Birds of cultural landscapes and urban environments. The cultural landscape of the animal world of birds in our country. Change and development of the cultural landscape

For many centuries, man, directly or indirectly influencing nature, changed its appearance. Following the change in the conditions of existence, the animal world. Some species disappeared, others became few in number and remained only on lands untouched by man. But many more resilient species of animals and birds, despite a sharp change in the environment, managed to adapt and settled in habitats unusual for them.

Developing the necessary biological features, they change not only the composition of food, but also the nesting biotope and become typical representatives of the cultural landscape - birds living in the city.

For Russia, this group of birds is rich in species. Approximately 80 species of urban birds - almost 24% of the total composition of the avifauna - nest, feed in cultural landscapes or visit them regularly.

There are only 13 species of birds that nest directly in human buildings, the so-called synanthropes, in Russia. These include field and smoke sparrows, gray and Dahurian starlings, gray and rock pigeons, three species of swallows - urban, Dahurian and killer whales, white and mountain wagtails, white-belted swift and Siberian redstart.

But the last three species are just as common in their natural habitats. In addition, in gardens, parks and squares nest on trees and bushes more familiar to us. city ​​birds- crows, magpies, common and black-headed grosbeak, Chinese greenfinch, great tit, chickadee, shrike-shrike, wryneck and a number of others.

The cultural landscape of Russia is predominantly no longer young, its formation began in ancient times. Archaeological excavations show that agriculture was developed here as early as the 2nd-3rd centuries AD. In the future, the invasion of the Mongols followed, wars began, destruction, the death of entire cultures.

A hurricane of devastation swept over the country and in some places turned the blooming region into a deserted desert. This, in turn, influenced the number of animals and urban birds in the cultural landscape of Ancient Rus'.

For comparison, the following data can be cited. In the Far North, where the cultural landscape is the youngest and is still being formed, the avifauna is rather poor - only 12-13 species of birds, and to the south, in the Kolyma River basin - 20 species of birds. In central Russia, the fauna of the cultural landscape is already represented by 36 species city ​​birds, and in Central Asia, which has the most ancient culture of urban bird species, there are already more than fifty.

Thus, we can assume that human activity does not always lead to the impoverishment of the animal world. By transforming nature, creating cultural landscapes, one can always achieve the preservation of animals and birds, and sometimes even enrich the fauna with new species.

People have lived in cities for thousands of years. Human settlements have long been accompanied by wild animals that ate food waste.

Since then, this relationship has not changed at all.

And in our time, the sprawling cities are replenished with new freeloaders - wild animals that find shelter and their ecological niche on the streets of cities.

Animal protection organization

Urban vegetation in many states is protected by specially adopted laws. A list of suburban forests and parks has been compiled, on the territory of which construction work should be carried out, except for hospitals and agricultural buildings located in the green area.

Fauna of cities: "restless nature".

But construction organizations are trying in every possible way to violate the adopted laws, because it is so tempting to build houses in the middle of the forest, and then profitably sell them to buyers. Developers are not interested in environmental protection at all. Such plots of land must be made protected and turned into oases for rest and peace, where various animals adapted to the conditions of the urban environment could live.


Cities are the whole crowds of stray dogs, cats and other feathered-tailed "beasts".

In the past, green spaces were usually not indicated on city plans, although they create excellent conditions for a healthy lifestyle for people and are necessary for the habitat of animals in urban megacities. Ideal for creating such zones as close to natural conditions as possible - parks, rivers, abandoned highways. Particularly interesting in this regard are suburban parks, in which, unlike central parks, the territory smoothly passes into the natural landscape surrounding the city with fields, copses, forests, in which new inhabitants from the animal world can settle.

Air and water pollution is one of the important problems of living in the city, which affects not only humans, but also animals. Emissions of harmful substances into the environment must be sharply limited; these measures would undoubtedly improve the living conditions in the city for people and animals. Constant traffic, noise, bright lighting, closed space have a negative impact on living organisms.


In cities, the noise does not subside for a minute and there is constant movement, there are few places natural for animals to live. Nevertheless, there are extreme people who, with the constant movement of crowds of people and urban transport, are able not only to simply survive, but to give birth. The warm urban climate attracts many animals, and garbage dumps with an abundance of food waste make it possible to feed. all year round, especially without straining in search of food. But in order for our smaller brothers to feel at home, tolerance and good will of a person are needed.

Animals in the city


Cities, growing more and more, capture more and more new areas of the natural environment, which leads to a violation of the natural landscape. But such changes for some animals do not play any role at all, and they perfectly adapt to new living conditions.

Masses of animals rush to the city dumps, attracted by the smell of leftover food, fly in, crows, sparrows, gulls, rats simply climb into garbage cans, and foxes timidly pick up food waste. Visiting landfills has become a common activity for wild animals. Badgers do this in England, raccoons in North America, and possums in Australia. The number of rats is equal to the population of the city, about 500 rodents live on one kilometer of the sewer. In connection with this circumstance, a joke appeared that every passer-by in the city is only 3 meters away from the first one that comes across.

Location


If at the beginning of the twentieth century the urban population accounted for about 14% of the total population of the planet, then in our time this figure has increased several times and is approaching 50%. People are constantly migrating in search of work and better conditions residence. In this regard, in the cities there is a rapid construction of new houses, shops, household institutions. New paved roads are being laid, railway stations and airfields are opening, diversion channels and garbage dumps are growing.

Involuntarily, people take away their ancestral territories from animals. There is simply no place for animals nearby in a big city, although in some settlements there are islands of natural landscape in the form of parks and gardens. They are inhabited by animals that have managed to adapt to urban conditions.


The number of wild animals would be much higher if it were not for the constant poisoning of living organisms by household waste and industrial enterprises. Inhabitants of the wild nature die not only from direct poisoning by hazardous substances contained in the waste, but many of them lose the ability to reproduce due to the impact of man-made substances on living organisms. Suburban cemeteries have been chosen by many animals as a place of permanent settlement; these are real natural oases in the urban desert. Under the crowns of trees and among the grass, shy animals feel protected and lead a natural lifestyle.

climate change


Environmental pollution is another negative factor playing not in favor of animals.

plants absorb Sun rays, and brick, asphalt, concrete and dirty air reflect them intensely. Metal and glass are characterized by high reflectivity. As a result of a large accumulation of vehicles, a cloud of smog often hangs over the city. In winter, the city is warmer and huge flocks of birds spend the night under the roofs of houses, in attics, hiding in underground passages. Pigeons and house mice have become accustomed to such an extent that they breed here throughout the year, and sparrows have become permanent residents of the city. Some North American birds nest exclusively in cities.


