Snipe is a swamp bird. What feeds on the bird snipe?

Snipe is a bird, after which a hunting rifle is named. Such honor is given to this representative of the feathered for its secrecy and unusual.

Bekas can be seen throughout the CIS countries, with the exception of the north of Russia and Kamchatka. Winter is preferred by the bird in distant lands - on the territory next to India. Waiting there for the cold times, covering the post-Soviet space in winter, the snipe returns to its territory in late April-early May.

The flight of these birds begins with a quiet groan. The first minutes of his snipe swing zigzagging, which hinders the process of hunting for them. These feathered creatures not only fly well, but also swim, run and even dive.

What does a snipe bird eat? Usually their diet consists of worms, insects and vegetation. Live Snipe in any landscaped zone, which has mud or muddy places. Usually it is the edges of ponds, lakes, rivers, flood meadows with the presence of bushes and grass.

External differences between birds and their varieties

Snipe can not be confused with any other bird, since its special feature is a long beak, reaching a length of more than 5 centimeters. It is quite easy to learn the bird and by other signs. Snipe has the size of a medium thrush or starling. His body does not exceed 30 cm in length, and the weight can be from 100 to 180 grams. The bird has a very beautiful color of plumage, although it does not differ in variegation and brightness.

Do you know what else these wading birds are called ? The names of snipe has the following: chick or lamb (forest or wild). The bird belongs to the plover family, to the wader group. The genus Snipe in the territory of the CIS is represented by 6 species: Asian, ordinary, Japanese (quite rare), a hermit, as well as a forest dopel and an ordinary one. The first of these is common in the eastern regions of the country. It is very reminiscent of snipe ordinary, differing in the presence of more tail feathers in the tail.

Poultry color

Ordinary snipe is a small bird, reaching the size of a chicken of three weeks old. The bird is distinguished by the slender body, a very long thin and straight beak, high legs. The color of snipe has shades of black, white and brown color. Along the crown of the head, two bands of coal color are noticeable on the surface of the head. Between them the plumage lies in the form of a narrow reddish strip. The upper part of the body of the bird is alternately colored in yellow and black stripes. Ocher bright edges are visible above the wings and along the shoulder region of the snipe. The chest, neck and part under the tail has a yellow-gray color with black marks. The sides of the bird are light, the belly is white. The tail feathers have a reddish color and a black border. The beak is dark-horny, legs are greenish or olive. The color of the eyes, pushed strongly to the back of the head, brown.

Habitat

Snipe snails nest almost throughout the CIS. The exception is the desert terrain, some steppes in the southern latitudes and the Far North. You can find a nest of a bird even on the top of a mountain in the conditions of eternal cold and snow.

Wintering can take place in Central Asia, Transcaucasia, and beyond the CIS. The flight of birds from the warm edges to the nesting sites occurs from March to June. It depends on how far to the south or north of their habitat. Residents of central regions of Russia can observe snipe in their latitudes as early as April.

Birding

Almost immediately after the flight to the nesting places snipe begin marriage games. Males are poking in the air, flying to a high altitude. From there they sharply dive down. The feathers of the tail and wings produce a sound similar to vibrating, which resembles the bleating of a ram. There is an opinion that females of snipe participate in such flights. In fact, they sit during a current in the grass and issue an invocatory cry. Often, these marsh-meadow birds that sit in the mating season on bumps or bushes, publish a peculiar croaking. Some hunters insist that such sounds originate from females. But observations indicate an opposite situation. The males in the air, having performed more than one circle, fall down with a stone and, crouching on a bump or branch of a bush, publish croaking "taku-taku".

Nesting

In May, sometimes in June, the snipe (female) equips the nest. Most often it is located on a mound. Typically, preference is given to manes with sparsely growing fir trees and birches, stumps, sedge marshes and moist meadows with scattered islets of alder. Sometimes, snipe females arrange their structures for offspring in a moist coniferous forest.

The shape of the nests of these birds looks like a small depression, which is dug in the ground and covered with dry vegetation, most often with grass stems. The thickness of the layer of such litter is about 20 mm.

It is laid by a swamp bird, snipe usually four eggs of a motley color, having the shape of a cone. The main color of them is often olive with the addition of brown and yellow hues and brown or gray spots. The period of incubation of eggs lasts 18-20 days. In this process, the male does not participate, as in the care of hatched chicks. But at the same time it is always close to the location of the nest.

Occurrence of offspring

Snipe is a bird whose offspring leave their birthplace immediately after the hatching process to find food under the supervision of the female. And it happens on 19 - 21 days from the beginning of incubation of eggs (in 3 weeks). Often snipe chicks can be found in June. At the end of one month the young grows much more independently, and the family moves from swampy places in the thickets to a more open space.

About two months after birth, the strongest individuals, capable of independently protecting themselves and extracting food, are separated from the family. The brood breaks up. By this time the adult snipe ends the molting period.

Preparing for the winter

Before flying to the warm regions for the winter season, snipe very fat, become less mobile. This allows predators and hunters to approach them closer. Fly off to the wintering places snipe begin with the end of August. The warmest regions of the CIS, they leave in October. Too fattened individuals sometimes linger until the first snow falls. There are cases of wintering of single snipe near unfrozen springs.

Food preferred by birds

How and what does a bird snipe on swamps and meadows? The main part of the diet consists of a variety of insects and their larvae, worms, snails, beetles.

Feeding snipes themselves is obtained with the help of its long beak, which is digging the earth. This is as follows. The bird instantly sticks the beak into the soil or silt, gropes its tip with food at a depth of 5-6 centimeters and captures it. Snipe has one interesting feature. They are able to swallow food without taking out the beak from the ground. Also these birds can eat leeches and plant parts: seeds, sprouts, roots. Snipe is a bird that can even dive into the water in search of food.

FEATURES FEATURES

Particular activity of birds is shown at dawn and at dusk. Snipeheads rarely use wings to move, mostly they use the ground. But to catch the data of the representatives of birds is not so simple. Snipe are very careful, in case of the slightest danger they escape into thickets of reeds or other shelters. Wings of birds are used for long flights to warmer regions for hibernation and back, as well as for attracting the attention of the opposite sex during the mating games.