Life expectancy of sparrows. Where and how long do pigeons and sparrows live. Where do tree sparrows live?

According to ornithologists, crows and eagles are approximately the same - 80 years old. However, such statistics relate exclusively to life in captivity: without enemies, with a varied diet, without hungry seasons, and not always with hatching chicks. IN wildlife The eagle and raven age lasts a maximum of 20 years. And yet, the fairy tale about longevity associated with carrion in the diet has grounds. One of the longest lives in the bird world is the carrion bird, the American turkey vulture, living up to 118 years in the wild.

Sources of information about bird life

When reporting information about the age limit of birds, biologists use the results of observations in zoos and data from ornithological stations. Specialist ornithologists, who band migratory birds and record the next migrations of marked individuals year after year, keep records that make it possible to determine the average birds. And although there are as many opinions as there are observers, statistical averages rarely differ.

The value of freedom in the form of life in the wild is emphasized exclusively by man, who preserves the diversity of species of the planet’s inhabitants created by nature. Captivity in the form of a cage or zoo enclosure is a guarantee of peace and a well-fed life with periodic supervision by a veterinarian. Human care cancels the laws of natural selection, and birds break records, living 10-20 bird centuries allotted to them in the wild.

The most famous facts about the lifespan of birds

A relatively short life distinguishes birds from the order Gallini, or Galliformes - hazel grouse, pheasants, black grouse, and others. On average, their “age” is about 14 years. Among the record holders are chickens, which occasionally exceed the 20-year threshold. Quails - an alternative for supplying eggs to people's tables - live for 5-6 years. Representatives of the duck family - geese, ducks, swans, geese - also have a good chance of living up to 2 decades. Even in the wild, ornithologists have noted cases of capturing 18-20 year old mallards.

The 70-year life expectancy of the mute swan in the zoo is noted by statistics. But in general, ducks and chickens differ little in their age limit.

The birds of the American continent, the blue mosquitocatcher and the hummingbird, have a short existence - 4 and 8 years, respectively. The lifespan of a wild pigeon is short - 3-5 years, while in dovecotes and zoo enclosures birds live for 15 and even 30 years. Rooks live for eight years, common rooks for 9 years and snowy owl, whose appearance is known from Bookle, the postman of Harry Potter. In captivity, such owls live up to 28 years. Eagle owls can live 60 years in the same conditions. Human favorite songbirds, canaries, live in cages for up to 24 years.

House sparrows live extremely short lives - 3-5 years, and most of them die in 1 year of life. However, it was also recorded maximum term under favorable circumstances - 23 years.

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How larger bird, the higher its longevity potential. Emperor penguins, the largest of the flightless seabirds, live up to 25 years. The remaining members of the penguin family are allotted from 7 to 20 years. Emus and cassowaries live several years longer in captivity - up to 40 years, pink hummingbirds and can “celebrate” this anniversary in freedom. Among the African ones there are 75-year-old specimens against the usual 40-year-old background. Flightless ratites, the kiwi, endemic to New Zealand, enjoy a wingless existence of 50-60 years. Gray parrots and red macaws often exceed the half-century mark - this is also evidenced by the observations of ornithologists.

There are many species of birds in the world. Some of them amaze the mind with their beauty and uniqueness, others with their miniature size. There are also individuals that are not quite similar to birds. They are terrestrial, however, they reach the largest sizes. We are talking about the African ostrich.

Most a huge bird, among the living ones, is considered to be the African ostrich. He is heavily built with a flat head and long neck. It has a straight, flat beak. Also, this bird has the largest eyes of all land animals - their diameter reaches five centimeters.

This bird has underdeveloped pectoral muscles and completely undeveloped wings. Therefore, the ostrich is a bird that cannot fly. But she can run perfectly, reaching speeds of up to 70 kilometers per hour.

The head, neck, hips and “pectoral callus” are free from plumage, which in the ostrich is curly and loose. Most often, males have mostly black plumage, but a light tail and wings. Female ostriches are smaller in size and are characterized by a more uniform color (usually a gray-brown base tone and off-white wings).