Living conditions differ from natural ones, and this affects the habitation of living organisms in the urban environment. Plants here bloom earlier than in countryside because the climate in the city is warmer. Rain also falls more often in the city than in the surrounding areas, however, after precipitation, the water quickly flows down the drains into the rivers. In cities, asphalt dries up immediately after rain and, consequently, the air has increased dryness. Plants that need excess moisture - ferns and mosses, grow in cities near water bodies.

pollution


City air is saturated with soot and soot, and this feature differs from rural air. The same soot settles on the lungs of city dwellers. The harmful effect of polluted air on plants has been established by observing that dust and soot settle on the leaves and cause blockage of the stomata on the leaves of plants and prevent the penetration of sunlight.

In the city, the growth of green spaces slows down, while the same species growing in the bosom of nature have a lush crown and shiny leaves. Lichens on trees, absorbing water saturated with acid from rainfall in a polluted city, turn yellow and shed their leaves from exposure to sulfur dioxide contained in poisonous rainfall.


dangerous wastewater households and industrial enterprises that enter the rivers, they cause severe pollution with organic substances, which provoke the rapid growth of green algae and duckweed plants. Other plants cannot develop due to lack of oxygen. Together with rain and snow, oil waste, salt heavy metals and other harmful impurities. Along the food chains, they pass into the bodies of earthworms, and then into the organisms of birds that feed on them.


Nature is the decoration of the city, and not a heavy burden for it, as some believe!

In the ecological pyramid, which reflects the relationship between plants and animals, the concentration of harmful substances increases from the bottom to the top, which leads to the death of animal birds that feed on poisoned plants. Some species of insects have developed adaptations to life in conditions of environmental pollution. A characteristic example is the birch moth butterfly, which forms two forms - the light-colored moth and the dark-colored moth. In industrial areas polluted with coal dust, the dark coloration of insects is not noticeable against the background of the environment and it better masks butterflies on birch trunks dark from coal. In biology, this fitness is called industrial melanism.

If you find an error, please highlight a piece of text and click Ctrl+Enter.

Sections: Biology

Teaching and educational tasks of the lesson.
Educational:

  • to form knowledge about the structural features of birds in cities and towns;
  • give an idea of ​​the adaptability of birds to living conditions near human habitation;
  • to acquaint students with the species composition of birds in cultural landscapes.

Educational

  • develop the ability to compare, establish cause-and-effect relationships;
  • her individual characteristics;
  • to form the ability to work with tests, drawings, tables, additional literature;
  • teach students to formulate conclusions;
  • develop students' thinking, speech.

Educational

  • expand horizons;
  • develop cognitive interest in the subject;
  • formation of ecological culture.

Health saving

  • change of activities during the lesson;
  • maintaining correct posture during the lesson.

Lesson type: combined.

Teaching methods: verbal, visual, partially problematic.

Teaching methods: conversation, story, demonstration, organization of work in groups, mutual control.

Didactic tasks: educational (work with a textbook, notebook, additional literature); solving problem situations; individual work.

Equipment:

1. Tables.

2. Cards.

3. Biology lessons Grade 7 “Cyril and Methodius”.

I. Greetings. Prepare students for the lesson.

Hello guys! Today we have a lesson on the topic "Ecological groups of birds. Birds of cultural landscapes". But before starting our lesson, I ask you to close your eyes and repeat after me: I am calm, focused, attentive! I will succeed! I wish you an interesting lesson, and you wish me interested students!

II. Testing knowledge and skills.

The voices of birds are heard. Teacher: Do you hear? It's a merry lark song! And this is the familiar trill of the nightingale. This is a sonorous song thrush, and this robin is broadcasting about the beginning of a new day. Yes, a world without bird chirping would be boring. It is hard to imagine spring without starlings, a sea without seagulls, a grove without nightingales...

Today we will continue talking about our feathered friends. But first, let's remember what ecological groups of birds are distinguished by habitat? (Birds of the forest, birds of the coasts of reservoirs and swamps, birds of the steppes and deserts, birds of open spaces, birds of cultural landscapes, waterfowl).

We have studied the ecological group of birds - birds of the forest.

We fill in the table ourselves on the cards that you received at the beginning of the lesson.

III. Learning new material.

1. Preparation for the perception of new material.

Teacher: Today we will get acquainted with another ecological group of birds. Listen to the voices of these birds and try to find out which birds they belong to and where these birds live. (The voices of a sparrow, crow, starling, great tit sound). Schoolchildren name birds, their photos are projected on the screen.

Teacher: You are absolutely right. These birds can be found in parks, gardens, orchards, near human dwellings - these are birds of cultural landscapes.

The topic of the lesson is projected on the screen, recorded in a notebook.

2. Introductory story of the teacher.

For many centuries, man, directly or indirectly influencing nature, changed its appearance. Following the change in the conditions of existence, the animal world also changed. Some species disappeared, others became few in number and remained only on lands untouched by man. But many more resilient species of animals and birds, despite a sharp change in the environment, managed to adapt and settled in unusual habitats for them. Developing the necessary biological features, they change not only the composition of food, but also the nesting biotope and become typical representatives of the cultural landscape - urban birds.

For Central Russia, this group of birds is rich in species. Approximately 80 species of urban birds - almost 24% of the total composition of the avifauna - nest, feed in cultural landscapes or visit them regularly.

There are only 13 species of birds that nest directly in human buildings, the so-called synanthropes, in Russia. These include sparrows, starlings, pigeons, three species of swallows, wagtails, swifts, redstarts. In addition, in gardens, parks and squares nesting in trees and bushes are more familiar to us city birds - crows, magpies, common and black-headed grosbeak, Chinese greenfinch, great tit, chickadee, shrike-shrike, wryneck and a number of others.

The cultural landscape of Russia is predominantly no longer young, its formation began in ancient times. Archaeological excavations show that agriculture was developed here as early as the 2nd-3rd centuries AD. In the future, the invasion of the Mongols followed, wars began, destruction, the death of entire cultures. A hurricane of devastation swept over the country and in some places turned the blooming region into a deserted desert. This, in turn, influenced the number of animals and urban birds in the cultural landscape of Ancient Rus'.

