Crafts - do-it-yourself birds from different materials. How to evict birds from under the roof Owl made of colored paper - master class
Well, a telegram arrived about a bird nursery. But she did not remain unanswered. Nothing escaped Lenin's sight. The great leader, the brilliant leader of the country, carrying out gigantic work, knew how not to forget about the little things. And by order of Lenin, the eviction of the nursery was suspended.
Sveshnikova entered into an agreement with the zoo
[Unforgotten|
park. According to the agreement, the entire nursery was transferred to the zoo and supplied to it for supplies. She was in charge of the Sveshnikov nursery.
THE HISTORY OF ONE NEST
I’ll tell you about what I had to observe in the center of noisy Moscow, inside a multi-story department store with galleries and balconies along the interior walls.
I was once on one of these internal balconies and looked at the bustle of people in the lower passage and suddenly noticed on the railing of the balcony the figurine of a small sharp-nosed gray bird. It was a gray flycatcher. The bird is very useful because it feeds exclusively on small insects flying in the air.
“Obviously, someone deliberately released a gray flycatcher here so that it would help fight flies,” I thought.
Entering one of the rooms, I saw a watchman.
Do you happen to know who released two birds onto the balcony? - I asked.
The birds are mine, but I didn’t let them out here, but this is the second year they’ve been coming to me on their own.
How do they arrive? - surprised
If you want, I can tell you about this incident. So, the spring before last, I was sitting on a chair and suddenly I saw two birds flying under the very roof.
They circled around the ceiling for a long time, either apparently looking for a way out or catching flies, and then they sat down on the railing. However, I noticed that the birds are very afraid to fly down for water. I took a tin jar, poured water into it, and placed it under the window. Opposite, under the gallery, were bales of cotton. They are from there and let’s carry the cotton wool onto the window. They try, they try, they barely pinch off a piece and drag it straight to my window, where I put the jar. I realized that they are building a nest for themselves. Here I brought them down from feather beds, horse hair and torn rags, and they built a nest right next to my window. About two weeks later the chicks started squealing. Somehow I look: their heads appear and their mouths open.
Well, in the spring I waited for them again. Now, look, the chicks will soon fly out again.
What can be done to make birds more willing to settle near human habitation? The answer is clear. You need to help them build a nest, protect the nest from cats and crows, and provide a drinking bowl. And then live communication with cheerful and useful birds will delight us for a long time.
The publication was prepared by R.V. Dormidontov Fig. G. Imshenetsky
Rabbit owls, also known as cave owls, either dig their own holes or occupy someone’s empty apartments. While the parents are hunting, the chicks are able to fend for themselves, imitating the prolonged hissing and crackling of a rattlesnake. This can deceive anyone, even humans... but not real rattlesnakes, which, due to congenital deafness, cannot even hear their own “rattle.”
Noisy plovers nest on the ground, making their chicks extremely vulnerable. If one of the parents notices that a predator is approaching the nest, it skillfully feigns injury, crawling to the side and luring danger towards itself. As soon as the chicks are saved, the adult bird immediately forgets about the “broken wing” and flies away.
Fulmars are birds from the petrel family. Despite the name, their method of defense is not at all stupid, although it is quite unpleasant - they spew a disgustingly stinking orange stomach fluid at the enemy. The smell is bad for birds of prey, but if the “oil” gets on their feathers, it will be much more difficult to fly. The fulmars themselves have developed immunity against their weapons.
Common cuckoos are famous for dropping eggs into other people's nests. But what about parents who do not want to leave the nest? The coloring of the cuckoo allows it to successfully pretend to be a hawk in order to drive birds away from their homes and calmly lay their own eggs. Such mimicry is also a good defense against predators.
Tawny owls, despite small size, successfully hunt other birds, sometimes even twice their size. Sometimes small birds gather in flocks and attack owls in crowds, which can be extremely dangerous. For protection, two black spots are located on the back of the pygmy owl's head, convincingly imitating eyes. This confuses the attackers and allows the owl to strike back.