Ostriches settle in dry, treeless areas in Africa or the Middle East. They can be found in savanna or semi-desert, in the north or south of the equatorial forest zone. Previously, the African ostrich was actively hunted, which is why there are not many places left where ostriches live in the wild. The bird population is saved by numerous ostrich farms around the world.

Ostriches are, for the most part, herbivores. They feed on shoots, flowers, fruits and seeds. But these birds will also not refuse small insects, reptiles and rodents. Due to the lack of teeth, the ostrich swallows pieces of wood, tiny stones, and pieces of iron to grind food in its stomach.

Video on the topic

At first glance, it may seem that the longest animal on Earth is logically the largest of all existing creatures - the blue whale, whose length reaches 35 meters. However, this is not at all true!

Instructions

The longest animal on Earth is the tapeworm. Its Latin is lineus longissimus. This seemingly unpleasant creature can reach a length of 60 meters. It turns out that the giant tapeworm is twice as long as the largest animal on Earth (the blue whale).

The body of the longest creature in the world is very thin - no more than 1 centimeter in diameter. This creature has one unique feature: it can stretch so that it easily breaks all imaginable and inconceivable records for length. In other words, in a calm and relaxed state, this worm reaches about 30 meters, but it begins to stretch out when it reaches 60 meters. Outwardly, in this state, this worm resembles a long tourniquet.

Juveniles of these creatures are olive or dark brown in color, while adults are reddish brown or . The giant tapeworm lives in sea ​​coasts in northwestern Europe, around the British Isles, in the northeast Atlantic, and along the Norwegian coast to the North and Baltic.

The longest animal on Earth is both a predator and a scavenger. However, judging by the speed of its movement, lineus longissimus is more likely than a predator. This creature is quite voracious. The worm catches its prey in the following way: it shoots at it with a long tube on which there are sticky and poisonous hooks.

Black belongs to the order Passeriformes, the Corvid family and the genus Ravens, being the largest representative of this “family”. The body length of males, which are usually slightly larger than females, can reach 60-65 centimeters, with a wing length of 40-47 centimeters. The average weight of males is 1.1-1.5 kilograms with a wingspan of up to 1.5 meters.

Birds of this species can often be found in habitats close to the landscapes of various types. Crows are common in Eurasia, North America and North Africa. The color of the birds is solid black. They move well and perfectly on the ground.

Habits and intelligence

The raven is a bird with a very varied diet. Of course, at its core it is a scavenger who feeds in city dumps, which makes the crow a sanitary bird. But these birds do not disdain small insectivorous mammals and rodents, their eggs and young chicks. The raven can eat fish, invertebrates and seafood. In Russia, in addition to garbage, the main diet of birds living outside the city limits consists of voles, which are widespread throughout the country.

Ravens form permanent pairs, and the birds build not one, but two nests, which they use equally. Such ravens can be used even for several decades, and in case of loss of a nest, the pair builds a new one in close proximity to the destroyed one. The maximum altitude at which a raven couple with a clutch was found is 2 thousand meters in the Carpathians, but they also live in the highlands of the Caucasus Nature Reserve, Altai and other mountainous areas.

Many legends are accompanied by another property of ravens - to reproduce sounds, words and entire phrases constructed by man. Birds of this species have a very loud and trumpet-like croak. Due to the large number of possible memorized words, the raven is considered not only a long-liver, but also one of the most smart birds. So British scientists put forward a hypothesis about his intelligence, which was confirmed after a large number of experiments.

The raven was also distinguished by ancient cultures. So, he was a companion of the god Apollo in Ancient Greece and an attribute of the cult of the German-Scandinavian Odin, with whom he flew to the sites of battles and bloodshed.

Birds living in captivity

Data on the age of birds kept in captivity cannot fully reflect the actual picture of their real life expectancy, because they live in conditions very different from their natural habitat. Here, all the problems associated with living are taken upon by the person. It protects birds from hunger, enemies and cold.

At the same time, in captivity, especially large birds, are limited in swimming, flying or running. In addition, the food they eat does not match the food they get in their natural habitat. And the climate in captivity often differs greatly from the usual climatic conditions. All these factors cause various diseases in birds - tuberculosis, vitamin deficiency, obesity of the heart, which leads to their premature death.