For comparison, the following data can be cited. In the Far North, where the cultural landscape is the youngest and is still being formed, the avifauna is rather poor - only 12-13 species of birds, and to the south, in the Kolyma River basin - 20 species of birds. In central Russia, the fauna of the cultural landscape is already represented by 36 species of urban birds, and in Central Asia, which has the most ancient culture of urban bird species, there are already more than fifty.

Thus, we can assume that human activity does not always lead to the impoverishment of the animal world. By transforming nature, creating cultural landscapes, one can always achieve the preservation of animals and birds, and sometimes even enrich the fauna with new species.

Passerines include more than half of all birds. Due to the huge number of existing species and the great variety of their appearance, it is very difficult to list the general signs of the birds of this order. Their size fluctuates much more significantly than birds of other orders, a wide variety of features are provided by the structure of their beak and legs, wings and tail, plumage and its color.

Some of them spend their whole lives in trees, others in trees, some are inhabitants of the air. Passerines are monogamous chicks. They are characterized by the device of carefully made nests, which are built on trees, on the ground, in minks, on stones, in buildings. Their food is varied. Based on the structure of the vocal cords, toes, and other features of the structure and lifestyle, passerines are divided into 4 suborders: horn-billed, screaming, half-singing and singing.

The chorister suborder is characterized by a complex structure of the lower larynx, the presence of a large number of vocal muscles. Many have the ability to sing. There are 49 families in the suborder. Let's consider some of them.

Student messages

1. Weaver family.

They combine birds of various appearances. Most species lead an arboreal lifestyle. Their physique is dense, the head is round, the neck is short, the beak is conical in shape. The wings of most species are short and rounded. On the ground they move by jumping. They like to bathe in dust or sand. Stay in flocks, some even during the nesting period.

Brownie sparrow- one of the most widely known birds. Its weight is 23-25 ​​g, it is distinguished by a brown-brown color and a gray “cap”. House sparrows are sedentary birds, adapted to live near human habitation. In winter, they are often found on the streets, near garbage cans, in garbage dumps. Often you can hear their soft chirping: “A little alive, a little alive!” In the spring, they begin to shout loudly and often, as if “Alive! Alive! Alive!” Sparrows nest under the roofs of wooden buildings, in the crevices of the skin. In winter, they feed mainly on grain feed, they can visit feeders. In the spring they eat insect pests. For only one brood, birds collect 500-700 insects.

field sparrow- somewhat smaller in size than the brownie, it also differs in the brown crown, black spots on the white cheeks and two light stripes on the wing. It nests in a natural environment - along the edges of groves and parks. The tree sparrow is somewhat more insectivorous. In winter, it is of great benefit by pecking at weed seeds.

2. The crow family.

This family includes the largest representatives of the order of passerine birds. They are characterized by a dense physique, strong legs, a large conical beak; the plumage is black or variegated, many with a metallic sheen.

Rook - large bird, his plumage is black. A nomadic bird, reminiscent of itself “gra-a, gra-a”, from which the name comes.

Jackdaw- a sedentary bird, medium size, black, with a gray "handkerchief" on its head. In winter, they often feed with crows in flocks, and in spring the birds break into pairs and make their nests in hollow trees, in the ventilation openings of buildings. Birds give themselves away with the characteristic call of “gal-ka, gal-ka”. The jackdaw is an omnivorous bird, often feeding on garbage heaps.

Magpie- a medium-sized bird with a bright black and white color: the head, neck, upper chest, tail and wings are black with a metallic sheen, the abdomen and large spots on the shoulders are white. It flies heavily, often flapping its wings. A scream is a loud, sharp chirping. Nests are built on trees, more often on a birch, they look like a ball, consisting of dry twigs and branches. Inside it is a bowl smeared with clay. It feeds on forty insect worms, does not disdain a small frog.

3. The swallow family.

Short and wide, especially at the base of the beak, a large slit of the mouth, narrow and very long wings, a wide chest and at the same time an elegant physique, short and weak legs, of little use for moving on the ground, and finally, a forked tail - a sign by which it is easy to distinguish representatives this family from other birds. barn swallow, or killer whale, as it is popularly called, has a forked tail, in which the extreme feathers - pigtails are long and thin. The top of the body is black-blue, the ventral side is white, the forehead and throat are rusty-brown. This is typical migrant, appears with us in early May and chirps. Swallows are not very good flyers, they usually hover not far from the nest. The barn swallow's nest is an open cup attached sideways to the wall of a wooden building. The nest is molded from lumps of clay moistened with saliva and straw, inside there is a soft bedding on which the chicks hatch from the eggs. For them, swallows catch small insects in the air and feed the chicks up to 600 times a day.

4. Titmouse family.

This family combines agile, lively birds with a short, straight beak. Their plumage is dense, soft, wings are relatively short. In the coloration of tits, white “cheeks” are typical.

great tit- the largest of all tits, a little more than a sparrow. It differs from other tits by a black longitudinal strip - a “tie” on a yellow-green chest, and a light spot on the back of the head. In mixed and deciduous forests, her voice is often heard: "Sin-sin-verr." She begins to sing her wedding song in our area at the beginning of February. At this time, at the end of winter, flocks of wandering tits break into pairs. Bird nests are located in tree holes. Their main food is insects, which the tit eats both in summer and winter. Her winter activities are especially useful for humans, when she pecks eggs of the gypsy moth on the trees. At the same time, tits can eat seeds of various plants, and large ones are crushed, holding them right in their paws. In the summer, tits feed themselves and feed their chicks exclusively on insects. Their broods are very large in one brood grows up to 14-15 chicks. There are usually two broods during the summer.

5. Starling family.

The birds of this family are densely built, with a short tail and long wings, a rather long thin beak and strong hind limbs. Insects feed on fruits and berries.

Starling common appears with us in early spring after the rooks. First, males arrive, occupy a birdhouse and begin to sing. However, if there is no birdhouse, the birds settle in hollows. The females arrive in a few days. From dry grass and plant residues, birds begin to build a nest inside a birdhouse or hollow. Both parents incubate the eggs in turn, and both feed the chicks, bringing them food from gardens and fields up to 320 times a day. At first, the chicks are helpless, and by the end of the third week they begin to scream loudly, jump up to the entrance hole for food, while helping themselves with their wings, and protrude from the nesting place. After 21-23 days after birth, they leave the nest.

6. Wagtail family.

They will unite small birds the size of a sparrow. The legs of most species are thin and long, with large, slightly curved claws, well adapted to movement on the ground; medium-sized beak is thin and straight.