Hoatzins are very ancient birds with very smelly and almost inedible meat. But their main defense mechanism is different. Hoatzins build nests on branches above ponds, and when the chicks are threatened, they dive into the water. The danger has passed - and the birds climb into the nest along the trunk, using large powerful claws. In adults, these claws are of normal size.
Gigantic nightjars are geniuses of camouflage. The gray-brown color allows these birds to blend in with the trees during the daytime sleep. When a nightjar freezes in place, it is almost impossible to find - and it does not move even if you get close to it. He can also watch predators with his eyes closed, thanks to special slits in his eyelids.
White-faced owls have an amazing gift for transformation. Near a small enemy, they swell almost double, opening their wings and emitting a terrible hiss. When faced with an enemy larger than itself, the owl shrinks, exposes its dark feathers and freezes, trying to blend in with the surrounding area.
Bicolor pitohus should not be messed with under any circumstances. How many poisonous birds can you name? Pitohu is one of them. They absorb a dangerous neurotoxin from poisonous beetles, which they eat in large quantities. A simple touch to a pitoh can cause a severe chemical burn, and even an attempt to eat it... The birds themselves, of course, have long developed immunity.
Everyone knows that it is better not to irritate skunks, but few people have heard such information about hoopoes or fulmars. Even the most beautiful looking birds can have some pretty nasty defense mechanisms. On the other hand, efficiency comes first.
In a nutshell, the “success formula” for wires for birds is this: Convenient. Safely. Available. Multifunctional.
Birds love to sit on wires because they are excellent perches - comfortable and safe places where they can be without flying. For many bird species, perches are an important spatial resource, a deficiency of which is sometimes observed in nature. For this reason, any suitable artificial structure begins to be actively used by animals.
The small diameter makes the wires a convenient perch for small to medium-sized birds. In birds, the tendons on their legs are arranged in a special way - they have, as it were, locks that allow the birds to stay on a perch for a long time without expending muscle effort. In addition to the textbook swallows, many species of birds like to sit on wires. In the steppe regions you can see turtle doves on them. Perhaps, among the larger birds, cuckoos and small predators can land on the wires.
Large diurnal birds of prey, such as eagles, use poles as perches rather than wires, which are uncomfortable for them to sit on.
Birds use perches for resting, tidying up their plumage, monitoring the surrounding space, eating the food they have obtained, and singing a song that marks the nesting territory.
Wires, as potential additives, also have such important characteristics as concentration and redundancy. A large number of birds can easily settle in one place at a relatively short distance from each other. This may be important, for example, for flocks of migratory birds that need places where the entire flock, without violating its integrity, can rest during grueling migratory flights.
Many birds take advantage of the convenience of the location of wires in open spaces (after all, humans always clear the bushes around power lines). Small falcons, such as the kestrel, or insectivorous birds, such as shrikes, can track prey while sitting on wires.
This, of course, is not a complete list of the conveniences of wires and examples of their use by birds. But the main advantages of this artificial spatial resource are determined by the following properties that are important for birds:
– they are comfortable to sit on (mainly for small and medium-sized birds, while large ones use supports for wires),
– it’s safe to be on them (predatory animals won’t get there),
– there is always an excess of places on them,
– you can do a lot of things on them (rest, including the whole flock; care for the plumage, the condition of which determines the ability to fly; hunt).
Not everyone knows that the main defenders of the garden and vegetable garden on a personal plot are birds. But this is true. Birds are voracious. Sometimes their gluttony not only surprises, but also shocks.
How many pests do birds eat?
The white wagtail, weighing 17 g, eats pests with a total weight of 21 g per day. This is 126% of the weight of food relative to the weight of the bird. In the wren this percentage reaches 180, in the chiffchaff it is 190. This need for food is explained by the large expenditure of energy during flight, when there is a very intense metabolism and the body temperature of some birds reaches 42°.
