What birds eat rowan in the fall. Wintering birds. A selection of photos and videos. Nesting and breeding

Nowadays, few people remember that November 12 was called “Titmouse Day.” From that day on, with the arrival of the first cold weather, it was customary to feed the birds and take care of them. People used to say: “Feed the birds in winter, and they will serve you in the spring.” Your child is, of course, familiar with different animals. Does he know the birds living in our forests, parks or city streets? Observing the life of birds, stories about what they build nests from, how they hatch chicks, where they spend the winter and what they eat - sometimes it becomes a discovery not only for a child, but also for an adult city dweller. And if you together want to feed the wintering birds and “open” a bird feeder for them, it will be not only an exciting game for your child, but also a real lesson in kindness!

On the paths of the Moscow Botanical Garden you can often see children standing motionless with outstretched palms. On the palms there are seeds, cereals, bread crumbs - a treat for the nimble and fearless titmice. And how much happiness appears in the eyes of a child when a tiny blue lump sits on his fingers for a while! City children rarely communicate with nature and spend more and more time in front of the TV and computer. They even saw many of the animals that live next to us only on TV. But observations in nature are so interesting! We just need to want and be able to see everything that happens around us, learn to discover the secrets of nature. What child doesn't love secrets? Encourage your son or daughter to become a ranger and observe the world around them. Of course, be prepared for the fact that he will have not only answers, but also questions. We hope this article will help answer them.

Bird watching in winter. Are all tits the same?

Bird watching is interesting in winter. Indeed, at this time of year they often feel hungry and fly to a person for help, approaching our home. Cheerful flocks of wandering titmice can be seen in almost any populated area. They stay with us even in the coldest winters, although in general tits are forest dwellers. But they are already accustomed to humans and can even fly to our balcony and sit by the window. Who doesn't know that tits love lard? But this is in winter, when it is impossible to get your favorite food - insects. In warm weather, smart summer residents lure these birds to their plots. Tits are excellent helpers in the unequal struggle for the harvest with “harmful” beetles and caterpillars. But in winter, in the absence of insects, tits eat everything - not only lard, but also sunflower seeds, cereals, and plant seeds.

Take a closer look at a flock of tits: they only seem similar at first glance. Listen to their tiny squeaks. Do all tits “talk” the same way? Invite your child to repeat the sounds he heard. Usually different birds gather together. The largest of them is called the great tit. There are also small birds - the Muscovy, the tit (black-headed, grey-headed and brown-headed), the long-tailed tit, the tufted tit or the grenadier (a brownish bird with a light tuft on its head).

Most often, the great tit flies to the feeders. We can hear her cheerful “zing-zing” in courtyards and parks. This “businesslike” bird always wears a wide black tie. She has a dark stripe on her belly, bright white cheeks and a green back. A small Muscovite looks like her - dark gray, with a wide black shirtfront, white cheeks and a black cap. Its main difference from the great tit is the absence of a yellow spot on the abdomen. Chickadees are small gray birds with a black cap and the same beard-spot on the throat. Long-tailed tits have very small beaks, their heads are retracted into their shoulders, so they look like small balls with very long tails (the tails are white at the edges and black on top). The middle of the back is also black, and all other parts of the body are white, only the sides and belly are slightly pink. They are very beautiful, for which they received another name - Apolloniki. These birds are unusually active and only join tit flocks for a short time. But blue tits with a light blue “cap” on their heads and the same wings and tail generally prefer solitude. They are less likely than other birds to fly into human-equipped bird canteens. These birds are active and fearless, boldly driving away even great tits and nuthatches from feeders. How do you know that yours has been visited by blue tits? Small holes are visible on the seeds they leave behind, through which these birds get the tasty center. Unlike the great tit, they cannot crush hard seeds with their small beak.

Who visited the spruce tree? Watching birds and animals with your child

Not only people love spruce; many animals and birds are “friends” with it. By carefully examining the cones scattered under the crowns, you can verify this. Invite your child to conduct a special investigation: who exactly feasted on spruce seeds?