Banded birds

Data on the lifespan of ringed birds also cannot be considered completely reliable. Once caught and banded, the bird is released into the wild, but no one knows when it will be caught next in order to register its age. In addition, ornithologists do not always come across chicks for banding. Quite often these are adults whose age is not established.

But despite this, with the help of mass ringing, scientists were able to find out the approximate age of several bird species. It was found that out of 10 thousand ringed ducks, only one lives to be twenty years old. Most commercial bird species die in at a young age. Among the common causes of mortality in game birds, the human factor plays an important role.

Official centenarians among birds

Today there is information about the life expectancy of about 70 species of birds. It is reliably known that the African ostrich lived 40 years, the herring gull 44 years, the albatross 46 years, and the white-tailed eagle 48 years. The king vulture reached the fifth decade of life - 52 years, the raven - 51 years, the eagle owl - 53. The gray goose reached its advanced bird years at 65 years, and the macaw parrot - 64 years.

The most reliably known case of bird longevity among ornithologists relates to a large predator, the condor, living in the South American Andes. In 1892, he was brought to the Moscow Zoological Garden when he was quite old. It was recorded that the male condor died in 1961, having lived for almost 70 years in the Moscow Zoo, and if we take into account that predators receive adult plumage only in the fourth year of life, then the long-lived condor probably lived at least 75 years.

1. The sparrow is one of the most famous birds that live in the vicinity of human habitation. There are two types of sparrows in Russia: the house sparrow, or city sparrow, and the field sparrow, or village sparrow.

2. The weight of a sparrow is only from 20 to 35 grams. Meanwhile, the sparrow belongs to the passerine order, which in addition to it includes more than 5,000 species of birds. The largest representative of the order is the raven (its weight is about one and a half kilograms), the smallest is the wren (weight up to 10 grams).

3. There are about a billion sparrows living on Earth. That is, approximately, for every six people there is only one sparrow.

4. Due to the fact that the sparrow is cunning and a thief, the version about the origin of the word “sparrow” from the phrase “thief - hit!” has become widespread. In fact, in Slavic languages, the word “sparrow” has the same root as the word “coo.” The basis of this verb, like the verb “to grumble,” was the now lost word “vork.” This is how this bird was nicknamed for its constant chirping that never stops for a minute.

5. The male sparrow differs from the female by the presence of a large black spot covering the chin, throat, crop and upper chest, as well as a dark gray (rather than dark brown) top of the head.

6. Life cycle The sparrow's life span is short, although there have been cases of both 9 and 11 year old sparrows, most of them do not live to be 4 years old. Many young birds die in the first winter, so the average life expectancy of sparrows is 9-21 months.

7. There is an opinion that the house sparrow, as one of the closest feathered neighbors of humans, can act as a “biological indicator”, and the state of the population of this species can be used to judge changes in the environment.

8. The heart of a sparrow beats 600-850 times per minute at rest, and during flight - 1000 beats per minute. At the same time, severe fright can even lead to death for the bird, as it significantly increases blood pressure.

9. A sparrow spends a lot of energy per day and therefore cannot starve for more than two days.

10. Most members of the family move on the ground by jumping due to their short legs.

11. The sparrow is a monogamous bird; birds in a pair have been faithful to each other for years. Anyone whose family has not worked out since the fall or whose female has died during the winter is doomed to spend the next season as a bachelor. Of course, such a male will use any opportunity to persuade life together lonely female However, this is not easy, since by the beginning of the breeding season there are significantly more males than females (there are one hundred and fifty sparrows per hundred sparrows).

12. Sparrows are very fertile and during the summer they raise two broods in the northern regions, and three in the southern regions. The second laying of eggs occurs in the second half of June, and the chicks hatch in July.

13. The sparrow's clutch consists of 4-10, usually 5-7, white eggs with brownish specks and spots, incubation of which takes 11-13 days.

14. 10 days after hatching, sparrow chicks fly out of the nest.