Bird activity increases noticeably while feeding chicks. The white wagtail, gray flycatcher, and great tit return to their nest with food more than three hundred times in just one day; chiffchaffs and pied flycatchers return more than four hundred times. The food that a pair of starlings brings to their chicks can fill three birdhouses. The pied flycatcher, which weighs less than 10 g, feeds its generation, usually consisting of 5 chicks, over 1 kg of insects during 15-16 days of nesting, and great tits feed twice as much.
That's why try to attract to your garden plot insectivorous beneficial birds, help them, make artificial nests for them.
Requirements for bird houses
Pied flycatchers, great tits, redstarts, field sparrows and house sparrows live in tit boxes; starlings, rollers, white wagtails, and gray flycatchers live in birdhouses.
Why often titmouses and birdhouses empty? What is the reason for the “reluctance” of birds to settle in your garden plot?
The fact is that we often do not know the requirements of birds for housing. At first glance, everything seems simple: knock down a box, make a hole in it, nail it to a tree... and the bird’s “house” is ready. But birds don’t live in it. They don't like him. What's the matter?
For houses, it is better to take a board at least one and a half centimeters thick. Thinner boards are not durable. They quickly warp and crack. Plywood is not at all suitable for these purposes: it does not retain heat well, delaminates, and allows sound to pass through. Most birds do not like noise.
Bird house must be firmly knitted, without cracks: starlings and other birds do not tolerate drafts. The nest boards must be unplaned so that the bird can easily get to the entrance.
Previously, houses had gable roofs. It's not obligatory. Such imitation of people's homes only complicates the work. It is better and easier to make a roof without a slope and removable. Possibly from slab. Its area is so small that water will not linger on it, especially since when hanging houses there is always a slope in one direction or another. It is advisable for him to be forward. The roof, as we have already said, is better to make it removable, since the house itself needs to be cleaned periodically.
Sizes and colors of bird houses
Insectivorous birds Every year they build a new nest on the old one. Therefore, after a few years, they “fill” the room with old nests right up to the entrance. The removable roof should protrude 3-5 cm above the entrance.
Internal ones are important house dimensions, its height and diameter of the tap hole. For a birdhouse, the bottom area should be from 12x12 to 16x16 cm; height from bottom to lid - 28-35 cm; taphole diameter - 4.7-5 cm.
Recommended dimensions of a titmouse: bottom area 10x10 or 12x12 cm, height - 22-28 cm, entrance - 3-4.5 cm. Great tit, pied flycatcher, blue tit, whirligig, redstart, sparrows are "registered" in such a house. For smaller birds (muscovy, grenadier, etc.) you need a house with an area of 8x8 or 9x9 cm, a height of 22-25 cm and a hole of 3 cm. We must not forget that the distance from the hole to the roof should be equal to the diameter of the hole. This is for most birds.
To make birds more willing to inhabit the houses, they need to be painted. Most birds prefer to live in houses painted green, brown, yellow, red and black, but they do not like blue. Birds like to settle in unpainted houses, the front wall of which is made of unsanded slab. In all likelihood, such nesting sites resemble natural hollows for birds. The inside of the old house needs to be whitewashed.
Orientation of birdhouses, titmice and other bird houses
Not less important take into account orientation entrance to the cardinal points. For pied flycatchers, the east is preferable, for tits - the west. Birds usually do not like the northwestern direction and avoid settling in such houses. The best flight direction for most birds is from northwest to southeast.
Some birds - starlings, sparrows - live in colonies. For them, nesting boxes can be hung side by side or on the same pole, placing houses one above the other. Other birds do not tolerate the proximity of someone's nests. For pied flycatchers, for example, the distance between nests should be 15-20 m, for great tits - 40-60 m.
Bird houses must be protected from cats. The pole on which the house is installed is covered with tin or canopies are made on the branches.
If you want to protect your garden from pests, welcome birds. They are loyal, hardworking and kind helpers to humans.
Based on materials from the magazine " Homestead farming", N. Yurkin, 1982