In many parks, squirrels live on the edges of the forest. How to determine the presence of this animal? Check the pine cones lying on the ground. The “squirrel” cone cannot be confused with any other. If you find only a bare rod in the snow with scales scattered around it, then you can hope to meet this animal. It happens that the cone is not completely eaten, but the main thing is that part of the rod is necessarily exposed. Sometimes a squirrel comes down to the ground and eats a cone that has fallen or been dropped by someone else. This is evidenced by numerous scales and wings of light spruce and pine seeds, which the animal usually neatly places not far from the gnawed cone. First, the squirrel seems to cut off the cone with its teeth at the very base, then gnaws off the scales and selects the seeds with its tongue.

In winter, under some spruce trees there are a large number of short branches, as if someone was trimming the branches. This is also the work of a squirrel. If you manage to communicate with this cute and trusting animal, do not feed it candy and chips! They seem like an incredible delicacy to you, but the squirrels get sick and die because of this, because in nature they are accustomed to completely different food!

The cone I ate wood mouse or field mouse, can be recognized by the small husks left behind and the characteristic nibbles - they only nibble the edges. With their sharp teeth, the animals seem to trim off the scales, and unlike the squirrel, they do not leave whole scales behind. If you are sure that mice live in the park, try to find their burrows and passages under the snow.

There are birds that not only stay the winter in our area, but also raise their chicks during the cold season! This - crossbills. Old males are immediately noticeable - they are red, there are always fewer of them than yellow-green females and young males. In winter, a married couple builds a deep, warm nest in a tall tree, in which the female lays three or four eggs. True, it is not so easy to see these birds - they live where there are coniferous trees, in particular spruce, and are not very fond of people. IN warmer climes crossbills do not fly away because their food - spruce seeds - is always at hand. A hooked beak with crossed ends helps them get a treat - just real tongs! The crossbill puts its beak inside the cone and, turning it, bends the scale to the side. The seed remains in the beak, and the empty scales fly to the ground. Using them you will determine whether the crossbill dined on the spruce. Also look for cones that are lying under the tree. Examine them carefully: if the cone is almost half torn, and its scales remain in place and are only slightly bent, it means that there was a crossbill spruce here. He does not have time to process the entire lump, which falls under the weight of his body. The fact is that while eating, this bird often hangs on a pine cone and holds on tightly to it. It happens that the cone cannot stand it, breaks away from the branch and falls. Such fallen cones often have a remnant of a branch - a short green tail of needles.

Woodpecker- children's favorite. Most often we recognize his presence by knocking, but if you carefully approach the tree on which he sits, you can see him at work. In winter, this bird should be looked for on large trees and stumps. We are most familiar with the great spotted woodpecker, which is easily recognized by its red cap. Everyone knows the “forges” that woodpeckers build under trees. It’s not difficult to find them - in such places there are great amount processed buds. In summer, the woodpecker, like titmice, feeds on insects that it gets from under the bark of trees. But in winter, pine and spruce seeds become the basis of his menu. A woodpecker's "forge" is a recess that it hollows out in a trunk or stump in order to secure a cone. Very skillfully, with the help of its beak, the woodpecker seems to cut the cone, removing all the seeds from under the scales. This bird handles its prey carefully, although sometimes whole cones fall to the ground. It was calculated that in one day a woodpecker can bring up to fifty cones to his “smithy”. He doesn’t rest at all, it’s not for nothing that they say: “He hammers like a woodpecker,” constantly and without a break for lunch, with tenacity perhaps worthy of better use! But his patience and work are always rewarded.

It is interesting to observe how a woodpecker secures a cone in a recess: first it brings a new one, holds it with its paws, pressing it with its body to the trunk, and only then knocks the old one out of its “forge” with its beak. The “forge” is easy to identify - in fruitful years for spruce, hundreds of broken cones lie on the ground.

Who dined on the rowan tree?

An equally interesting investigation can be carried out under the mountain ash. The red, slightly bitter fruits of this beautiful tree are a delicacy for many wintering birds. After all, only in the cold season can we see bullfinches, waxwings, and bee-eaters, which fly north in the summer.

You may find crushed berries under the rowan tree, as if someone chewed them and spat them out. There are no seeds in such berries. This means they ruled the tree bullfinches And schury. True, it cannot be said about bullfinches that they are fans of such food. These birds can often be found on maple, ash, and lilac trees, where they happily peck seeds. The red-breasted birds that we primarily pay attention to are the males, but the females have a more modest outfit. In cold weather, ruffled birds become like balls of feathers - thick feathers help them endure the cold.