15. Sparrows feed on seeds. They love hemp, sunflower, and wheat grains, but they will also peck bread crumbs. Watch how skillfully they fight in the yard with pigeons for their piece of bread. But sparrows feed their babies with the tender meat of caterpillars and butterflies, and the benefit of sparrows, which consists in destroying pests in vegetable gardens, vineyards and orchards, balances out some of the harm caused by grain eaters. While feeding a brood of four to six chicks, the sparrow parents stuff about a thousand different insects into the orange mouths of their babies.

16. Being a companion to humans, the sparrow has settled all over the world; it can equally be found in rural and urban areas, in the settlements of the Far North and Central Asia. However, in Central Asia it usually stays away from humans.


17. There were no sparrows in America until the 60s of the last century. They were brought from England to fight caterpillars.

18. Sparrow meat is hard and tasteless, so it is rarely eaten.

19. The normal body temperature of a sparrow is 44 degrees.

20. Due to the structure of their eyes, sparrows see the world in a pink light, and a sparrow's neck has twice as many vertebrae as a giraffe's.

21. Young sparrows, with their yellow coloring around their beaks, are popularly called “yellowthroats.” IN colloquial speech the term “yellow mouth” can mean a young, inexperienced, naive person.

23. There are known facts of erecting monuments to sparrows, built by humans as a token of gratitude for the help of this bird in the fight against insect pests. The first such monument was erected in the mid-19th century in Boston. Well, the most famous in Russia is the monument to Chizhik-Pyzhik in St. Petersburg. Yes, yes, siskins also belong to the passerine genus.


24. In 1958, on the initiative of the great helmsman Mao Zedong, a campaign to combat agricultural pests was launched in China. Sparrows were declared the main enemies, since, according to his calculations, they ate tens of thousands of tons of rice in the fields a year. Since sparrows cannot be in the air without resting for more than 15 minutes, the Chinese were given instructions to frighten the birds in every possible way so that they would not sit down and fall to the ground dead. According to statistics, almost 2 billion of them were destroyed in a year. And although a year later the harvest became better, it was heavily eaten by caterpillars and locusts, whose numbers had previously been regulated by sparrows. Ecological imbalances exacerbated famines caused by the Great Leap Forward and natural disasters, which killed more than 20 million people. Vorobyov had to be imported from abroad again.

We often wonder how many years such cute birds as sparrows live? In general, the lifespan of sparrows is short. The reasons for their death are quite varied: they either fall into the clutches of predators, or die from hunger and cold, as well as from various diseases. But there are species that live from 10 to 20 years. Basically, such birds live far from the bustle of the city in the wild, where there are no cars, factories, chemicals, but there is enough variety and food suitable for them to be able to survive.

Today, the most common and popular species is the house sparrow (urban). He is even more famous than the rock pigeon. It is quite easy to distinguish it from other birds thanks to its distinctive color and chirping.

History of appearance

These birds used to live only in Northern Europe, but over time their population increased, and they began to colonize all of Europe and Asia. Since the twentieth century, the sparrow has been introduced to many countries and today it can be found in North and South America, Australia, New Zealand and on many islands. Following a man who discovered more and more unexplored countries and places, the sparrow can now be seen even in the north of Yakutia, where it is quite cold.

Main characteristics

Size and color

Lifestyle and nutrition

Due to the fact that this species is well adapted to living near people (it is a sedentary bird species), it will always be able to find food for itself. Their diet includes various agricultural seeds, cereals, berries (cherries, cherries, currants and others), flower buds, various waste from human food (bread crumbs). If there are no fields or meadows near the sparrow’s habitat, they feed on plant seeds. In spring, sparrows can feast on insects, which they also feed their chicks.

Reproduction

Sparrows - quite prolific birds. During a year of life, they can lay from 5 to 10 eggs 2-3 times. They make their nests in various abandoned animal burrows, in the cracks of houses, in the hollow of a tree, in ravines or in nests big birds. The finished nest is a large structure made of straw, dry grass, branches, feathers, with a small depression in the middle for eggs. The nests, which are built on tree branches, have the shape of an irregular ball with rather thick walls and a side entrance.

