Drozd mountain ash - a beautiful pest

Drozd mountain ash - a bird belonging to the order of the Passerines, the family of the Thrush, the genus Drozdy. The biological group is harmful birds.

Female and male have the same color, in which there are white, black, gray-bluish and rusty hues. The body is 25-28 cm long, the length of the wing is 15 cm, and the mass is about 100 grams. The photo shows it well.

Prefers to live on the fringes of deciduous and coniferous forests, near floodplain thickets, in urban parks, gardens and on personal plots. It is widespread almost everywhere. The most frightening of all thrush.

The bird is omnivorous. In spring and summer it feeds mainly on insects, worms, snails, in winter and autumn - berries, fruits, seeds. It can feed on trees and on land.

Particular preference in winter time these thrushes give the mountain ash. No wonder they were so called. With abundant harvest, birds can stay in one place for a long time until they eat all the berries. Drozd mountain ash - the main distributor of seeds of these plants. Having visited the gastrointestinal tract of a bird, seeds do not lose germination.

The flock, flying on a rowan tree, is dispersed on it. Breaking and swallowing berries, the birds relatively evenly clean the tree of the fruit. Some of the berries fall to the ground, and they are not lazy to go down to pick up the dropped. Then on the snow (if it lies), their tracks are clearly visible. By the way, mountain ashkins have the biggest traces of all thrush.

Drozd mountain ash - a migratory bird, migrant, schooling. Nests in colonies, in which there may be up to 30 pairs. Nests - deep strong bowls, twisted from thin twigs, grasses and fixed with clay soil. They are built in forks of thick branches of trees and shrubs, at different heights.

Sometimes colonies are ruined by crows, jays, magpies. But mountain ashbers are not inactive, they defend their nests, "firing" enemies with litter. This is a serious weapon, because the pollution is so strong that birds with glued feathers can not fly. People who fall into the colony can also get.

During the summer period, the female lays eggs twice. In the masonry there are from 4 to 7 eggs of an interesting coloring - greenish with brown impregnations. The male takes care of the nest and the female. Nestlings are fed together. The chicks spend the first 12-14 days in the nest, then fly out of it, but they are not prepared for independent life at all. Parents continue to patronize them, feed them, teach them how to fly.

The young are straying and flocking, seeking places for feeding. Later, second broods enter their ranks. By the fall, large flocks are formed, which include both young and adult birds.

Drozd mountain ash can cause damage to berry plantations, garden strawberries as well. Some part of the berries they eat, but much more naklyovyvayut. Damage currants, blueberries, gooseberries, raspberries, sea buckthorn, juniper, guelder rose, cranberries, elderberry, cherries, pears, apples. The big harm these birds cause to the nurseries, engaged in cultivation of especially valuable and new grades of fruit and berry cultures. In some states even the shooting of thrushes is permitted in a certain period of the year.

Singing thrush unpleasant, crackling, chirring. Because of these sounds, the bird is not suitable for keeping in the home.