Schurs also gather in flocks in winter - they are big fans of rowan seeds. These are quite large birds (the size of a starling) with a rather thick beak. Their coloring can be different: if you see a crimson-red bird, it means that this is an old male, if it is reddish-yellow, it is a female or a young male. But everyone has dark ripples. These birds can also be recognized by their characteristic whistle - “whew-whew...whew-whew...”. In the warm season, shuras hide in the deep northern forests, and in winter they are ready to communicate with people, letting them get very close to them. The shchur is a respectable bird, it eats slowly: first it picks a berry, then kneads it in its beak, selects the seeds and swallows. He only drops crushed berries. These birds also eat seeds of maple, ash, bird cherry, hawthorn, and juniper.

Rowan trees visited blackbirds, look different. These birds peck at the brushes, so after them you can find the remains of berries on the tree. You will not find crushed fruits on the ground, as is the case with bullfinches; only whole berries that the blackbirds accidentally dropped (they pluck the brushes quite quickly) can be lying around here. Due to their passion for rowan trees, these birds received the name “Rowan Thrushes”. The best time to watch them is in the morning, when the parks and squares are still quiet. Blackbirds are “friends” with mountain ash; their relationship is mutually beneficial. The fact is that birds swallow the berries whole without crushing them. The seeds are not digested in the stomach and are thrown out along with the droppings. This means that new trees can grow in such places.

Another lovers of rowan berries - waxwings, which are easily recognized by their large pointed reddish crests, a velvety black spot under the beak and the same stripe going through the eye. They have a red-gray or gray-brown coloring, a lemon-yellow stripe on the tail, white spots and bright red plates on the tips of the wings. Recently, waxwings have become frequent guests of our cities. They got their name from their ability to whistle. These are very beautiful birds, so they were given a second name - “krasava”. True, they are not distinguished by good manners - they eat hastily, as if they are afraid of not being on time, they tear the berries into pieces and peck them. In the intestines of these birds, food is only half digested, so under the tree that the waxwings have visited, crushed berries, as if chewed and spat out, without seeds, are lying around. Waxwings do not mind even the most severe frosts. They always travel in flocks. In addition to rowan, they eat the fruits of viburnum, hawthorn, and elderberry.

In order to watch the birds constantly, make a feeder. The simplest option is houses made from juice or milk cartons attached to branches. The main thing here is not to overdo it - in some parks the trees are decorated with so many “package” feeders that you involuntarily think of landfills. A more complex option, but familiar to many from childhood, is wooden feeders with a roof. It is interesting to make such a feeder together with your child; you can invite him to color it at his own discretion. Another option is an inverted bottle feeder. Take a board, nailing narrow strips along the edges (so that the food does not fall). Attach a vertical wide board for a bottle holder to one of its sides. Fill a wide-necked bottle with seeds, turn it over so that there is a minimum gap between it and the base. Using wire, attach the bottle to the vertical bar. The seeds will fall out gradually as the birds peck at them. At the same time, the food will not get wet and will not be carried away by the wind.

Observe who flies to your feeder and when, what food these or those birds prefer, how they behave towards each other, what time of day they have lunch. If the child and you have a desire, draw different birds from nature.

We wish you interesting observations and discoveries!

Thank you Inna, I didn’t even know this could happen. Last year we even gave away a parrot, Manya started coughing, now let’s be careful...

ORNITOS eto chlamidiinaja PNEUMONIA, ochen tjashelo i dorogo lechitca y children do 8 let (nushno mnogo antibiotikov). A immunitet potom ochen snishen - kashel perechodit v bronchi sa 1 den. By the way, moi child (6 years) bil ochen zdorov do chlamidiinoi pnevmonii. A seichas ja dumau - samii bolnoi! Ne kormite golubei!!!

Posaluista, NE KORMITE golubei! U moego sina byl ORNITOS ot golubei, kotory vrachi ne mogli vilechit 8 mesatsev! Ja bi voobshe golubei poubivala - besposesnie ptisi, rasnosjat CHLAMIDII PSITACHI (i.e. ORNITOS!).

I enjoyed reading it, now Manya and I go to feed the pigeons every day, she believes that they recognize her and that’s the only reason they fly from the rooftops to her. We talked to her about taming her as a little prince...
On the weekend we will go to the park and watch other birds.

