving at an acute angle into the water. With the same ease, kingfishers take off from under the water. If the attack on the fish was unsuccessful, the bird returns to a secluded place and continues to wait for a convenient moment. Caught fish, it can be carried into the nest and there it can regale, and can swallow, sitting on a branch.

How to create steam

The kingfisher is a monogamous bird and creates a family for the time of nesting. The male takes the first step, he catches a fish and presents it to his chosen one. The female decides whether to accept the gift or not. If she takes a fish, it means that they have become a couple. This family will be together all the warm period, and for wintering the couple will fly apart from each other. But in the spring, each of them returns to their last year's nest, where they again meet and reunite to create a family.

Nesting of a bird

Since kingfishers feed on underwater animals, it is convenient for them to build their houses right off the banks of water bodies. For this, they choose a sharply torn coastal escarpment and dig into it a nest. Usually the entrance to it is hidden from prying eyes behind branches of bushes, trees and roots. These thickets also allow you to protect the nest from possible predators. On the precipice, several pairs of kingfishers usually settle. Between their nests the minimum distance is 300 meters, but sometimes more than a kilometer.

The couple is engaged in digging holes for more than seven days, and the length of the depression can reach from 30 cm to a meter. The corridor is horizontal. It happens that birds, not reaching the depth of the house they need, encounter an obstacle, then they leave it and begin to re-create a new burrow. At the end of the corridor they make an extension that will be their nesting room. They do not put a litter. But in old burrows on the floor a layer of scales, bones and other remains from food accumulates. In such conditions, flies postpone their larvae.

Offspring

A kingfisher is ordinary (a description of his mating games we omit) brings in one masonry from 4 to 11 eggs. They have a white shiny color. Each parent takes part in the incubation - about three weeks the male and female alternately sit on the masonry.

Chicks do not appear at the same time, naked and blind. But their growth occurs quickly, and by the 24th day the young birds are fully fledged, although the coloring is still different from the parent - they are not so bright. Being in a burrow, the young one makes a constant murmuring trill, which can be heard even a few meters from them.

Parents feed the offspring of the insect larvae. Fly kids can already in the third week of life. At this time, their growth is less than in adults. After the departure from the nest, the chicks spend a couple of days following the parents, who continue to feed them.

Now you know how the kingfisher lives. The bird, the description of which you read in the article, among other things, is capable of bringing two offspring in the summer. If circumstances permit, another masonry is obtained by the end of June. Usually by this time the chicks of spring laying leave the parent's nest. But it happens that the first kids still do not have time to fly away, and the female is already laying eggs for the second time.

The second chicks are ready to fly by mid-August. After the offspring leaves the nest, all birds can fly for a few days in a flock, but soon everyone starts his own separate life.

Wintering

After all the offspring flew "for their bread", the kingfishers are preparing to fly for the winter. This period falls on the last days of August and sometimes can drag on October. From Russia, kingfishers fly to North Africa and southern Europe. Siberian inhabitants choose South Asia for wintering. Birds living in the North Caucasus remain in their territories all year round.

Kingfisher: interesting facts

Finally, we give some interesting information about the kingfisher.

These crumbs live about 15 years. And despite the fact that they are quite common in our region, to see them is a big rarity, because they like solitude.

It is interesting that monogamous kingfisher males in some cases are able to create several families simultaneously.

Unlike most birds, they do not gather in flocks, except for the autumn flight for wintering. Even if several birds stop at fish pools at once, then each one adheres to his space, which is guarded vigilantly.