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Tuvik is a bird of prey, daytime bird, belongs to the hawk family. As a rule, they settle in forests, closer to water, because they prefer places with high humidity. Tuvik got its name due to the characteristic cry, consonant with its name.
Description of Tuvik
Despite the fact that the bird belongs to predators, it is small in size, approximately like a dove. Depending on the species, it occurs from 30 to 38 centimeters in length, and weighs no more than 250g. However, the wingspan can reach 80 cm. Unlike their relatives from the hawk family, the female and the male are almost the same size, but different in color.
The back and head of the male are distinguished by a light, gray plumage, and on the throat you can see an almost invisible transverse strip. The thoracic part and neck are alternately colored in a white and light-red longitudinal strip. Unlike the female, horizontals on the belly and tail of the tuvik are thin and frequent. The ends of the wings are dark, with an average of 5-6 wide stripes. The undertail and the underwing are light, on the tail itself from 5-7 stripes.
The female has a darker plumage with a stroke on the throat of a distinct dark color. The chest and neck are also decorated with horizontal stripes, but with a dark red tint.
Very often, a bird is confused with a sparrowhawk, but, unlike the second, the tuvik has a lighter back, a gray head with no inclusions, and no light eyebrows. Legs and fingers are short, thick. Spatula, by the way, is much faster and more agile.
Young and adult birds are different in color. In juvenile birds, the dorsal part is darker, on the abdomen instead of stripes, a drop-shaped transverse pattern (in the future will be converted into lines), and a dark longitudinal stripe on the goiter, as in females.
The eyes of birds of any age are dark in color, with a red-brown iris, which makes them stand out from other hawks.
The Tuvik does not fly fast, but slowly soars through the air in search of prey.
Bird feed
During nesting, the male obtains food alone and feeds the female; in autumn, they hunt in pairs.
The bird is quite secretive, however, it is often found on the territory of habitable land, with an abundance of trees. There they hunt mice and moles.
In countries of Asia with a large number of sparrows, tuviks help in the struggle to preserve the crop.
Types of Tuvik
There are several species of this bird. The most common of them are European and Turkestan tuviks.
- European. It has an average size of 30-38cm. The weight of the male does not exceed 190 gr. and the wingspan is 70, the weight of the female can reach 220 g. It is less common than other species. Wings are sharper and longer than other subspecies. The color is saturated tan. It lives in the southern regions of Russia, Armenia, Greece. In the winter, flies to the countries of Egypt, Sudan and Iran. Migrates in large flocks.
- Turkestan Tuvik. Representatives of the male and female individuals of this species are similar to each other in the color of plumage. However, the female is slightly larger than the male. The beak of birds is dark in color, the legs are characteristic yellow. The back and wings are gray-brown, the wax is yellow with a brown tint. The wings are 18-23 centimeters long. Unlike the European tuvik, it has a larger size - up to 250 gr., And short paws. Nests in Central Asia, as well as China, India, and Africa, Eritrea and Nigeria.It is found in Ukraine, the Caucasus and the Balkan Peninsula. As a rule, he does not fly away to winter in distant countries, leads a sedentary lifestyle, preferring seasonal absences in the nearest places.
- Nicobar Tuvik. This species of Tuvik representatives lives exclusively in the forests of the Nicobar Islands, in the Bay of Bengal, in India. Refers to small, protected birds. The color of the Nicobar Tuvik is similar to the European look.
Distinctive features of a female from a male
In addition to the color of plumage, individuals are slightly different in size. Tuvik female is 30-50 g more. The males are lighter and grayer, while the females are characterized by a red and brown plumage, and a sharply defined strip on the throat.
Poultry breeding
Tuviks arrive quite late, in comparison with other migratory predators, in late April, early May. They begin to nest in secluded places, exclusively on tall trees up to 30 meters (elm, alder, branches, poplar). The average size of the nest building is 40 cm in diameter and 20 in height.
If there are other nests of this subspecies nearby, the birds can attack each other, therefore, as a rule, they do not allow the neighborhood closer than 1 km. Their dwelling is not dense, but large, in shape resembling an inverted cone. Lined not only with branches and twigs, but also with grass and dry leaves. Unlike the sparrowhawk, the nest must have green leaves, according to which ornithologists immediately notice the habitat of the tuvik. Very rarely, they capture the nests of other birds, such as forty.
By the end of May - beginning of June, the breeding season begins. The female lays no more than 4 eggs of white color, without any spots, but the closer the moment of the appearance of the chicks, the more the egg turns yellow. The incubation period lasts 33-35 days from the moment the first egg is landed.
Chicks are in the nest up to 1.5 months of age, during which time they twice change their white plumage with a yellowish tint. Toward the end of summer, they leave the nest and often become the prey of goshawks. The first two weeks the chicks are located nearby nests, feed on insects and lizards. Already with the first cold weather, young birds fly away for the winter to warm countries.
Puberty occurs in the first year, the average life expectancy of 10-12 years.
Tyvik distribution
Habitat of birds - forest and steppe zone. Forests are not dense, light, near rivers and lakes, as well as fields.
The countries where the Tuviks live are Eurasia, Ukraine and the Urals, Central Asia, Turkey and the Caucasus. Tuviks winter in African countries, and return to their homeland at the time of foliage.
Number
In the second half of the 20th century, the construction of hydroelectric stations on the Volga and Don rivers greatly influenced the number of Tuviks. Flooded wooded areas, felling of trees in the floodplains of rivers, rendered habitual places of resettlement and nesting of birds unusable, as a result of which the bird population sharply decreased.
Over the past few decades, predatory goshawks that hunt Tuviks have been actively breeding in the forest and steppe zones of Russia, and in the future can also significantly reduce their numbers. Today, there are about 50,000 birds, the species is listed in the Red Book.
Video: Tuvik (Accipiter brevipes)
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