Very interesting. But we had to remove the feeder from the balcony - the neighbors below are swearing that the birds are pooping on their windows: (And we can’t keep an eye on the feeder on the street. We just pour out the food. And when we come, it’s already empty. It’s not known who ate it and how. It’s not known yet. there was a feeder hanging by the window, it was very interesting.
There are also otters in our river (we live in an urban village, in the Moscow region). This winter, my son’s girlfriend and grandmother saw one of them catch a frog and take it home under a snag. It was right next to the slide, where there are always a lot of children. Unfortunately, we haven’t had any luck with otters yet :(Maybe we’ll meet one someday.

With the onset of cold weather, many birds appear on the branches of rowan trees. Among them are very beautiful songbirds with a crest on their heads. Many people love rowan, but these ones especially, they spend the whole winter in the thick of its branches. Who is this, what are these birds called and where do they fly from?

What kind of crested birds peck rowan trees?

Nature lovers often see these little crested friends in winter, diligently eating red berries, not everyone knows who they are. They look a little like sparrows, but not like sparrows, and they have a funny curl on their heads.

More likely we're talking about O waxwings- small birds from the order Passeriformes. To make it easier for you to identify them, we will give a description below:

• The body length is small - 17 - 22 cm, weight up to 67 grams;
• Corpuscle gray, closer to the head with a transition to soft pink;
• The wings are black with yellow stripes;
• The tail and breast are black;
• There is a dark line under the eyes;
• There is a bright yellow mark on the edge of the tail;

The bird is a songbird, its trills are easy to recognize, they differ from the usual chirping and sound approximately like “swi-ri-ri”.

Feeding and habitat of waxwings

The waxwing is a nomadic animal; the bird does not fly long distances for the winter, but only moves a few kilometers to the south.

In summer, it lives mainly in the taiga forests of Russia and forest-tundra, more often where there are spruce, birch and pine trees. In winter, they are found in cities where many rowan trees grow, since this is the main food during this period. In the Moscow region, animals usually appear at the beginning of winter.

In the places of main attachment, waxwings feed on insects and plant shoots. In autumn there comes a time of hunger, as small living creatures disappear, you have to flee. Then the bird switches to plant food, preferably berries: viburnum, juniper, rose hips and, of course, rowan.

The crested beauty has an excellent appetite; they eat a lot, swallowing the fruits whole. Having devastated one area, they move in a group to another and so move further south, following the plants. It is during this period that we meet flocks of them in the trees.

They say that waxwings can be drunk: they behave strangely in flight and on the ground, lose orientation, literally jump into people’s arms and fall asleep while warm. Scientists, ornithologists and ordinary people observed this fact all over the world, which means they could not be mistaken, it really is so.

It's all about the berries they peck. Sometimes, during a warm winter, the fruits do not fall, but hang on the branches for so long that they begin to to roam. The voracious birds, seeing such an abundance of food, pounce on it and become drunk.

Drunken waxwings are also found in the spring. And this is the tree sap that acts like this: it flows down the trunk and the birds feast on it. When hit large quantity juice into the stomach, fermentation occurs, but the liver does not have time to cleanse the blood, so they have fun.

But by the way, this spectacle is not so funny. Animals move chaotically with high speed, crash into the walls of houses and other obstacles, dying en masse. There are known cases of attacks on people, when living fighters from above rush at passers-by and even try to peck them.

How to help them in winter?

When the rowan harvest fails, the waxwing goes hungry. It flies from place to place, but if there is not enough food, it stops making transitions.

People can help birds survive the hungry winter, otherwise they will die. Their thermoregulation is designed in such a way that a well-fed bird will survive any frost, while a hungry bird dies, as it is unable to warm itself, especially at night.

What we can do?

1. Hang feeders. It’s better not on the balcony, but in a park or forest on a tree, so the birds will get used to it faster and over time they will stop being afraid of you, hiding in the branches;
2. You can buy a house, or you can make it yourself. Our bird is small, it will calmly eat from a small feeder: a milk carton, plastic bottle will fit;
3. The main thing is to make a through hole in it, otherwise the guest may get stuck inside;
4. An open feeder in the form of an ordinary board must have a roof or the food will be covered with snow - it will spoil;
5. The bird has a varied menu; it will not refuse oatmeal, raisins, carrots, cottage cheese and millet. Pieces of boiled meat and eggs will also not be superfluous. And of course, if possible, treat them to hawthorn, rowan, and juniper.