While the female incubates the eggs (this process lasts from 10 to 15 days), the male brings her food: worms and insects. After the chicks hatch, both birds begin to look for food. After 10 days of life, the small chicks leave the nest, and the female lays eggs again. That’s why it’s possible to lay eggs up to 4 times in a year.

They live either in pairs or in colonies, but this happens quite rarely. Sometimes even sparrows can live their, albeit short, lives, like people, just together.

Food in winter

Sparrows do not have a predisposition to fly to warm regions in winter. This makes it quite difficult for them to survive the cold. Dies in winter greatest number birds . There are no fat reserves in the sparrow's body at all, so he must constantly eat. Lack of food in winter and hypothermia lead to the death of birds. That's why people make birdhouses to be able to feed them in severe cold. In summer, sparrows must also feed frequently, because during flight they waste a lot of energy, and this can lead to their death. Lack of food is another indicator of high bird mortality.

Benefit or harm?

To date, it has not been possible to determine whether these birds are useful or not for us. The most dangerous for them are considered cats and birds of prey who constantly hunt them. People also often have a hand in the death of sparrows, perhaps not even consciously.

By treating plants and trees with various chemicals to protect them from pests, they increase bird mortality, since agricultural crops are the main source of food for urban sparrows. Therefore, the life expectancy of birds is less than outside the city.

Some people deliberately poison sparrows, because they harm plants and cereal crops. And in order to protect their crops from damage, people have to resort to such harsh and at the same time cruel methods. Therefore, such birds do not live up to 4 years.

How many years does a sparrow live? Considering all of the above, we can summarize that the average lifespan of a sparrow is between 1 and 2 years. In exceptional cases, these birds live 10 or even 20 years, but this is extremely rare.

Main causes of death:

• lack of food;
• cold;
• beasts of prey;
• ecology;
• all kinds of diseases.

In the cold winter, when there are very few birds, or in the hot summer, when the voices of many birds are heard, a small, gray-brown bird is always next to a person - a sparrow, to which people are so accustomed that they have not noticed it for a long time. And in vain.

Sparrow- a small bird size up to 18 cm, and weighing no more than 35 g. But few people realize that it is unusually smart, observant and careful.

Otherwise, she would not have chosen such a smart, unpredictable and dangerous neighbor - a man. And the sparrow not only gets along easily, but also explores new lands with humans.

So, for example, following a person, this little one moved to, settled in the north of Yakutia, even agreed to the tundra and forest-tundra, although she was not at all comfortable living there. Now there are few places on the planet that are not inhabited by sparrows.

The sparrow does not fly away warmer climes and, in general, prefers to lead a sedentary lifestyle. However, this does not prevent him from flying outside the already selected territories in order to look for new, unoccupied areas.

Features of a sparrow

main feature This interesting bird is that it certainly settles near a person. This left its mark on her behavior and her entire lifestyle.

The bird has an excellently developed memory, it develops new reflexes associated with human behavior, it can make decisions and even build logical chains.

Few people paid attention to this, however, if you recall, everyone will agree that birds are wary of cats, but they are not too afraid of her - they can wait for hours for her to move away from the feeder.

But sparrows are not at all shy with horses. They get along well with chickens and with personal experience the bird knows that there is no danger from these animals, but you can always enjoy their food.

They have an ambiguous attitude towards dogs. In village yards, where dogs are indifferent to the fluttering and chirping of birds, sparrows do not react too alarmingly to dogs, but this can be explained by the fact that in the same yard, as a rule, there is the same dog, whose behavior is already known to the sparrows. In cities where there are a lot of dogs, sparrows are not so relaxed about dogs.

Another curious feature is that no matter how many centuries the sparrow has been man’s closest neighbor, it is more difficult to catch a sparrow than any other bird. And it’s very rare that you can tame it. That's why sparrow photo It is extremely rare to see one with a person.

Character and lifestyle of a sparrow

It is worth saying that sparrows have a bad character. They are jealous of their possessions, and every time they start serious fights (with the same ones) for their yard, park or other warm places.

By the way, if there is no encroachment from other birds, sparrows can easily cause a scandal with their relatives.