A typical representative white wagtail. Very dexterously and quickly running on the ground, this bird constantly shakes its tail. The wagtail has a black and white coloration, a black cap, throat and chest stand out. It keeps alone and in pairs, on the ground, near water bodies, where it eats insects flying over moist soil. In dachas, household plots, she appears, as if an inspector, after digging the soil, easily runs through the beds, pecks flying insects and, as it were, checks the quality of tillage.

The performance of the students is accompanied by a display of representatives of families on the screen, listening to their voices.

At the end of the speeches of the students, the results are summed up and the table is filled.

IV. Consolidation of knowledge and skills.

1. Test "The structure of birds". Choose correct judgments.

1. All birds are capable of flight.

2. The keel, as a protrusion of the sternum, contributes to the dissection of the air during the flight of birds.

3. The tarsus in birds was formed by the fusion of several bones of the foot.

4. Birds usually have 4 toes on their feet: three of them are directed forward, and one is backward.

5. The beak of a bird is a modified upper and lower jaw, devoid of teeth.

6. All birds developed a goiter, as an expansion of the esophagus.

7. Food from the esophagus enters the muscular stomach, and from it into the glandular.

8. The air sacs of birds are part of their respiratory system.

9. The main value of breathing bags is to reduce friction between internal organs during flight.

10. Birds have a four-chambered heart.

11. Down feathers and down are one and the same.

12. The wings of birds fall and rise due to the action of the pectoral muscles.

13. The skin of birds is thin and dry.

14. The forebrain and cerebellum are well developed in birds.

15. Birds have well-developed eyesight and sense of smell.

16. The bladder in birds is small.

17. Birds have a cloaca.

18. Birds have one circle of blood circulation.

19. Birds are warm-blooded animals.

20. The rib of a bird consists of two parts.

It is necessary to choose correct judgments from the information provided for option 1 (3, 4, 5, 8, 10, 13, 14, 17, 19, 20), option 2 - incorrect judgments (1, 2, 6, 7, 9, 11, 12, 15, 16, 18).

Loggerhead was just born
Dressed up in feathers and fluff,
And the frosts will never take him -
Fur coat and hats of feathers grow.

Loggerhead - a sea turtle, a representative of the class Reptiles; the presence of feathers is a sign of the Bird class.

The beautiful hatteria is cunning, though small.
She is not afraid of sand, grass, heat.
As soon as he feels that life is difficult,
He flaps his wings and flies up.

Hatteria - a beak-headed lizard, the same age as dinosaurs; the presence of wings - modified forelimbs - is a sign of the Bird class.

2. Determine the role of birds in cultural landscapes in nature and human life.

  • Scientific and aesthetic value.
  • Regulation of plant growth and development, feeding them with seeds.
  • Promoting the spread of fruits and seeds, the resettlement of plants.
  • A link in food chains (plant-insects-sparrow-cat).

3. Solving environmental problems:

  • Starlings are very voracious. To feed the kids, parents work 17 hours a day, feeding the chicks more than 300 grams of harmful insects. Calculate how many insects a colony of 25 pairs of starlings will destroy during the feeding period of chicks - 17 days. (127.5 kg of insects)
  • A pair of swallows during the feeding period flies to the nest up to 400 times a day, bringing 0.5 g of insects at a time. The feeding period lasts 20 days. How many kilograms of insects are destroyed during the feeding period by three pairs of swallows. (12 kg)
  • “Seryozha was very sorry for the sparrows, especially when severe frosts began. The poor fellows sat disheveled, motionless, tucking their frozen paws under them, and patiently waiting for a treat” by V. Chaplin “The Winged Alarm Clock”. Why do birds get fluffy in the winter? (There is air in the space between the feathers, and it does not conduct heat well. The looser the plumage, the more air in the feather cover, and therefore, the heat loss from the hot body of the bird decreases)
  • Is the expression correct from a scientific point of view: “The cold is not so terrible for birds as hunger” Why? (Birds have an intensive metabolism and a high body temperature, the food in their body is quickly digested. Some birds eat 2-3 times more food than their body weighs. As long as there is food, the birds are not afraid of the cold, since the feather cover protects them well )

Feed the birds in winter.
Let from all over
They will flock to you, like home,
Stakes on the porch.

Their food is not rich.
Need a handful of grain
One handful -
And not scary
They will have winter.

How many of them die - do not count,
It's hard to see.
But in our heart there is
And the birds are warm.

Is it possible to forget:
Could fly away
And stayed for the winter
Along with people.

Train the birds in the cold
To your window
So that without songs it was not necessary
We welcome spring.

Alexander Yashin

There is a widespread and in many cases justified opinion that human activity leads to the impoverishment of the animal world.

It is believed that the fauna of cultural landscapes is more uniform, includes fewer species, i.e., is simpler than the fauna of natural landscapes.

This happens, however, not always. Dining is just special case, not the law of the cultural landscape. It often happens that in cultural landscapes there are more species of animals than in the original ones. The bird population density (i.e., the number of birds of each species) in the gardens and parks of cities, in sheltered plantations is also often higher.

Knowledge of the regularities of the fauna of cultural landscapes will give us the opportunity to nullify particular cases of depletion of the animal world, as well as cases of mass reproduction in the cultural landscape of harmful animal species.

The fact that the number of, for example, birds in cultural landscapes is often higher than in similar natural landscapes has already been noted by many naturalists. Sometimes an increase in numbers occurs quickly, almost immediately after changes in nature occur. This is especially noticeable in arid (arid) regions, where human activity usually complicates the structure of landscapes and increases their productivity. And the more complex, colorful structure of the terrain attracts more animals.

We can point out here that in the zone of virgin steppes, incomplete plowing of the territory causes a sharp increase in the number of the main (background) birds of the steppe. Such an increase was found for field, black and white-winged larks by 5 times, and for the field pipit even by 30 times. True, if the steppe is completely plowed up, it means that the diversity that arose in the landscape has somewhat weakened, the number is again decreasing, but not to the original. In the white-winged lark, for example, it remains 5 times higher than the original.

A similar phenomenon is observed in other places. In South West Africa, in areas plowed under the cultivation of corn, two types of pipits immediately appear in large numbers, which are rare in the uninhabited part of this country.

It is enough to appear on a caravan trail in the desert, as a significant number of birds immediately concentrate along it. Wells contribute even more to this. Near human settlements and inside them in the desert zone, usually many new species of birds appear, especially if trees are also planted near the buildings.