A weakened bird can be easily recognized by its pale color. Some people take these to their home until spring. It can be done, but you need to take good care of it. In captivity, well-fed, they lead a sedentary lifestyle; to prevent this from happening, it is necessary to release them from the cage.

Signs with rowan

Waxwings are not the only ones who treat mountain ash with such trepidation. Our ancestors considered it a sacred tree. Branches with red berries were hung at home for protection from harm, because they were considered a symbol of Perun (the thunder god).

Much has been associated with rowan will accept relating to natural phenomena and everyday affairs. For example:

• The bride wore a wreath made of it to her wedding as a sign that she was not marrying for love;
• If a rowan tree grows in the yard of a house and one year it begins to get sick and stops bearing fruit, expect trouble;
• When sending their husbands to war, wives attached crosses made of rowan branches to their clothes. They protected from wounds and gave strength;
• The same cross is placed on the grave to pacify the deceased and prevent him from returning;
• The most famous sign is about its large harvest, which promises a harsh cold winter. Perhaps thanks to this, another one appeared: “the waxwings fly to the blizzard,” because where there is a large harvest of red berries in winter, there is a flock of these birds;
• When a tree blooms late, there will be a long autumn;
• Few berries on the branches - dry weather until frost;
• If the fruits do not fall off after the first frost, a long winter is expected.

Everything in nature is connected, the berries do not fall - the winter is long and cold, there will be plenty for the birds to peck. Nothing just happens, by observing these processes we draw our own conclusions - signs appear. Therefore, it is worth believing in them, especially those related to weather and nature.

Hung with beautiful bright clusters, rowan branches attract many birds that winter in our area. The fruits ripen in September. If you want them to gain more sweetness, you should wait for frost. It will be useful for owners of plots with fruit trees to know which birds eat rowan in winter.

Major pests

Warm-loving birds fly south in the fall, and in return birds that are accustomed to living in northern latitudes arrive. Among the feathered “tourists”, the worst pests are Bullfinches, Fieldfares, Waxwings, Crossbills, and Bee-eaters.

Among the permanent inhabitants, the tit eats rowan trees in the cold season. Other city residents - Gray Crow, Jay, Dove, and Hazel Grouse - are not averse to eating berries when nothing else can be found.

Birds not only cause pests, but also help spread rowan seeds throughout the area. Birds such as thrushes and waxwings eat the berries whole; their stomachs are not able to digest the seeds.

By defecating, birds spread seeds in the area where they are, thereby increasing the number of fruit trees. Passage through the bird's digestive tract increases the germination rate.

The pulp is treated with gastric juice, the seeds are steamed, increase in volume and come out fully prepared for germination.

Waxwings and thrushes eat rowan “culturally”. They arrive in a whole flock, which can consist of 100 heads, and sit on the branches so that they do not break.

Starlings act completely differently; they peck rowan trees in the fall and land on the branches so that they break. Let's look at some varieties of birds in more detail to know the enemy by sight.

Bullfinch

If you are tormented by thoughts of who feasted on your mountain ash in winter, and red-breasted birds flutter outside the window, then these are bullfinches. They are easy to distinguish from other feathered representatives.

1. They are quite widespread. The birds themselves are not large, slightly larger than a sparrow.
2. Weight is 35 g. However, these representatives have a strong build.
3. This breed of birds is characterized by sexual dimorphism. Bullfinches have a prominent thoracic part of the body. In females it is pink-gray, in males it is purple.
4. The bullfinch's head is painted black, giving the impression that the bird is wearing a hat. The feathers under and above the tail are white. Black and white stripes are evenly distributed on the wings, which gives the bird a festive look.

The bullfinch feeds mainly in winter when the flock flies up to the tree. The males let the females go ahead, allowing them to choose the juiciest fruits, and then start eating themselves.

Bullfinches eat only the seeds without touching the flesh. After their meal, berries remain on the ground and on the tree, the sight of which gives the impression that they were chewed and then spat out.

