Killer whale, bird of the swallow family: description

A small, fragile bird that spends its whole life in flight is called a killer whale. Destroying a large number of pests, the swallow brings invaluable benefits. The name of the killer whale was obtained thanks to the long extreme tail steering wings. In flight, they are very fast and beautiful. Despite the small size, this bird is very hardy and can overcome huge distances, flying above the ground at an altitude of 9 meters.

Description

A whale is a bird from the family of swallows, Numbering about one hundred species. The most common are two types of killer whales: rural and urban.

The city swallow is nesting its nest next to the nest of the other pair, placing it outside the buildings. Rural - prefers to settle near the home of a person.

The village swallow is richly black in color from the back, and the abdomen is white with an orange tint. On the throat and forehead there is a spot of reddish color. It has an elongated body about 20 cm in length, narrow wings, the range of which reaches 35 cm, and weight - 22 g. The tail is divided in the middle by a deep cut. Thanks to this structure, flying, they can perform different tricks, develop a speed of up to 20 km / h. The paws, the beak and the iris of the eyes are black. Male from female is difficult to distinguish, the only difference is the length of the tail: in the female it is shorter and has a pale inner part.

The whale (bird), whose description is located above, lives in the wild for about five years. The mortality of birds in the first year of life is high, at times it reaches 80%. Further, this figure is insignificantly reduced. The cause of death of killer whales is a lot of enemies, living on the ground and in the air.

However, the disappearance of this species of swallows is not threatened, since their population is numerous and has tens of millions of individuals.

In all respects it surpasses other kinds of swallows of the killer whale (bird). Red Book Republic of Yakutia, in which this species is listed, is an exception.

Moulting

In adult killer whales molting occurs once a year. The small plumage begins to change in August during nesting and continues in wintering areas until spring. Large feathers are replaced by the spring flight. In the younger generation, the first complete molt occurs on wintering grounds.

Singing

Males and females sing very beautifully, producing a cheerful twitter, which ends with a crisp trill of "cerr". The song of the female is slightly shorter. In case of danger, they produce sharper and loud sounds. During the flight they chat with a short chirping.

A whale (bird): where does it live?

In August and September they get into big packs, preparing to fly for the winter. If the swallows migrated during the migratory season, they become very helpless, fall into a stupor and die.

During flights, open spaces are kept. They can live in conditions where there is an opportunity to obtain food, water, material for building a nest. Swallow can be found in North America, in northern Africa, in Eurasia, where they spend the winter. In Alaska and Greenland, these birds do not occur. In nature, birds nests on rocks, cliffs, in caves, rarely on trees. Swallows lead a daily life.

Nesting

In early May, swallows appear in the middle zone of Russia. Their nests are erected under canopies, roofs. They are not afraid to settle within the human dwellings: in the hall, in the attics, in the rooms. There are cases of construction of a nest in chimneys. In some countries it is called: "smoke swallow". The male also participates in the construction of the nest. For this process, use clay, sand. Earth particles, from which the nest is made, join each other with sticky saliva, which is released from the bird from the mouth. Inside, they are lined with hair, feathers, grass. The shape of the house resembles a bowl-bowl.

When attracting swallows to nesting, care must be taken that they can easily fall into the nest on economic buildings or attics. In cases of loss of chicks, they should be placed in another swallow's nest. It is almost impossible to feed the chicks independently.

Food

The killer whale is a bird that eats, catching in flight insects: flies, mosquitoes, butterflies, beetles, crickets, midges, spiders, grasshoppers, flying or inhabiting low above the ground, in meadows or near water bodies. Thanks to a wide beak, this method of producing food is good for them. In another way, they can not eat, therefore, during the cold and rainy season, they die from insects lack. Accompany pets on pastures and pastures. Can glue insects from the walls. Their prey is swallowed whole. During nesting, they fly out in pairs. When flying over the water surface, birds are drunk, opening their beak wide and picking up water. Swallowing is also carried out during the flight, falling lightly into the water.

Reproduction

The pairs that are created at the beginning of the mating season are saved for life. In order to attract the female, the male sings the songs and at the same time dissolves the wings, showing their beauty. The female half prefers individuals with a long tail.

In the last days of May - early June, killer whales lay 4 to 6 eggs, with different colors: white with gray spots or white with red-brown spots. The female can make three masonry in the period from May to August. In the first laying eggs are larger and larger. Sometimes the male does not find a friend and is adjacent to the already established pair. He takes part in the construction and protection of the nest, hatches eggs and performs matrimonial duties.

Nasizhivayut chicks in some pairs of both parents in turn. In others, only the female. After 14 days or slightly more, depending on the weather conditions, a young generation of killer whales appears. About three weeks the killer whale - the bird, whose photo below, takes care of them, often bringing food. In the first days of flights the young generation returns to the nest of parents for the night. Further the kids already start to live and eat independently. To the sexual life, the chicks will be ready for the next spring.

Interesting Facts

1. In 1999, the killer whale was declared the bird of the year.
2. There is a popular sign that if someone ravages a swallow's nest, then he will have freckles.
3. People have long believed that if to offend her, then she will certainly take revenge. And if the swallows have disappeared, then soon trouble will come.
4. At home, where the killer whale (bird) will destroy the nest, were considered happy.
5. The national symbol of Estonia is the village swallow.
6. The killer whale does not live among asphalt, transport, pesticides, that is, where green plantations and lawns disappear.
7. In some countries with developed industry, special boxes with earth, clay, and manure are put up to attract killer whales, so that the swallows can use them to build nests.

A whale is a bird, Which is not created for life in a cage. However, cases are described where it was possible not only to tame the bird, but also to make it nest and take out the chicks. They fed the killer whale with eggs of ants with finely grated carrots and flies. The manual killer whale is very attached to the people who have nurtured it, and therefore it is difficult to force it to fly with other birds to the hibernation.