A similar, although perhaps not to the same extent, is observed in other landscape-geographical zones. The well-known researcher of the animal world of Switzerland, P. Zherudet, reported to the international ornithological congress that the development of the cultural landscape in this country contributed to the resettlement and increase in the number of many species of birds. In Poland, in some cities, the population density of birds is higher than in their natural habitats. Observations and calculations made in Germany show that in cemeteries, in gardens and parks of the industrial regions of the republic, the number of bird species and the density of their population is higher than outside the cities. The same thing happens in Finland.

An exceptionally high bird population density was noted in the cities of the Ferghana Valley. In summer, in some places in Ferghana and other cities, up to 60 birds can be counted per hectare of urban area. At the same time, in agricultural land - only 5-6 per the same area, and in natural habitats - only 1.5-2.2.

Thus, it cannot be argued that the fauna of cultural landscapes is necessarily poorer and simpler than the fauna of natural landscapes. There is impoverishment, there is, and moreover often, enrichment. It is especially interesting that the landscape of large cities sometimes turns out to be more populated by the animal world than the cultural landscape of the countryside. However, this is easy to understand. The fields now have a uniform structure: the same field crop over a large area. Constant tillage eliminates the possibility of nesting ground birds. Rodents inhabiting the upper layer of soil also feel difficult under these conditions.

As cultural landscapes develop, the number of animal species that inhabit them does not decrease, but increases. Animals, which were previously regarded as completely alien to cultural landscapes, gradually begin to get used to them and move into them.

Of course, in addition to animals that easily reconcile themselves to the new living conditions created by man and become his real neighbors (common species), there are also species that resolutely avoid this neighborhood: they really need wild nature. Therefore, for many years it was customary to divide animals (in relation to cultural landscapes) into two categories: companions of culture and fugitives from it. It was believed that the vast majority of animal species are "fugitives from culture." Meanwhile, it now appears that there are species that, although they do not follow culture as decisively as some true synanthropes, nevertheless "accept" it and, without weakening their old natural attachments, settle into the cultural landscape quite widely. In addition, there are many animal species that gradually change their attitude towards the cultural landscape over time and, if they do not become its "companion", then at least they do not avoid it.

It has not yet been precisely calculated, but it is quite obvious that the list of animal species that are positively related to the cultural landscape will be very large. It should include not only species closely and widely associated with cultural landscapes, but also those that are found only in some places, or do not live permanently in the cultural landscape, but regularly visit it in search of food and, finally, appear near a person in winter. time.

The widely known "fugitive from culture" - the little bustard is no longer afraid of plowing the steppes. In search of protective places, he leads his brood to lands comma crops. Cases are already known, for example, in Yugoslavia, when the little bustard made a nest in a wheat field. Cautious oystercatchers now sometimes nest in the fields. The great curlews do the same. IN scientific literature already published a large number of facts testifying to many unexpected cases of the connection of animals, especially birds, with cultural landscapes.

Cultural landscapes have been around for a long time. So long coexist with man different types animals. Owls and bats, black rats settled in knight's castles. In the fields there was expanse for gray partridges, hares, and in some countries even rabbits. The so-called pharaoh mouse, or ichneumon, in Northeast Africa has long kept itself in the buildings of man as in its own fiefdom. Another African representative of the civet family, nandipias, has long settled in houses, having a constant source of food there - rats, mice, cockroaches. Gulman monkeys have always been common in the cities of India, and especially in temple buildings.

Over a long period of time, many species of animals have changed their habits around humans, and yet one characteristic feature of the animal world of cultural landscapes should be emphasized here. Despite the age of getting used to man and to the conditions of life created by him, there are no animal species that would be characteristic exclusively of the cultural landscape and have not been found anywhere else.

Thus, the fauna of cultural landscapes is formed at the expense of wild fauna without speciation. In any case, this can be asserted in relation to groups of animals that are better known from this point of view. All species of mammals and birds of cultural landscapes are outsiders. Apparently, they did not need any fundamental changes in their lifestyle, and even more so in their body structure (morphology), in order to survive in the vicinity of a person.

There are, of course, a number of animal and bird species that now live almost exclusively in and thrive in cultivated landscapes. And yet they can all live in natural landscapes, as this is their original homeland.

Nevertheless, of course, one can single out predominantly synanthropic species and species mainly (or exclusively) characteristic of natural landscapes. Therefore, when talking about animals of cultural landscapes, two categories of them are distinguished: absorbed species and reduced ones. For a zoogeographer, for example, such a division is essential.

The listed species come to the given area after the appearance of the landscape characteristic of them there (sometimes immediately, sometimes with a delay - this is another matter).

The selected species enter the cultural landscape in a given area from the surrounding habitats of the cultural landscape. (However, it is not necessary to attach absolute significance to this subdivision: all the species listed in some part of their range were included.)

Take, for example, our common house sparrow (this is a native of the Old World, for North America new bird appeared there in the 19th century). In the Old World, the house sparrow entered the cultural landscape somewhere in a part of its range, and then spread over it. Consequently, in some places it is an absorbed species, and in others - where it settled - reduced. In the New World, it is a bird brought everywhere by the cultural landscape. This is especially evident in South America: the house sparrow entered the local fauna there, settling exclusively in the cultural landscape, where there are European buildings. And for many regions of Siberia, the house sparrow is a reduced bird. The Khanty even call it by its name, which in translation means "a bird sitting on the corner of a Russian hut." The starling spread across the cultural landscape in North America. The native inhabitant of the Canary Islands - the canary finch settled in Europe (and has now reached the cities of the Baltic states, as well as Kyiv, Poltava) as a reduced bird. The ringed dove belongs to the same category in Belarus, Ukraine and the Baltic republics.

Linnet and Greenfinch are typically included birds. They settle in copses, various shrubs and from there enter the cultural landscape, nesting even in such a big city as Moscow.

In the future, we should talk about this in more detail, and now let's take a closer look at the process of creating the fauna of a cultural landscape using the example of birds - the most studied group of animals. Let's follow this in parallel with the process of landscape formation.

The first penetration of birds into the cultural landscape, of course, dates back to the time when it did not yet exist in the modern sense of the word. There were only "islands", the beginnings of cultural landscapes, the fauna of which was completely influenced by the surrounding natural conditions. And now you can see that redstart and gray flycatcher are sitting on the wattle fence, near the forest gatehouse (a corner of the cultural landscape), and on the wattle fence, near the Kazakh wintering, there are wheatear and gall oatmeal. In a hut built in the forest, a wren appears (if only for the sake of an overnight stay), and in the soldiers' tents of Alexander the Great on the passes between Helment and the Indus, village swallows built their nests. All these are “their own”, incorporated species.