Unlike the previous rowan eater, the rowan thrush is quite large in size:

• the length of its body is about 30 cm;
• the bird weighs almost 130 g;
• The color is dominated by gray shades, the belly and lower part of the tail feathers are cream-colored, the breast is dotted with black and gray-brown spots.

Fieldfare settle in entire colonies, unlike their relatives. Active, quite aggressive. They often attack predators in flocks, driving them away from their nests. Fieldfare can feed on plant and animal foods. Their favorite delicacy remains rowan. They fly in a whole flock onto a tree, making chirping sounds.

The size of an adult reaches up to 20 cm. The bulk of the plumage is gray-pink. The wings are black with yellow and white stripes, on which red strokes are clearly visible. There is a yellow edging along the edge of the tail, and a cute pink tuft is located on the head.

The waxwing mainly feeds on plant berries, but also eats insects, which it catches on the fly. A flock of waxwings can destroy the rowan crop in your garden. Not a single whole berry remains on the trees after the meal. It's like someone tore them apart. The waxwing eats hastily. In addition to rowan fruits, they can also eat elderberry and viburnum. So don’t be surprised if these berries turn out to be bitten in the garden.

Crossbills also belong to the passerine order. They are nomadic birds. The body length reaches 20 cm. The body is knitted, the tail is forked at the tip. The head is large in size, with a cross-shaped beak, curved at the ends. They are characterized by sexual dimorphism. The plumage on the breast of females is green-gray, while that of males is crimson-red. Gray tones predominate on the wings and tail. Crossbills hatch their chicks in winter, closer to the Christmas holidays. They make their nests in the crown of tall coniferous trees.

The main diet of the crossbill is spruce seeds. Distinctive feature These birds are lazy. They are in no particular hurry to complicate their lives by obtaining hard-to-find seeds. Having selected all the most delicious things from the upper part of the fruit, the bird flies to another. Quite often, crossbills raid rowan trees, leaving chewed berries behind.

If you have no idea who is eating your rowan in winter, it could be the bee-eater. The bird flies from northern countries to our winter quarters. They often appear at the end of November. They settle mainly near water bodies and in coniferous forests. They settle near bodies of water because they love to swim, even despite severe frosts. They belong to the finch family.

The bird's body measures about 22 cm. The beak is thick and shortened. The bird's weight ranges from 50 to 65 g. There are practically no black flowers in color, instead dark gray and red tones predominate. The color of the feathers is somewhat reminiscent of bullfinch and crossbill.

The bee-eater is not just a destroyer of rowan fruits, it helps them spread over long and short distances. Birds feel at ease in the crown of a tall tree. If you cannot determine which birds have flown to your tree, then you can also distinguish the gar by its characteristic whistle.

Conclusion

Many people want to know which birds eat rowan trees in winter by looking at the empty branches. It is rare to find a bird that would not eat tart berries in winter. With the onset of cold weather, nomadic birds fly to us from the North and eat all the vegetation remaining on the trees. In winter, even crows do not disdain rowan trees, so you should not be surprised when a flock of gray birds flocks to your tree.

Rowan branches with bright berries that ripen in September attract the attention of various birds that spend the winter in our area. The fruits of this tree become the main food for them, so for those who have such trees growing on their property, it will be useful to know which birds can become dangerous in order to scare them away and have time to harvest.

Feathered rowan lovers

In winter, instead of heat-loving birds, more inhabitants of northern latitudes appear. Among them, the biggest fans of rowan are:

• bullfinch;
• crossbill;
• Field Thrush;
• waxwing.

Representatives of these species prefer to eat rowan fruits, combining them with some other food. They can be seen on the crown of a tree, eating berries.

Among the birds that constantly live in our area, there are those who do not mind eating sweet berries. What birds eat local rowan in winter:

• tit;
• grouse;
• pigeon;
• jay;
• starling;
• hoodie.

For these birds, rowan is not the main delicacy, so they are not seen near the tree very often.

Each type of bird pecks the rowan tree in different ways: some carefully, and some by breaking tree branches. Some people leave many traces of their stay under the tree, while others leave many traces on the crown. It is easy to determine which birds raided the mountain ash.

