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Walking through the Far Eastern taiga, you can hear many melodic charming melodies published by birds. Leaves the melodious melodic “si, si, circus circus” performed by a small blue-and-black bird called the blue flycatcher.
Appearance
The blue flycatcher is a small bird the size of a sparrow, and it looks like this resident of urban neighborhoods. After all, she came from a detachment of passerines. In the family of flycatchers, to which this feathered one belongs, several species are the gray flycatcher, spotted flycatcher, silver, azure ... Among this variety, the blue flycatcher is the largest representative.
The body is 18-20 cm long, the weight is a little more than 20 grams: the male is more - up to 24 grams, the female is slightly lighter - 22 grams. They differ from each other not only in body weight, but also in color. The outer plumage of the male is saturated blue - and the back, and head, and wings look as if drenched with azure paint. The resinous color prevails on the neck and chest, while the abdomen is dazzlingly white. Beak and legs are dark.
The female has only blue wings. The plumage is dark brown above, and the feathers are a light brown in color below. Paws with beak are light gray. The paws are small, but tenacious, with their help you can conveniently and comfortably sit on any branch. The wingspan is about 30 cm.
Spread
Wintering
The blue flycatcher is a thermophilic bird; it does not tolerate frosts. Cold weather is barely beginning, and the thermometer’s column rapidly drops to zero, the birds gather in a flock and go to warmer climes. This action takes place at the very beginning of autumn, in the first days of September. Winter is spent in the countries of Indochina and Indonesia.
Food
The main component of the diet is flies. The flycatcher is so named because it adores them! It also eats other insects - beetles, worms of all kinds, caterpillars, catches dragonflies, grabs butterflies, eats larvae willingly. Spiders occasionally become prey, but this is not the most favorite type of food. Like most birds, it obtains food during flight, but if this is not possible, it collects food from trees. On rainy and unlucky days when insects cannot be obtained, they switch to pasture plant food, filling the stomach with berries and other forest fruits.
Nesting and breeding
Blue flycatchers partners choose for a long time and keep them faithful. True, some males can live simultaneously with two females living on its territory. During courtship games and courtship, the male performs a beautiful soulful song, with the help of which he finds a life partner.
Flycatchers arrange nests on tree branches or stumps, using the recesses and pits located in them. Birds living in the mountains nest on rocky cornices and steep banks. The female is engaged in the construction and arrangement of the nest. Branches, pieces of bark, roots, grass, last year's leaves, birch bark are under construction. The bottom of the resulting house is covered with down, found in the forest elk or cow hair, their own and others' feathers and pieces of moss.A masonry is made, in which usually 5-7 white, decorated with red dots of testicles, and hatching begins. The female sits on the eggs alone, without the participation of her husband, for about 14 days, and the male all this time searches for and delivers food.
Two weeks later, chicks appear, they constantly require food, and for a month the parents are only busy trying to feed the children. After about 26-29 days, the chicks get on the wing and fly away, and the birds begin to prepare to do another clutch.
Interesting Facts
Often, passing through the taiga, you can see a bird sitting upright and intensely looking for prey.
During the feeding of babies, adult birds bring the chicks food about two hundred times a day. They are able to destroy a few kilograms of flies and other insects, bringing a lot of benefits to humans.
To see the blue flycatchers in the field or in the garden is a good sign - it means that all the surrounding vegetation will be cleaned of small flying pests.
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