Saker Falcon - description, habitat, interesting facts

Balabanas are birds of prey. They are one of the most dangerous among all predatory birds. Belong to the falcon family. The species has several other names - ragor, itelgi. In addition, the name can be written as "Saker", and "balaban". These are also 2 different names for this species. The word came from Persia. The bird was named after Iranian falconers. The name of the Itelga species comes from Central Asia. The Slavs called the bird - ragog. This word is taken from Polish and Hungarian.

Appearance

These birds have a powerful large body, in length it reaches 46-56 cm. The wingspan is from 1.1 to 1.3 m. The body weight is from 800 to 1350 g. Color can be different, depending on the species. The head is most often pale brown, there are colorful specks. Their chest is light, it shows light stripes located along. The stomach of the balaban is almost white. The feathers on the neck are light, on the back are brown striped. The beak is bluish, and at the end is black in color.

Food

Most often their victims are gophers. Sometimes pigeons or sparrows are caught. It can eat marmots, hares. This is beneficial to local farmers, as the bird eats almost all the harmful rodents.

They hunt in the steppe and forest-steppe areas, not far from habitats. Looks for prey, sitting on a tall tree or rock. During the hunt flies horizontally. He does not fall to the prey, as most predatory birds do.

Hunters use balaban as a hunting bird. He hunts great in the deserts.

Habitat

They live in the middle of Asia. They live in Altai, as well as in Kazakhstan. They can also be found in the Krasnoyarsk Territory and Transbaikalia. Sometimes found in China and Afghanistan.

In winter they fly to the territory of Ethiopia, to the western regions of China. The populations living in the south do not fly away for the winter.

Views

1. Common Balaban. The back has a brown color. On the sides are reddish feathers. The head is similar in color to the back, but somewhat lighter. The balancer of the common balaban is brown. A little mustache is visible. The belly is light ocher, there are many spots of various shapes on it. Representatives of the species live in the forest-steppe. Habitat - Kazakhstan. Bird can be found throughout the territory, from the Urals to Altai. Occasionally, the common balaban can also be seen in the northern desert.
2. Siberian. The back of the representatives of the species Siberian balaban is brownish in color. It shows reddish spots that merge into stripes. The nasal tail has a gray plumage. The color of the head is lighter than on the back. She has a red tone and dark spots. The abdomen is white with dim stripes. It lives in Altai, flies to Kazakhstan for the winter.
3. Mongolian. These birds are distinguished by a brown coloring of the back, on which light streaks are visible. There is a Mongolian balaban in the Tien Shan. The plumage on the head is light. On the pants and sides there is a pattern in the form of stripes and spots of dark color.
4. Turkestan. This view has a bright color. Their head is brick-colored. On the back, the plumage is brown and grayish. On the wings and back of the bird, a pattern in the form of stripes. The habitat of the Turkestan balaban is the south of Kazakhstan, the Tien Shan and the territory of Karatau.
5. Aralocaspian. In this species, the plumage on the back is brown, but dim. The figure is light in the form of transverse stripes. The plumage in the area of ​​the suprapoles is bluish. The pants also show a pattern in the form of dark stripes. It lives in Mangyshlak.
6. Altaic. These are big birds. Outwardly, they look like an ordinary balaban. Their color is dark or brown. The plumage is bluish on the back.They have the same coloration in the area of ​​the epigastric. The head is rather dark in comparison with other species, and a pattern in the form of stripes is visible on the sides. The same pattern is on the pants of a bird.

Gender differences

In these birds, males and females are similar to each other in size and color.

Breeding

These are monogamous birds. The mating season begins in the second half of April. This is pretty early compared to other birds.

Sometimes balabans can take a ready-made nest, which was abandoned by other birds. If it builds on its own, it is located on a rock or hills. Some species can build nests on trees. They do not really like to build nests on their own, so they try to find a ready-made one. Often a couple finds several nests that have been abandoned by birds, and uses them alternately.

The female lays on average about 3-5 eggs. They are red with small spots of dark color. After a month or a little more, chicks appear. Most of the time the female sits on the eggs. The male can sometimes replace her.

Chicks hatch in late May or early June. About a month later, young birds have time to learn to fly small distances. If they are attacked by an enemy, they fall on their backs and push their legs forward to defend themselves. About a month and a half, parents take care of them, after which they can sometimes fly out.

At the age of 2 months, chicks of balaban already fly perfectly. When they learn to fly, they also begin to practice hunting. Their parents do not teach this. The chicks themselves try to attack the prey.

Young individuals wander closer to autumn. Even before the start of departure for the winter, they fly away far from the nesting site. Already at the age of a year they become sexually mature.

Individuals living in the wild can live for about 18-20 years. But there have been cases when representatives of the species survived to 28 years or more.

Interesting Facts

1. The size of the species is declining and is even at risk. Therefore, they are listed in the Red Book. Scientists in 2005 counted only about 8500 representatives of the species. Given that their habitat is very extensive, this number is extremely small. There is a threat of extinction. The main reason why the population of balabans is declining is human activity. Hunters catch small chicks to grow them, and then use them for hunting purposes. In the UAE, there were several black markets in which several thousand chicks were sold each year. As a result, the number of representatives of the species dramatically decreased. Another reason is the massive destruction of the habitat. Many of the nests of these birds will collapse, they are infected by infections. Many individuals die from pesticides that enter their bodies along with rodents poisoned by humans. All these reasons are directly or indirectly related to the activities of people.
2. Since the beginning of the 90s, a nursery has been established in the reserve on the territory of the Lipetsk region "Galichya Gora", in which they actively breed these birds.
3. They do not hunt near their nests, but try to fly away as far as possible. Smaller birds have noticed this, and use this feature. They try to nest as close as possible to the sockets of the balaban. In this way, they protect themselves and their home from the balaban and other predators who do not approach its nests, which pose a danger to weak birds.

Video: Saker Falcon (Falco cherrug)