1. Thrushes and waxwings do not harm the tree. They arrive in small flocks and are evenly distributed throughout the tree. As a result, they occupy space so that the branches are not in danger of being broken under their weight. They eat fruits more carefully, so you won’t find them on the ground, but there may be remnants of berries on the bunches.
2. In contrast, starlings do not care about the safety of the tree and often distribute themselves among the branches so that they break under their pressure. They swoop in aggressively and destroy the berries. They often leave beaten, chewed berries under the tree itself.

Major pests

In winter, you can often notice empty rowan branches at a time when they should be full of fruit. This is because the fruits of this tree are the favorite food of many birds.

To protect your harvest from this tree, you need to know which birds are the most ardent fans of the bright red juicy berries.

Bullfinches

For bullfinches in winter period Rowan is the main delicacy, so they gather in large flocks on such trees. The males let the females through first so that they can select the ripest and sweetest berries for themselves. As soon as the females eat, they are replaced by males and continue to peck at the fruits.

These birds are not interested in eating the entire fruit. The greatest delicacy for them is the seeds of rowan fruits, so they eat them up and leave the pulp almost untouched. However, a berry whose seeds were eaten by a bullfinch looks as if someone had already experienced it.

It's easy to recognize a bullfinch - this is small size birds with black heads and purple or pink-gray sternum. Their wings are black and white, and there are splashes of white above the tail.

Field Thrushes

Another representative of birds that eats rowan in winter is the thrush. They settle near the place where rowan grows in large colonies. These birds are distinguished by their aggressive nature. Often they can fight with predators that pose a threat to their nests. This bird eats mainly herbs, but one of its most favorite delicacies is rowan, which is raided by large flocks. They target the bunches directly, so if you don’t know which birds feasted on the berries without leaving crushed pulp under the tree itself, you know that blackbirds have been here. Sometimes there may be whole fruits left under the tree that accidentally fell, because thrushes process the clusters quite quickly.

Such birds are larger in size than bullfinches. They are distinguished by cream feathers on the belly and tail, gray and black-brown spots throughout the body on the upper side.

Waxwing

These birds eat different foods in winter: plants, insects, which they manage to catch right during the flight. Imagine what cruel attacks the rowan trees are subjected to. After several dozen individuals fly to a tree, it is impossible to find a single whole berry on it. They can literally destroy an entire crop. It seems that someone deliberately tore the berries. Waxwings pecking at the fruits of a tree are always quite hasty and careless, so after their raid it is easy to determine who has eaten the berries - chewed remains remain under the rowan tree. This species of bird cannot completely digest rowan fruits, so they only target the seeds.

The waxwing is not a very large bird, the plumage of which is characterized by gray-pink flowers. The feathers on the wings have a completely different color - yellow, which combines with white and forms stripes. On these stripes you can notice a reddish tint in the form of strokes. On the tail, or more precisely on its very edge, you can see a stripe of a bright yellow hue, and on the head there is a tuft of a bizarre shape and pink color.

Despite the fact that in winter crossbills feed on the seeds of trees from the spruce family, they are not at all opposed to pecking at rowan, which they also really like. When crossbills fly in and perch on a tree, it becomes immediately clear who they are - the birds are so lazy that they will not try to get seeds for themselves. They eat the upper soft and sweet part of the fruit. After themselves, they can only leave chewed fruits, the juiciest part of which is destroyed.

Crossbills are representatives of the passerine family, so they are distinguished by their not too large body size. According to their body type, they are more knitted, but their tail is divided into 2 parts at the very end. The feathers on the sternum of females are gray-green, in contrast to males, who boast red-crimson feathers. The wings and tail of this bird are made in a gray tone. Thanks to such a colorful appearance, it is quite easy to recognize them among other birds.

Shchury

Among those who like to spoil rowan trees, one can single out the pike-perch. This bird arrives in our region only for the winter around November. They make their nests closer to forest areas or near bodies of water. They can be distinguished from other birds simply by the unique whistle they make.

Schurs literally destroy rowan fruits: they love to eat not only the pulp, but also the seeds of the fruits. Despite this, such birds help the tree reproduce. Birds are quite comfortable in the crown of rowan trees, so they often flock to the trees, jeopardizing the harvest. They eat the seeds from the berries, leaving chewed and empty fruits.

