If you see a big beautiful bird with black spots on the throat and perky crest on the head, you know, it's waxwing.It named because it is not a coincidence.In the old Russian word for "sviristet" means whistle, shout loudly.That's how this marvelous bird.She sat himself on a branch, chirping, and then suddenly surprises everyone with a loud whistle.It makes it it is not from fright.Birds have long been accustomed to people.It allows you to approach them very closely and admire its beauty.
Appearance
bird waxwing (see below photo) in size similar to the starling.She has a thick furry tail.Head waxwings decorated with a large crest.
The bird has a very bright color diverse.It is a pinkish-gray.But her wings are black.However, they are decorated with white and yellow stripes.Black throat and tail waxwings.Secondaries on the tips of the wings are bright red.Yellow stripe runs along the edge of the tail, and black - in the eyes.
pass by noisy flocks of bright waxwings impossible.Pay attention to them, even constantly hurrying Moscovites.Citizens often call these feathered cockerels, crested tit or parrots.
Habitat
waxwing bird prefers Russian taiga zone.This place is its summer habitat and nesting.You can meet her in the forest.She prefers mixed forests, deforestation and conifers, located in the northern zone of the country.The most common habitat for birds choose the places where there are birch, pine and spruce.
waxwings - migratory birds.With the onset of cold weather, they are moving closer to the south, where the place warmer.Some pack reaches the Crimea, Central Asia and the Caucasus.However, most prefer the middle lane.Waxwing bird, usually in the first half of winter, and sometimes for Christmas, appears in the Moscow region.
During migrations ornithologists have a great opportunity to study these birds.Indeed, in the remote and sparsely populated northern zone waxwings lead a sedentary lifestyle, and secretive.
Power
At home bird waxwing eats small fruits and berries, young shoots and buds.Love birds and insects.They get the hand to grab the fly midges and mosquitoes, butterflies and dragonflies.They feed the larvae and waxwings.
With the onset of autumn pores birds leave relocate.Driving them out of there is not so much the cold as hunger.They fly off in search of the places where they can find food.During his flight waxwings become vegetarians.They make a stop in those places where a lot of berries.During the holiday bird trying to eat enough.Whether they like the mountain ash and juniper, viburnum and barberry.Can they eat berries and other bushes and trees.
Waxwing - bird with a good appetite.Ravenous birds eat quickly and in large quantities.Berries they swallow whole.Thus the food used in such an amount that their stomachs are unable to keep its digest.An interesting fact is that the appearance of waxwings evidenced by their droppings.Birds leave the red-orange spots, consisting of half-digested berries with pieces of peel.Such litter spoil grounds and steps in front of houses.Seeds, which leave waxwings sometimes grow in various places.Visit these birds can be prepared by an trough.Willingly they peck dried berries and seeds.
After a few weeks, will pack in one place, it flies to another.Selecting new habitats depends on the quantity of food.Waxwings appear again in Moscow in late winter or early spring.Here they feed on the remaining berries and already swelling buds of poplar and aspen.
strange behavior
bird waxwing sometimes "drunk."Such strange behavior of birds known for a long time.This phenomenon has been observed not only in Russia.Such a situation arose in the US and in the Nordic countries.
«Drunk" waxwings can be observed not only in the fall, but in the spring season.Sometimes the "intoxication" provokes the tree sap.In the spring it streams flowing down the barrel at the slightest damage to the cortex.But more often "intoxicated" waxwings in the fall, when the weather is warm and humid.The juice of the berries that remain on the bushes to the arrival of birds begins to wander in these conditions.Ravenous birds feed everyone.They swallow fermented berries.
Behavior "drunk" waxwings and changes in their body have been studied by American ornithologists.It was found that in the case of fruit by eating large amounts of fermentation begins in the esophagus.In this high-load the liver can not cope.Caught in the bird's body alcohol alters the behavior of birds.Pack consisting of "drunken" waxwings, the spectacle is not of the fun.Birds do not orient themselves in space.They can not fly in a straight line, crash into the various obstacles, fall, injured and sometimes killed.
economic purpose
significant role in the life of the waxwings reserved forest.Birds spread the seeds of berries over a large area.They fall to the ground with dung.The seeds do not lose germination, passing through the intestines, and under favorable conditions to germinate.