Moreover, in terms of the intensity of passions, he will not yield to a fair defense of his nest. Who hasn't heard sparrow voices, especially in early spring.

The sparrow is completely uncharacteristic of being quiet and silent. Any movement of anyone causes a violent wave of emotions in a flock of these birds.

And in the spring, when married couples are created, sparrows simply organize bird fights. Fights can start on the roof of a house, on a tree branch and continue high in the sky.

As a rule, it doesn’t lead to bloody wounds; sparrows are too smart for that; after fights, the bullies scatter, but not for long.

Types of sparrows

There are many in nature sparrow-like birds, but it is not at all necessary that they belong to one of the types of this.

Scientists ornithologists have clearly identified the species and subspecies of this bird. There are quite a lot of species of this bird - there are about 22. In our climate you can find 8. These are:

• house sparrow;
• field;
• snowy (snow finch)
• black-breasted;
• ginger;
• stone;
• Mongolian ground sparrow;
• short-toed.

Perhaps someone has heard about the strange bird "sparrow-camel". This bird has nothing in common with a sparrow, and is not a passerine species.

This is a well-known name, which translated means “sparrow - camel”. All passerine species have some characteristics, but the main characteristic of this bird is common to all.

Sparrow feeding

Sparrow cannot be called a gourmet. Its menu is varied - from insects to human food waste.

Moreover, modesty is also not their strong point; while waiting for a piece, they can jump near a person’s table ( open cafes, country terraces), and if he sits motionless, then jump on the table on his own and worry about himself.

However, at the slightest movement, the birds deftly disappear from the table, trying to grab the tasty crumbs.

And yet, despite their pugnacious and quarrelsome nature, these birds do not create scandals over food. If one sparrow finds a lot of food, it flies off to fetch its fellow tribesmen, and only then starts eating.

They are wary of unfamiliar food. The whole flock will not eat an unknown dish until one of the sparrows tries the food. And only after that everyone flocks.

In the villages in the summer these birds live at ease. They peck at the seeds and grains of planted crops, feast on berries, and all kinds of repellent devices have little effect on them.

However, villager They are forced to endure such a neighborhood, because sparrows destroy caterpillars and other insects.

In fact, if you watch sparrows, the bird will be much more willing to feed in a rabbit’s cage or from a chicken cup than to look for some kind of larvae.

But you shouldn't be offended by this. The sparrow's diet, however, is based on plant foods. sparrows eat only in the spring, and when feeding chicks. However, without the help of these birds it would be difficult to get rid of insects.

Sparrow reproduction and lifespan

In spring, sparrows begin to build nests. These birds do not adhere to a clearly defined nest shape. Moreover, they look for every opportunity to adapt something suitable for their house or take over someone else’s nest.

You can see sparrows flying out of birdhouses and swallow nests. Any pipe, ledge, or excavation in a house will do, but if nothing suitable is found, then the birds begin building nests themselves. Most often, they are located under the roofs of houses, gazebos, in attics, or even just in trees.

Sparrow chicks in the nest

A female can raise three broods in a season. The first laying takes place in April. True, these periods may vary depending on the climatic and weather conditions located .

Some females (especially one-year-olds) even prefer to lay eggs in May. Birds finish nesting in August, after which post-nesting molt occurs immediately.

Typically the female lays 3-9 eggs. It is noteworthy that sparrows in rural areas There are always more eggs than in “city dwellers”.

We talked above about the good memory of these birds; they know that near the livestock that the villager keeps all year round, it will be easier for more birds to feed than in dubious urban conditions.

Both parents share the care of the offspring equally. They hatch the chicks together and feed them together too.

Sparrows are not afraid of people and often build their nests near houses

The time for these birds is clearly distributed - they need to have time to hatch more than one offspring, so the female spends 4-5 days laying eggs and incubating, then about two weeks the parents feed the chicks in the nest, another two weeks are spent raising the chicks after they fly out of the nest. nests, and only after this begins preparation for the next clutch.

Sparrow chicks are fed first with insects, then with grains, and then with seeds and fruits of various plants.