Neither a hut, nor even an isolated house in the forest did not lead to any noticeable changes in the surrounding nature. Soldiers' tents were for birds nothing more than a variety of suddenly appeared analogues of their natural nesting places - bright open caves, and birds used them. However, shepherd's buildings in the steppe and foothills already represented some advantage for birds in comparison with their natural habitats. There are always a lot of insects near the herds, and huts, tents, yurts and more solid structures such as wintering grounds provided extensive opportunities for nesting near especially feeding places. Having penetrated into such "islands" within their habitat - in the mountains and foothills - swallows got the opportunity to expand it further into the steppe, where they moved to buildings of other types, thus becoming a typical element of the fauna of the cultural landscape, in one place - absorbed, and in the other - given. Apparently, in a similar way, but through a different “bridge” - stone buildings such as towers, penetration into the cultural landscape and subsequent settlement in it as an already cited species, the black swift, took place.

Of course, the passage of nesting swallows from caves to pastoralists' light structures is only one route for birds to enter cultural landscapes. It is likely that the villages and cities of the foothills of ancient Asia also served as a "bridge" that ensured the transition of some species of birds (swallows and other representatives of the rock complex) to nesting near humans. The chain of villages running from the mountains to the desert areas of the lower reaches of the Syr Darya and Amu Darya served, of course, as a good ecological channel for the penetration of originally mountainous species into the plain already as specific representatives of the cultural landscape (species cited). In the future, some of them spread widely and now, along with the expansion of this landscape, they are settling into new places. However, they retain their natural nesting sites in one place or another. Apparently, the possibilities for further expansion of their ranges are great, but not unlimited. The limit can be set by climatic conditions, as well as competition, resistance from local species.

The formation of the fauna of cultural landscapes can occur in another way. As in the first case, at first, on small "islands" of the cultural landscape, species settle, indifferent to those small changes in the environment that are caused by human structures. At the same time, quantitative enrichment of the fauna is often observed in comparison with "natural" habitats. Thus, for example, when a forest edge with shrubs and food conditions richer for some species arises in place of a dense monotonous forest, a qualitative enrichment of the fauna occurs, i.e., an increase in its species diversity. There is a kind of "contraction" to a small area of ​​some species, which in other conditions live more sparsely. You can walk a long distance through the forest and only at the forest gatehouse meet the white wagtail, redstart nesting there. If a city arises, in some cases the old fauna is destroyed and a small number of specific species appear, such as sparrows and swallows.

However, the opposite process is also observed. As the settlement grows, it may include certain elements of the original biotope (in the form of gardens, parks, tree plantations along the roads and planted cemeteries), and some forest, mainly shrub and edge, animal species remain in it. With further transformation of the landscape and the replacement of all natural habitats with plowed fields settlements with their gardens remain the only places where species of animals that have disappeared in the vicinity of cities can still live. The absorbed species thus become characteristic of the cultural landscape in its separate, defined parts. However, in this case, the use of the landscape to expand the range does not occur, since the range of the species inhabiting the cultural landscape is overlapped by its natural range.

The continued expansion of the cultural landscape area can eventually lead to its coverage of the entire area and the complete displacement of natural habitats. Then the species in its entire range will belong only to the cultural landscape, there are no other places left for it. Thus, being universally incorporated into the cultural landscape, it acquires, by the nature of its placement in landscapes, all the features of the above species. However, it is still impossible to name a single species of animals, at least from terrestrial vertebrates, that has completely lost its original connection with its natural landscapes.

Let us now turn our attention to non-European countries that belong to other faunal regions and, accordingly, have completely different natural-historical conditions for the existence of animals and a different history of faunas.

Some species of animals, which we have qualified for the territory of Europe as included, are transformed there into species characteristic exclusively of the cultural landscape, i.e., reduced (this has already been noted for the house sparrow and starling). Thus, many species of birds in broad-leaved forests and fields (lark, black and song thrushes, common starling, as well as myna, rook, Chinese dove, greenfinch, chaffinch, common bunting, goldfinch, garden bunting, etc.) bred, for example, in New Zealand, as species specific to the cultural landscape given by him. The cultural landscape of the European type spread rapidly in New Zealand, and the local species (with the exception of a very few) did not have time to adapt to it, when a stream of European birds, European and North American mammals, long associated with this landscape, poured into it.

The spread of animals to new territories in many cases occurs in parallel with the spread of the cultural landscape there. This is how the house sparrow spreads, for example, across the territory of northern Eurasia. As the agricultural landscape spreads to the north in Eastern Europe, gray partridges, common hamsters, and hare appear where they did not exist before.

However, it is not uncommon for new species of animals to spread across a cultural landscape that has long been formed over a large area (the same sparrow, as well as the starling in North America). At the same time, the view in short term extends beyond its original range and it may happen that a new "cultivated" part of its range will exceed and far exceed its original "natural" range.

The canary finch is very indicative in this respect. Over the course of about a century, it quickly spread across the "already ready" cultural landscape. At the same time, it first took root in cities and towns, and then moved from cities to their environs. Settlement of the canary finch on the territory Soviet Union is happening at the present time.

No less indicative is the ringed dove. Apparently, it has been incorporated into the cultural landscape somewhere in Asia Minor, has long been characteristic of the cultural landscape of the Balkan Peninsula, with the exception, however, of Greece, in recent decades it has spread across the territory of Central Europe and is now common for cities near the southern shores of the Baltic Sea, southern Sweden and southeastern England. In these places it is a specific bird of the cultural (urban) landscape.

Dispersal across an “already ready” cultural landscape also occurs, of course, in cases of introduction (penetration of a species into completely new places for it). A vivid example, in addition to the already indicated distribution of the starling and house sparrow in North America, is also the distribution of the Colorado potato beetle and white butterfly in Europe.

However, there is another type of settlement of animal species, in fact, without expanding the range, but only with its "compaction". Something similar is observed in the jay in the cities of Europe (it now breeds in Berlin, Leipzig, Hamburg, London and other cities of the mainland). In this case, the jay is introduced into cities without expanding its range. This phenomenon is sometimes called intra-areal settlement.

Let us compare the bird fauna of the cultural landscapes of the Palearctic and Ethiopian regions from the point of view that interests us.

