Ordinary pikha. Bird of pika: description, lifestyle, reproduction and nutrition

Ordinary pikha - a bird from the order of passerine. From the representatives of his family, it is the most common. The bird is very hardworking, most of the day is in motion. Thanks to the coloring it is perfectly masked. Constantly searches the trees in search of food. And because of its sharp, beak-like beak can check for the presence of insects, even the narrowest slit in the trunk. In addition to trees, a bird, in the city (or in the vicinity of villages), seeks food in wooden houses, log houses, in places where insects gather.

Pika common

The bird of pika is ordinary, the description of which is in this article, quite small in size, smaller than the sparrow. She has a hard, pointed stepped tail. The beak is long, crescent, thin. Paws short with strong claws. The body length of the male is from 110 to 155 mm, in females - from 121 to 145 mm. The weight of the pika varies from 7 to 9.5 grams.

She creeps beautifully through the trees, using her hard tail for support. Climbing to the trunk, always starting the movement from below, in a spiral, circumambulating the barrel. When it flies to another branch, it sits always lower than it was before. And again begins to rise from the bottom up.

Moved by short jumps and beak sticks in every cracks. This bird is one of the best orderlies of the forest. Thanks to a thin beak, the pika gets larvae even laid by pests of trees. But she does not pursue fast flying and flying insects.

Area and habitat

Pishukha is a bird leading a sedentary, rarely roaming lifestyle. It is common in Europe. And also in North Asia, Canada and America (USA). In Russia, pika can be found in the European part, starting from Arkhangelsk and ending with the Crimea and the Caucasus. There is no this bird only in the steppe and places where trees do not grow. During the migrations can fly far beyond the border of the nesting range. It is often found in small settlements. In Asia, pika is found in the forest belt of Siberia, east of Sakhalin and the Sea of Okhotsk, south of the Tien Shan, Mongolia, northern Iran and Kazakhstan.

Prefers deciduous, coniferous and mixed forest tracts. Pishukh more like old trees. During nesting period he chooses old deciduous and mixed forests. Less often it can be seen in conifers. During the migration, it occurs in gardens, parks, groves - wherever trees grow.

What does a pike bird look like?

The back of the pika is grayish or brown-red, with pale white specks. Loin and nadhvoste - grayish-brown. The abdomen is white, silky. Flap wings - light brown with small bright spots. The helmsmen are of the same color, but they have light edges and superstructure.

Beak is brownish from above and lighter from below. Brown iris. Legs of the same color, but with a grayish tinge. In young pikis on the back, spots are round, in adults they are elongated. Color in the young is duller, and the abdomen is yellowish.

Food

The main food of the food is insects and spiders. Most birds eat Diptera insects, spiders and beetles. We love weevils the most. Also in the diet of pika there are aphids, caterpillars, long-legged legs, bedbugs, moths, weevils and other pests of forests. Birds also feed on seeds, but mostly from coniferous trees and in winter. In search of food, these birds search the trunk of the tree, not losing sight of a single slit. If the tree has a lot of food, then the pika can return to it several times.

In winter, this bird can be accustomed for a time to one feeding place, if you smear on the bark soft food and beef fat. In the summer a huddle is hung, in which food is constantly put.

Bird of pika: description of breeding

The mating season at the piches begins in March. At this time, you can see the fights of the males and how they sing. Sockets build pikas begin later. First carefully select the place. Pikas prefer narrow hollows or a lagging bark. But the nest is always located low from the ground.

Pikas build nests from eight to twelve days. But only the females prepare it for themselves, the males do not care about the offspring. The bottom of the nest usually has a loose platform and consists of pieces of bark and thin branches. They rest against the walls of the hollow. It turns out that the nest does not lie in it, but is strengthened in the middle. Above the dwelling is built of fibers of bast, mixed with small pieces of bark, lichen, wood and bundles of moss. Inside it is lined with many small feathers with an admixture of wool, cobwebs, cocoons of insects.

An ordinary pika lays five to seven eggs. Eight or nine is extremely rare. Eggs are reddish-brown, with dots and specks. They are mostly at the stupid end. Sometimes in a laying there are white eggs with hardly appreciable pinkish spotting.

Female incubates clutch from 13 to 15 days. After birth, the chicks stay in the nest for the same time. Feeds their female spiders and small insects. Fly chicks first masonry begin in May-June. From the second - in June-July. Having strengthened, the chicks begin to wander, but not flying away from the nest.

Moulting

Pishukha is a bird moulting in the first year of life. It begins to change feathers in July. Moulting is ending in September. In old birds, this period lasts from June to August. And contour large wings are the first to change. Small - later, at the end of molting. After the change of plumage, it becomes brighter. And the color of the feathers rusts.

Subspecies and changing signs

Pishukha is a bird With geographical variability. This manifests itself in the size of the body and changes in the color of the feathers in the upper half of the trunk. But it can be seasonal or individual. And this greatly complicates the identification of geographical species. Now there are twelve of them. The differences between them are quite insignificant, and it is very difficult to distinguish between them.

In England and Ireland, the color of food is darker than that of Western European. In Japan - with a pronounced red tint. Singing of different subspecies also differs. Basically, their trill is loud and prolonged, with short pauses. It was for his squeak that the bird got that name.

Lifestyle of the pika

Common pika Little and bad flies. Basically it's just the flights from one tree to the foot of the other. Thanks to the long and curved claws, this bird for the bark is held very tightly. Pikas live mostly in isolation. They are single. But when autumn comes, they unite in packs. And with other species of birds. For example, with tits.

In cold weather, they can sit in a dense ring of 10-15 birds, warming themselves. In autumn, pikas search for places with a lot of trees - parks, squares, forests. But in the remaining seasons, birds have their own feeding areas and overnight stays, which they militarily protect.

Pishukha is a fearless bird. When she is in search of food, even when she sees a person, she will not fly away.

She can even sing. True, her trill is double, like a piercing squeak. The second is always lower than the first.

Since the tail of the pika serves as a support for the search for food, over time it is erased, the feathers become disheveled. Therefore, the tail of this bird molts more often than the rest of the plumage.

It is not easy to detect pika. She always keeps imperceptibly, and the color of her plumage masks well. But sometimes, noticing something suitable in the snow, can still jump on it. Grabbing the prey, she again rushes to the trunk.

With the end of winter pika becomes more energetic, lively. On the trunks, she begins to creep much faster, and when meeting with relatives even fights.