Human activities leading to the extinction of many species of birds.Especially got predators, which in the 60s specifically exterminated.Influenced the decline in their numbers and intensive agriculture, leading to the extinction of rodents and small animals, which are food for them.One of the very rare birds of the family Falcon - a steppe kestrel.About her very little is known, as it is quite rare.Many people confuse it with the Kestrel.Now, this beautiful bright bird is protected and listed as endangered.Measures are being taken to increase its strength and protection from extinction.
difference from Kestrel
These birds are very similar to the family of Falcon.But smaller and at the same time more beautiful - a steppe kestrel.Photos bird in flight in a fixed position and shows how it is bright, especially the male.By what features can be found steppe kestrel?
- Painting her bright red, without streaks and stains.Blue-blue-gray head and black fringe on the tail.The inner surface of the wings is light, almost white, without spots.
- steppe kestrel differs from ordinary color claws - they have it pale yellow or white.This bird is also called white-clawed.
- her wings narrower than the Kestrel.A wedge-shaped tail, with a broad black border.
- steppe kestrel in flight may hang motionless, fluttering wings.
- It differs in behavior: love nest in colonies, and prefers eating insects.
Where does this bird
Distributed Kestrel steppe in Southern Europe, in different parts of Asia and North Africa.It can be found in Kazakhstan, Altai, Southern Urals and the Caucasus.It occurs throughout the Southwest and Central Asia from Afghanistan to China, common in the Mediterranean.
Kestrel prairie winters in South Asia and Africa.Its nesting habitat during the last decade greatly reduced.This is due primarily to human activities and decrease in the number of insects and small rodents, as well as contamination of fields with insecticides and pesticides.He likes to settle this bird in the steppe and semi-desert areas, nests in the piles of stones on the grave tombs and niches and crevices.Linked to this is a decrease in the number of Lesser Kestrel - in the last decade has changed the design of gravestones cemeteries.But the protective measures and the creation of a heap of stones in the habitat of these birds gradually lead to what is increasingly common kestrel steppe.
description of the appearance of the bird
Dimensions
length of its body does not exceed 35 centimeters and has a wingspan - no more than 70 centimeters.These birds weigh 100 to 200 grams.
body shape
tail of Lesser Kestrel wider and tapered, and the wings are narrow.Compared to other birds of prey, it is not only smaller, but looks slimmer and sleeker.
Painting
Very beautiful bird - Lesser Kestrel.Photos show her what she is bright.Ocher-red, sometimes pinkish spin contrasts with the black border on the ends of the wings and tail.The flight feathers wings brown, and the head distinctly bluish.Gray-blue-gray streak going and wings.In flight Kestrel steppe too beautiful: buffy belly, sometimes with bright spots, almost white throat and the inner surface of the wings, white claws.Distinguish this bird as a dark rim around the eyes, cheeks and buff the lack of "whiskers", typical of other birds of prey.
Lifestyle Lesser Kestrel
It is a migratory bird, forming large flocks.It nests in colonies, it also, unlike other birds of prey.Maybe even settle with other types of birds.Kestrel lives in the steppe areas, but it needs hills, low rocks, clay cliffs, piles of stones and earthworks.She loves the ruins of stone structures and burial tombs.Jack arranges itself in niches or crevices, voids in a heap of stones, and even just in earthen pits.It is lined with nothing, and the clutch 3 to 7 eggs are incubated by both parents in turn.
characteristic of steppe kestrel is powered mainly by insects.She catches them on the fly and can even hover in the air.This bird is very useful for crops, as destroying a lot of locusts and other pests.Their she catches, running on the ground.Do not shrink from Kestrel and small birds, lizards, and even hunts rodents.In recent years, work is underway to increase the number of these birds.They create favorable conditions for nesting and feeding.