Widespread settlement and agricultural development of the steppe landscape of South-West Africa took place over the past three to five decades. However, it was not accompanied by the appearance of new bird species there. As a result, the resulting cultural landscape has its birds, characteristic of the Ethiopian region, absorbed by this landscape here, on the spot.

While in Central Asia (Palearctic) in the villages there are many nests of the black-breasted sparrow, the nest of the hobby, tyuvik, black kite, Bukhara tit, etc., in the gardens of South-West Africa there are many nests of three species of weavers; where there is open water, the Cape Wagtail appears immediately, and in the presence of higher trees, the ground thrush nests. The differences are fairly obvious.

As for the species nesting directly on buildings and, therefore, showing the greatest degree of sipanthropism, then, replacing our swallows, urban and rural, in South-West Africa, as a particularly frequent city bird, the rock swallow settles, here in outbuildings a nest of a small mother-of-pearl-breasted swallow may be found; on the verandas of the houses - the nest of the striped swallow. Instead of our redstarts, the South African cercomela nests in the buildings, instead of the house sparrow, the Damara, the “mountain” wheatear is often found, and as general view with the cultural landscape of Western Europe, the barn owl can be called. It should be noted, however, that the barn owl is a cosmopolitan species.

Other types of birds - in the cultural landscape of Sudan. In the villages there, the sparrow weaver is common and, along with the house sparrow (a species common to Sudan with Europe), there is also molithesis and gray. It should be noted that the last two species of sparrows are also known in South-West Africa, but their nesting in the villages was not recorded there. Common in Sudan with South-West Africa (but not with the Palearctic) white and Cape crows. Of the starlings in the settlements of Sudan, two types of bronze ones can be found. There, as, indeed, throughout the Ethiopian region, a small swift nests. There is also the just-named small dove. It is interesting, however, that the ringed turtle dove (albeit a special subspecies, which is distinguished by some ornithologists as a separate independent species) does not nest in the cities and towns of Sudan. Mousebirds are common in the cities of Kenya and Tanzania. This is a special order of birds, characteristic only of the Ethiopian region.

If we make a comparison with the fauna of the cultural landscapes of the Indomalayan zoogeographic region, then in the gardens of India and Burma one can see species of shrubs and bulbuls (two families of passerine birds, covering a large number of species, of which only a few are known in the Palearctic, in the USSR - two). In southern Asia, in constant proximity to man, there is a black drongo, a Philippine and Madras weaver, two types of munia, and some sunflowers. One of the most common birds of the cultural landscape there is the common lane. (However, it should be noted that the myna, in the eyes of the modern generation of ornithologists, has widely settled in Central Asia and is now known in the north up to Chimkent.) In addition to the named myna, the black-headed myna is also found in South Asia and in Thailand - crested; as a specific bird of the cities of Sri Lanka, the eared starling can also be called. Our Palearctic crow in the cities of South Asia is replaced by special kind crows. This is real city ​​bird resembling a jackdaw.

In Indochina, one can see nesting colonies of Asiatic cormorants in tree cities (for example, in Hanoi), and white-winged herons also nest there. Spotted owls keep in the buildings, in gardens and parks - marelipus cuckoo, in Hanoi, original magpies of the Kitta genus live all year round.

As for the Australian bird fauna, it is located in several special position, since there is a fairly large number of species brought by the cultural landscape from another zoogeographic region, mainly from the countries of the Malay Archipelago. This is quite understandable, given that the cultural landscape of Australia is a young geographical formation. It began to emerge at a time when intercontinental ties were already quite intense. Some types of cultural landscape were brought there directly by man, while others moved in without his direct help. In addition, due to the youthfulness of cultural landscapes, the local species included in them simply did not have time to “fix” their positions and counteract the appearance of newcomers, which was observed, for example, in South Africa.

Indigenous inhabitants (endemics) of Australia usually give way in the cultural landscape to their "older" brothers who came from other zoogeographic regions. So, the zebra turtledove is being forced out of the cities of Australia by the Chinese turtledove. Muscat finches that accidentally came to this mainland successfully displace local finches, in cities, in particular, zebra finches.

Nevertheless, in the gardens of Australia it nests next to houses and can even be met sitting on the windowsill of the endemic of this mainland - the satin bower bird. She sometimes steals decorations for her current pad through the window. In the gardens of Western Australia, the large Gouldian white-eye is found in abundance. As they say, she replaces the house sparrow there. Other species of sunbirds, weavers and honeysuckers, the local forest “swallow” (artamus), endemic species of parrots, pigeons, etc. can also be named. Thus, the Australian zoogeographic region also has a certain number of birds of its own in the cultural landscape. In the cities of Australia, as already noted, there are their own mammals, such as kuzu and even sometimes the platypus.

For clarity, one can compare in more detail the bird fauna of the Palearctic, Ethiopia, and South Asia in relation to the bird species most associated with human settlements - swifts and swallows. Here the following is observed. In the cities of the USSR, black and white-belted swifts are common, and both species nest in natural conditions. There is no black swift in the Ethiopian region and South Asia, and the white-belted swift only partially covers the Indomalayan region with its range. But in the cities of South Asia, a small swift is common (it can also be found in the southernmost parts of the Palearctic). It also breeds outside cultivated landscapes. For Africa and South Asia, the palm swift should also be named as a bird of cultural landscapes. In the Philippines, he lives in the villages, and in northern Thailand - exclusively near a person. The latter is explained by the fact that the palm swift nests on coconut palms, which are cultivated there by man and belong exclusively to the cultural landscape in Thailand (therefore, here the palm swift is already a given bird). It is especially curious that in Burma, in the provinces of Chin and Kachin, where the named palm trees are rare, the swift has changed its habits and builds nests in rural houses or in tunnels, i.e., directly near a person. Also in West Africa (Republic of Zaire), where palm trees are rare, the palm swift, according to observers, lays eggs and hatches chicks among the palm leaves that cover the roof of buildings.

It is curious that the white-belted swift, common for human settlements in the Palearctic, does not occur in cities in the part of its range belonging to the Indomalayan region. It has some relation to man (to his structures) only in Burma, where thousands of pairs nest in viaducts in the Shan province.

Palaearctic swallows nesting on buildings include barn swallow or killer whale, red-rumped and city swallow or funnel swallow. In addition, near a person, but only as an exception in buildings, makes nests sand swallow, near bridges and occasionally along ditches - a filamentous swallow entering from the south into the Palearctic. But it should be considered as belonging to the cultural landscapes mainly of the Indomalayan fauna. In Africa, in dwellings of a predominantly native type, the Ethiopian swallow, the Abyssinian, nests, in the western parts of the mainland - also the Gambian and rocky (other than the past) swallows. In South West Africa, the previously named mother-of-pearl and striped martins are included in the cultural landscape. In East Africa, Angolan and white-throated swallows can be found nesting under roofs.