It is also not difficult to recognize the gar. It is small in size, but it has a shorter and at the same time thicker beak. The plumage of the bird is in gray tones with the addition of red. This bird may resemble a bullfinch in appearance, but its wings and tail are dark gray.

Small selection)

There are birds that don't mind the cold. They find suitable conditions for existence in their homeland all year round and do not fly. Such birds are called sedentary.
In the winter forest you can hear a woodpecker busily knocking, titmice, pikas, nuthatches and jays chirping. Doesn't leave winter forest and the capercaillie, because he always has food - tasty pine needles. And black grouse and hazel grouse eat alder catkins, buds and juniper berries. The crossbill feeds on spruce seeds.

There are also birds that, in favorable winter conditions, are sedentary, but in unfavorable years, for example, when the harvest of coniferous seeds fails, they fly far beyond the boundaries of their nesting homeland. These are waxwings, titmice, walnuts, redpolls, bullfinches, jays and many others.

So, a selection of photos and videos:

Bullfinch

Bullfinches live in our area all year round. In the warm half of the year, we do not see them simply because they nest, as a rule, in forest thickets with dense undergrowth and remain very secretive during the nesting period. At the end of autumn and beginning of winter, bullfinches gather in small flocks and often begin to fly into city gardens and parks, where, calling to each other with soft, drawn-out whistles, red-breasted gourmets feed on rowan fruits, tree buds and weed seeds. In the midst of a snowy and frosty winter, you rarely see bullfinches - they migrate further south. At the end of winter, bullfinches appear again - they return to the north.

Here in this photo on top is a female (her breast is not red, but gray), and on the right is a handsome male)

Video

Cartoon based on the stories of Yu. Koval Bullfinches and cats

Tit

Tits are small, unusually active and intelligent birds, whose life is inextricably linked with trees. They make their nests in tree hollows, and in their crowns they collect food - insects, their eggs, larvae and pupae. In spring and summer, tits live in pairs, managing to raise two broods of chicks during this time.In early autumn, several tits different types gather in small flocks that roam through forests, parks and gardens until the end of winter. We have different tits: great tit, tufted tit, long-tailed tit, blue tit...

Great tit.
The largest of our tits, great tits, form the basis of flocks of small birds that roam through forests, groves and country gardens in autumn and early winter. The sonorous short song of the great tit occasionally rings even in the depths of winter - at the end of February it can be heard in any fine weather day. With the onset of snowfalls, some great tits fly south, while the rest move closer to human habitation in search of food. At the end of winter - beginning of spring, there are fewer great tits in cities: most of them return to deciduous forests and country gardens to set up nests and raise chicks.

Source: "Atlas of the seasons. Flora and fauna of Russia"

Great tit.

Blue tit.

Video:

Nuthatch

The nuthatch is a lively bird. Deftly crawls up and down trunks.

Pika

The pika is also a great master at climbing tree trunks.

Woodpecker

The most common is the Great Spotted Woodpecker. It is his knock that we hear - the woodpecker is hammering cones and taking out seeds - his main food in winter. Males and females are easily distinguished; the male has a red “cap” on his head, the female does not.

The Lesser Spotted Woodpecker, the size of a sparrow, is found where there are a lot of rotten birches. Insectivore, but, on occasion, does not disdain seeds and is fed at feeders. Like the Great Spotted Woodpecker, the female does not have a “cap”.

Jay

The jay is a colorful bird of the corvid family. The voice is sharp and creaky. Stocks up acorns for the winter.

Hoodie

Crows prefer to feed near human habitation at this time of year.

Magpie

Everyone knows the magpie, like the gray crow; it prefers to stay on the outskirts of the forest and closer to housing.

Crossbill

The crossbill is a special bird; its bright color and curved beak earned it the name “northern parrot.” These amazing birds build nests and lay eggs already in January - February. They raise their chicks in winter. It was at this time that the forest abounds with their food, spruce seeds. In March, when the sun begins to warm up, conifer cones open and scatter their seeds. Therefore, crossbills have to hurry.

Grouse

The black grouse is a forest bird; in winter it feeds on tree buds, acorns, and fresh shoots of spruce and pine trees.

Capercaillie

In winter it feeds on spruce and pine needles and buds.

Let it be for now)

All this is for self-education, rather than for Lyuba) But we’re looking at something, I’ll tell you a little)

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