This article focuses on the bird of prey, which represents one of the five species of hawk family nesting in the vast territory of Russia. She lives also outside our country.
In general, the birds of Russia are a huge amount.most different species that live in the vast expanses of the country. Moreover, the climatic and geographical conditions here allow you to choose the appropriate habitat for each species of birds.
At the beginning of the 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 habitat
This bird from the Falconiformes order is a member of the hawk family.
Their habitat is wide enough. The meadow harrier is mostly distributed in the following territories:
- Eurasia (east to Altai);
- Northwest Africa;
- Western Siberia (north to Tyumen, Krasnoyarsk and Tara);
- Omsk Region (treeless habitats).
The usual habitats are steppes and forest-steppes near swamps and lakes, on wet meadows and among numerous agricultural lands. Only in some places they penetrate into the forest zone.
Lun meadow: description
This bird has a relatively average size.(harrier is slightly larger than a crow) with a long tail and rather big wings. In the male adult (approximately at the 4th year of life) the back has a slate-gray color (it is slightly darker than that of the steppe), and the nahhvoste is whitish with gray or brown specks. Goiter, throat and chest gray-gray. The sides, belly and undertail are white with a reddish narrow longitudinal pattern.
The primary front wing wings are completely black, the middle steering has gray color, the lateral ones are whitish with a reddish transverse pattern.
The young meadow harrier has a dark brown dorsal side, with ocher rims on feathers. Its ventral side is red or ocher. The claws and beak are black, and the legs and wax wax are yellow.
The eye iris in adult birds is bright and yellow, while in young birds it is brown. The voice of these birds is either rattling ("Pyrrh-Pyrrh -...") or abrupt ("peak-peak-peak -...").
Differences female from male
What are the external differences, depending on gender,has a lunar meadow? The female is usually larger than the male in size. The difference in coloration and age-related changes in the females and males of the meadow moon are also significant. The main difference between adult males (older than 4 years) is that their dorsal side is brownish-blue.
Adult females are very similar to female moonsfield, but in the upper tail they have brownish longitudinal marks. The back is brown, white nadhvoste with dusky drop-like mottled. The belly of the bird is whitish, with a reddish longitudinal pattern. Steering and flight wings - grayish-brown, in transverse stripes.
Young birds of both sexes in the first year of their life have almost identical external features.
Bird size
The meadow harrier usually has a weight from 260 to 380 grams. Fly it pretty easy. Do not sit on trees.
In size, this bird is smaller than a field moon. The total length of it is from 40 to 52 cm, and wings in a span of up to 115 cm. The length of one wing reaches 39 centimeters.
Lifestyle
The described migratory bird on the places of hishabitat (nesting) usually arrives in late April. The meadow harrier builds a nest on the ground in a damp meadow or close to water. They are found in the reed.
Masonry, consisting of 3-6 white eggs (sometimes withbrown splashes), occurs at the very beginning of May. Between egg laying, the gap is from one to four days. Eggs are incubated for about a month. It is noteworthy that at this time, the male supplies the female and the nestling with food.
Обычно птенцы выходят из гнезда примерно на 35-й day, but sometimes it can occur 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 in a wide area:in Europe (England, Netherlands, Denmark, GDR, southern Sweden, Baltic states, middle part of European Russia, Hungary, Romania, the Mediterranean, Crimea), in Central Asia, Iran, Siberia (up to Tyumen), North Africa (Morocco and Algeria) and others.
This wintering migrant reaches India, Pakistan, and Africa (sub-Saharan Africa).
Северная граница ареала гнездования проходит approximately around the cities of Krasnoyarsk, Tara, Tyumen, Yekaterinburg, Kazan, Yaroslavl, Moscow, Pskov. The southern part extends beyond the territory of Russia: the republics of the Transcaucasus, the Khorasan region (northeastern Iran), the steppe regions of Central Asia and Kazakhstan, and the northwestern China (up to the Dzungaria desert). Some sites are also available in Asia Minor.
Hunting
Meadow meadow - a bird that always huntsopen space, slowly circling the selected area rather low above the ground. So she usually hunts small rodents, small birds, lizards and insects.
Часто, чтобы застать свою жертву врасплох, лунь moves in flight along the edges of high grass. Having noticed his prey, he abruptly and unexpectedly falls down, pulling his long claws forward. Moreover, unlike its counterparts (field or marsh 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
Как уже уопминалось, птицы России отличаются huge variety and a large number of species of the family of hawks. The main distinguishing features of the meadow moon are a white narrow spot on the lower back, striped distinct pattern on the covering feathers and a wide longitudinal strip of white in the full length at the bottom of the wing. Steppe harrier also has such a band, but partially blurred.
A fairly well-developed bright collar, available in steppe and field harriers, is absent in the meadow female.
During the flight, black primary feathers and two dark stripes on the underside of the wing are clearly visible in this bird.
Легче всего от других пернатых хищников отличить adult male lunya, in which the plumage of the head, covering the wings and backs are ash-gray. It is darker than other moons. The throat, front part of the head and chest in this species are pale gray.
Conclusion
Today, this bird can be found extremely rarely, and in some places the harrier has disappeared completely.
Причиной уменьшения численности этой птицы for the most part there is a sharp decline in nesting opportunities, housing, because in many places there is a strong trampling down of nests in wetlands of meadows. They are also ruined by people and dogs, as well as the inevitable poisoning by pesticides during the processing of agricultural land. There is a shooting of these birds.
Today, according to the environmental legislation of the Russian Federation, the harrier is protected, and for the destruction of the nests and for the prey of this bird is fined.
