Thules - description, habitat, interesting facts

Thules is a medium-sized bird belonging to the charadriiformes family. The main nesting place is the northern regions of Russia, Canada. The migration of this bird spreads around the world, mainly in coastal areas. The peculiarity of the species is that its representatives are able to make flights of considerable duration and complexity without rest breaks. They land only for two reasons - for feeding or because of rather unfavorable weather conditions.

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The body length of an adult Tulesa reaches 30 cm and weighs up to 350 grams. Wingspan - up to 75 cm. Tules paws are gray, the color of the short beak is dark. The 4th finger is present on the paws, which distinguishes this bird from other representatives of the charadriiformes family.

The color of the plumage of the tulles is monophonic - dark (in females - brown in males - black), with a white undercoat; white streaks are present on the back of the bird. This bird outfit wears spring and summer.

The period of changing the dress (molting) falls at the end of summer - the beginning of autumn. The winter outfit is worn by Tules until the beginning of April. This plumage is characterized by a simple gray color of feathers of a bird, white belly and gray chest, streaked with dark patches. The plumage of young Tules is almost completely copies the winter adult outfit and, as a rule, young growth wears such an outfit throughout the first year of its life.

Features of the nutrition of the species

Note that for feeding, tules, as a rule, prefer loneliness, this suggests that representatives of the species do not create the so-called feeding flocks. Nevertheless, it was noted that if there is a lot of food in the fodder territories, then the birds can be combined into small groups.

Hunting for prey, they quickly run around, seeing the animals suitable for feeding, suddenly stop and grab it with its beak. Plant and animal food from the water is simply caught or removed with its beak in shallow water.

Breeding

The time to reach maturity of the thules is about two years. Birds are monogamous, that is, they form pairs that have been together for several years. A nesting place is the earth's surface in the open tundra. As a rule, in a bird colony, the distance between the nests is up to 500 meters.

The very nest of the tulese itself is a small depression in the soil, often lined with vegetation such as lichen and rosemary. The nesting period for pairs of Tules individuals occurs from late May to early July. The average number of eggs in a clutch of tules is about 3-4 pieces. The process of incubation is carried out by both parents of the future offspring (about a month). The chicks of the bird completely fledge - somewhere after 1.5 months after hatching. The average lifespan of a toles in its natural habitat is no more than 18-20 years.

Conservation status

Due to the fact that the thules population is spread over a rather large territory (17 million 300 thousand sq. Km), the number of this species of feathered family of charadriiformes has not yet reached critical thresholds.Nevertheless, in recent years, ornithologists have noticed a fairly clear downward trend, albeit developing at a slow pace. For this reason, the bird of tules has received a status that causes public environmental organizations to fear for the species due to the threat of extinction. Note that this type of bird is covered by the corresponding Agreement, which implies the protection and conservation in the wild.

Interesting facts about Tules

This migratory bird often keeps together with its pair exclusively during the period of nesting, breeding and feeding offspring, but the rest of the time it prefers to lead an independent lifestyle.

The largest population of tulles is in Eurasia, this is an area characterized by high humidity.

Representatives of the species have a beautiful and melodious voice. During the currenting period, the male performs a sonorous song, consisting of several parts - individual flute whistles and a leisurely trill repeated several times.

Video: tules (Pluvialis squatarola)