Sparrow - enemy or friend

So the sparrow ended up among the “dubious helpers.” And yet, there is more benefit from this tiny bird than harm.

It is enough to give a classic example - once the Chinese thought that sparrows were destroying their rice crop, so the bird was declared the main enemy, they were exterminated, knowing that sparrows could not stay in the air for more than 15 minutes.

The Chinese simply did not allow them to land and the birds fell to the ground, already dead. But after this, the real enemy came - insects.

They multiplied to such an extent that there was no rice left at all, and almost 30 million people died from famine.

So is it worth racking your brains over what has already been passed down by history? Small bird sparrow occupies a worthy place in nature, and man only has to protect it.

In our regions sparrow considered one of the most common birds. People are so accustomed to these birds that sometimes they don’t even notice their presence. Sparrows are everywhere - on the roofs of houses, on wires and simply hovering in the air.

They belong to the passerine family. It may seem only at first glance that bird sparrow stupid and insignificant in anything. In fact, this is quite an interesting and gifted bird. From observations, these permanent neighbors of people have excellent memory, obstinate, cocky and sociable disposition.

With the appearance of these smart, daring and courageous birds, we associate the approach of spring. They are one of the very first birds to hurry to tell us with their sonorous chirping, jumping across newly thawed puddles, that winter is finally over.

In fact sparrow's voice so sonorous and joyful that not only the arrival of spring, but also the arrival of spring makes your soul feel incredibly joyful and good. The loud chirping of a sparrow is an enthusiasm that is transmitted to everything around.

Description and features

Incomparable to anyone appearance and chirping help to recognize these amazing birds. Initially, their plumage may appear to be gray. Looking closely, you can see brown shades with black splashes on top of the feathered bird. The head, area near the ears, and abdomen of the bird are painted light gray.

The bird has a fairly powerful beak and a short tail. Birds of small size. The average length of their body reaches up to 15 cm. And sparrows weigh no more than 35 g. The wingspan reaches up to 26 cm.

There are noticeable differences between males and females. The very first of them is that males are always larger than females. The male has a clearly visible black spot. It is located in front on the chin and breasts.

The head of the bird is much darker than that of the female. Black spot she is also missing. Her chest and top of her head are painted light gray. And the eyes are decorated with a barely noticeable gray-yellow outline. The birds stand on short limbs with weak claws. Their wings are short.

The most basic feature of sparrows is that they are in close contact with people everywhere. You can meet them both in populous cities and in modest, almost deserted villages and fields. On ships, these travelers find themselves in places where they have never been before and remain there for permanent residence.

In essence, this is a sedentary bird that almost never leaves its familiar territory. Sparrows can rarely cross the line of this area, and then only in order to scout out what is happening beyond it.

Currently, large flocks of sparrows are observed, which live, despite their massive concentrations, in excellent proximity to people, birds and animals.

But sparrows do not establish trusting and peaceful relationships with all birds. These robbers can sometimes completely drive tits and swifts out of areas. Small birds sometimes cannot withstand the strong pressure of the impudent little ones and give up their territory to them.

Sparrows have excellent memory. They can connect everything connected with a person into a logical chain. They are afraid of cats, but they can, at their own peril and risk, tease her at her own feeding trough. The same picture can be observed in relation to horses.

Sparrows are not at all afraid of rabbits and chickens. They freely sneak into their territory and share a meal with them. Sparrows are not afraid of people. But they are precisely those birds that are very difficult to tame, so sparrow photo and a person is a real rarity. True, there are isolated cases of people becoming friends with these birds, but this really happens very rarely.

Character and lifestyle of a sparrow

These sedentary birds prefer to nest in one place. Their offspring remain with their parents after growing up, so these birds form very large flocks. A pair of birds find one for life.

For their nests, sparrows choose a variety of places where they can be placed. The nest of this bird can be seen on the eaves of a balcony, birdhouse, in empty wooden and brick buildings, among pipes and even heaps of garbage.

The character of these birds is distinguished by its nastiness. They fiercely and jealously guard their possessions. They boldly fight for their territory and survive birds that are even larger in size. In addition, they show their temper not only towards strangers. They can bully their relatives with or without reason.

