Meadow lunar, a predatory bird of the hawk family: description, habitat

In this article we will talk about a bird of prey, representing one of the five species of the family of hawks nesting in the vast territory of Russia. It also lives outside our country.

In general, the birds of Russia - it's a huge number of different species that live in the vast expanses of the country. As climatic and geographical conditions here allow to choose corresponding habitats for each species of birds.

In the early twentieth century, the meadow harrier, which will be discussed in this article, was the most numerous representative of birds of this genus. Today things are much worse.

Distribution and habitats

This bird from the order of the Falconidae is included in the family of hawks.

Their habitat is wide enough. The meadow lunya is mostly distributed in the following territories:

• Eurasia (east to Altai);
• North-West Africa;
• Western Siberia (to the north to Tyumen, Krasnoyarsk and Tara);
• Omsk Region (treeless habitats).

Common habitats are steppes and forest-steppes near marshes and lakes, in wet meadows and among numerous agricultural lands. Only in some places they penetrate into the forest zone.

Meadow meadow: description

This bird is relatively average in size (the harrier is slightly larger than a crow) with a long tail and rather large wings. In an adult male (about the 4th year of life), the back has an aspido-bluish color (it is slightly darker than in the steppe), and the nadir is whitish with gray or brown mottled. The goiter, throat and chest are gray-gray. Boka, belly and podhvoste - white with a rusty narrow longitudinal pattern.

The primary front wing wings are completely black, the middle steering wings are gray, the lateral ones are whitish with a reddish cross pattern.

The young meadow harrier has a dark-brown dorsal side, with edges ocherous on feathers. Its ventral side is red or ocherous. The claws and beak are black, and the paws and yellow wax are.

The eye iris in adult birds is bright, yellow, while in young birds it is brown. The voice of these birds is either rattling ("pyrrh-pirri -..."), or abrupt ("peak-peak-peak -...").

Differences between female and male

What are the external differences, depending on sex, has meadow prauns? The female, as a rule, is larger than the male in size. The difference in color and age changes in the female and male meadow moons are also significant. The main difference between adult males (over 4 years old) is that their dorsal side is brownish-gray in color.

Adult females are very similar to the female moons of the field, but they have brownish longitudinal markings in the nadx. The back is brown, with white tufts, with darkish teardrop-like mottles. The belly of the bird is whitish, with a reddish longitudinal pattern. Steering and flywings are gray-brown, cross-striped.

Young birds of both sexes in the first year of their life have almost identical external features.

Bird sizes

Meadow lunar, as a rule, has a weight from 260 to 380 grams. They fly quite easily. The trees do not sit down.

In size, this bird is smaller than the field harrier. The total length of it is from 40 to 52 cm, and the wings in the span are up to 115 cm. The length of one wing reaches 39 centimeters.

Lifestyle

The described migratory bird to its habitats (nesting) usually arrives at the end of April. The meadow lunia builds a nest on the ground on a wet meadow or near water. They also occur in reeds.

Masonry, consisting of 3-6 white eggs (sometimes with brown impregnations), occurs already at the very beginning of May. Between egg layings the interval is from one to four days. Nasizhivayutsya eggs for about a month. It is noteworthy that at this time the male supplies the female and the nestling with food.

Usually the chicks leave the nest on the 35th day, but sometimes this can happen even after 10-14 days after hatching. Even in particularly favorable years the brood is no more than 4 chicks. Young birds feed on lizards, small rodents, insects and small birds.

Nesting area

The meadow harrier nests on a vast territory: in Europe (England, the Netherlands, Denmark, the GDR, the south of Sweden, the Baltic, the middle part of European Russia, Hungary, Romania, the Mediterranean, the Crimea), Central Asia, Iran, Siberia (to Tyumen) , In North Africa (Morocco and Algeria), etc.

This migratory bird on wintering reaches India, Pakistan and Africa (south of the Sahara).

The northern border of the range of nesting is approximately in the vicinity of the cities of Krasnoyarsk, Tara, Tyumen, Ekaterinburg, Kazan, Yaroslavl, Moscow, Pskov. The southern part extends beyond the territory of Russia: the republics of Transcaucasia, the Khorasan region (north-east of Iran), the steppe regions of Central Asia and Kazakhstan, the northwest of China (to the Jungaria desert). Some plots are also found in Asia Minor.

Hunting

The meadow prairie is a bird that always hunts in the open space, slowly flying around the selected area quite low over the ground. So she usually hunts for small rodents, small birds, lizards and insects.

Often, to catch his victim unawares, the lunoon moves in flight along the edges of the tall grass. Having noticed his prey, he falls sharply and unexpectedly down, stretching his long claws forward. And, unlike their fellow (field or marshy moons), this bird can grab its prey not only on the surface of the earth, but also in flight, in the air.

Differences from other birds

As already mentioned, the birds of Russia are distinguished by a huge variety and a large number of varieties of the hawk family. The main distinctive features of the meadow lunya are a white narrow spot on the waist, a striped distinct pattern on the covering feathers and a wide longitudinal strip of white color for the entire length in the lower part of the wing. The steppe harrier also has such a strip, but it is partially washed out.

A fairly well-developed light collar, found in steppe and field moons, is absent in a meadow female.

When flying at the named bird clearly visible black primaries and two strips of dark color on the underside of the wing.

The easiest way to distinguish an adult male lunar from other birds of prey is by having the tail feathers, covering the wings and the backs of an ash-gray color. It is darker than other moons. The throat, the front of the head and the chest are pale gray in this species.

Conclusion

For today, this bird can be met very rarely, and in some places the luny disappeared completely.

The reason for the decrease in the number of this bird is, for the most part, a sharp reduction in the possibilities for nesting and housing, because in many places there is a marked trampling of the nests in the moist meadows. Also there is a ruin by their people and dogs, and also inevitable poisoning by pesticides at processing of agricultural grounds. There is also shooting of these birds.

Today, according to the environmental legislation of the Russian Federation, lun is protected, and for the destruction of nests and the production of this bird, a fine is levied.