Silence and silence are absolutely not characteristic of these birds. The slightest movement near them causes a very violent reaction, which is accompanied by noisy sounds.

In spring, when pairs form between birds, it becomes especially noisy and “hot”. Males fight for primacy among themselves not only on trees and rooftops, but also high in the sky.

There are no bloody consequences after this. The rivals scatter in different directions, but some time passes and they fight again.

Habitat

There are about 35 species of sparrows in nature. Each of them is characterized by its own external distinctive features and habitat. You can meet these birds everywhere, except for cold continents, where life is practically absent.

Birds are not picky about anything. They follow a person wherever they go. They easily found refuge in Australia and developed the territory of the tundra and forest-tundra. Places where, to put it mildly, life does not seem like a fairy tale to everyone. There are very few places left that are not inhabited by these birds.

Types of sparrows

It has already been mentioned that in nature there are about 30 species of sparrows. Each of them is characterized by a certain characteristic and habitat area. Some of them are worth considering.

House Sparrow occurs most often. The length of its body does not exceed 16 cm. Its entire back is decorated with rust-colored plumage with black splashes. Gray colors are visible on the abdomen, the cheeks of the bird are painted white.

House Sparrow

The wings of the bird are yellow with white stripes, and black feathers are visible on the neck. Courage, cunning and importunity are inherent in these birds. You can meet them in the open spaces from Siberia to Portugal.

For a long time they have been found in Australia and on the American continent. House sparrows can cause harm agriculture, fruit trees and vineyards. But they also provide great benefits in the form of the destruction of harmful insects.

tree sparrow

tree sparrow It is smaller in size than the brownie. It has a red-gray nape and parietal area, black cheeks and several stripes across its wings. They prefer not to live in populated areas, and in the field. In winter they can move closer to human habitation. Europe and Central Asia are habitats of tree sparrows.

Stone sparrow prefers rocky terrain in Southern Europe. They are gray-brown in color with a yellow stripe near the eyes and a yellow spot in the throat area.

Stone sparrow

They take a large part in the destruction of insect pests. Stone sparrows are most often found near us. They are the ones who warn us about the coming of spring.

Snow sparrow lives in the South-East of Altai and the Caucasus. This is very beautiful bird with black and white wings and a tail edged with white and a black patch on the throat. The snow sparrow makes sounds that cannot be compared with anything else.

Snow sparrow

Camel sparrow bird in fact, it is not a sparrow at all. This name was given to the ostrich, which, apart from the name consonant with the sparrow, has nothing in common.

Nutrition

Sparrows eat everything in the literal sense of the word. They don't have any special preferences. They eat insects, grain, crumbs, human food waste. These birds are not particularly modest. They can sit and brazenly look into the mouth of a person who is eating at a table in an outdoor cafe.

If you remain motionless in this case for some time, the bird can safely climb onto the table and grab what attracted its attention. The slightest movement causes the bird to flee. Birds do not have greed for food. The whole flock flocks to the tasty morsel, after which the feast begins.

Unfamiliar food is tried with great caution. Summer time is especially good for country sparrows. In the village they simply have a huge abundance of food. Moreover, the scarecrows built by people in the garden to scare away birds are absolutely not scary for sparrows.

In addition to this food, sparrows also feed on caterpillars and other harmful insects, which in large quantities can cause irreparable harm national economy.

Reproduction and lifespan

At the end of winter, the songs of sparrows are heard and some of their fuss is noticeable. This indicates that their mating season is approaching. Fights between rivals can very rarely be avoided. As a result, a couple is formed for life, which by the end of March is building its own family nest.

In April, the female lays eggs. There are usually no more than 8 of them in a nest. The male and female will need about two weeks to hatch them. And they do this together.

Parents also feed insects and take care of their newborn babies together. From such care, the chicks quickly become winged. This happens in early June. At this time, parents begin to make a second clutch. If living conditions are appropriate, they may have about three such clutches.

They do not live long, about 5 years. But among the sparrows there were also long-livers who lived twice as long. The short lifespan of these birds occurs due to the severity of winters in some places.