However, this is not a complete list of African swallows that are associated with buildings. But even those named are enough to understand that even in the synanthropic fauna, geographical differences are quite clearly manifested in cases where the cultural landscape is of great antiquity, as, for example, in South Asia and Africa. In the event of a recent emergence of this landscape, its fauna may be dominated by the listed species and, moreover, sometimes dispersed from other zoogeographic regions, which is observed in the cultural landscapes of Australia and especially in the Hawaiian Islands and New Zealand.

Regarding such pronounced synanthropes as swallows, a few more words should be said. A large number of their species belong to the Paleogean land. And there you can observe a full range of species, moving from nesting without any connection with humans, to species that only occasionally nest on buildings or inside them, then equally using both the cultural and natural landscape, and, finally, to almost exclusively nesting on buildings and inside them. At the same time, it is curious that they all belong to the cultural landscape only in those areas that are covered by their natural ranges. Thus, the swallows of the Paleogean land, apparently, do not have real listed species. Consequently, there is no significant expansion of the area with the help of the cultural landscape. It is possible to speak, apparently, only about local reduction and about inter-realistic settlement in the cultural landscape within the original natural area. The Filamentous and Red-rumped Swallows, as well as the Lesser Swift, are distributed to some extent in the Palaearctic apart from the Paleogean land, but they have not been brought there by humans: this is their natural range. Only in some details of the distribution of the red-rumped swallow can one see that the cultural landscape contributes to the expansion of its range. Apparently, only one barn swallow (killer whale) really expanded many times (in the direction to the north) its range as a bird brought there by the cultural landscape.

In Eurasia, many species of birds specific to the cultural landscape spread to the north only over this landscape. However, there is one interesting exception: the city swallow - such a pronounced synanthrope - in the north of Yakutia nests without any connection with human buildings in the coastal cliffs of the Anabar River at 72 ° N. sh. The same was noted recently for the Indigirka River. Here are the northernmost places of distribution of this species of birds. They live there without the "help" of man.

Without further increasing the number of examples, it can be said in relation to birds associated with human buildings that their fauna in different zoogeographic regions is a derivative of the fauna of their zoogeographic region, and the fact that some species belong to more than one region is explained primarily by the position of their natural range. , originally located in two or more faunal areas. Even the listed species, which spread along with the cultural landscape over considerable distances, usually stop at the borders of their “own” zoogeographic region.

At the same time, one should not forget that the cultural landscapes of the same name in different geographical zones, and even more so the continents belonging to different zoogeographic regions, are often similar only in appearance. In fact, there are different types of settlements, different crops, ways of cultivating the land and climatic conditions are not the same. Therefore, against the background of a large number of species specific to a given area, species common to several geographical zones, and even more so to faunal regions, fade into the background.

If you find an error, please highlight a piece of text and click Ctrl+Enter.

Lesson topic: "Birds of cultural landscapes."

Tasks: to supplement, clarify, and expand students' knowledge of the birds of cities and towns, gives an idea of ​​the adaptability of birds to living conditions near human habitation; contributes to the development of children's cognitive interest in nature and its study, environmental education and upbringing of students.

Equipment: sets of drawings or didactic material depicting birds, a player, plastics with recordings of bird voices, tables.

Lesson plan:

    Organizing time.

1. Create student working groups

2. introduction teachers

Detachment of passerines bird covers great amount species and many families. More than half of the bird species inhabiting the earth belong to this order. Passerines are birds of medium and small size. Their beak various shapes. Wings can be long or short and blunt. Most are associated with woody vegetation.

They are characterized by the device of carefully made nests, which are built on trees, on the ground, in minks, human buildings.

The bird is diverse (plant seeds, insects). The vast majority of useful birds.

3. Distribution of tasks. Each group chooses an envelope containing tasks, texts describing the birds of one of the studied families, illustrations or didactic materials.

Tasks.

    Read the text given to you.

    Review the drawings.

    Answer questions to reinforce.

    Make conclusions about the adaptability of birds to the environment.

    Prepare a report on the appearance and biology of the most common birds of this family using tables.

    Formulate a conclusion about the common features of birds of this family.

Questions for consolidation.

    What are the common features of birds of this family?

    What do these birds eat, and what are the structural features of their beak?

    What are the nesting characteristics of birds of this family?

    What role do these birds play in nature?

    Learning new material.

    1. Independent work(10 minutes): studying the appearance and biology of the family 1) weavers, 2) crows, 3) titmouse, 4) starlings, 5) wagtails, 6) swallows

Weaving family. (Slide 5.6)

Combine quite diverse in appearance birds. Most species lead an arboreal lifestyle.

Their physique is dense, the head is round, the neck is short, the beak is conical in shape. The wings of most species are short and rounded. On the ground they move by jumping. They like to bathe in dust or sand. Stay in flocks, some even during the nesting period.

house sparrow- one of the most widely known birds. Its weight is 23-25 ​​g, it is distinguished by a brown-brown color and a gray “cap”. The male has a black throat and chest, the female is all brownish-gray.

House sparrows are sedentary birds, adapted to live near human habitation. In winter, they are often found on the streets, near garbage cans, in garbage dumps. You can often hear their soft chirping: “A little alive, a little alive!”

In the spring, they begin to scream loudly and often, as if “Alive! Alive! Alive!

Sparrows nest under the roofs of wooden buildings, in the crevices of the skin. In winter, they feed mainly on grain feed, they can visit feeders. In the spring they eat insect pests. For only one brood, birds collect 500-700 insects.

field sparrow- somewhat smaller in size than the brownie, it also differs in the brown crown, black spots on the white cheeks and two light stripes on the wing.

It nests in a natural environment - along the edges of groves and parks.

The tree sparrow is somewhat more insectivorous. In winter, it is of great benefit by pecking at weed seeds.

crow family.(Slides 7,8,9,10,11,12)

This family includes the largest representatives of the order of passerine birds. They are characterized by a dense physique, strong legs, a large conical beak; the plumage is black or variegated, many with a metallic sheen.

Rook- a large bird, its plumage is black. A nomadic bird, reminiscent of itself "gra-a, gra-a", from which the name comes.

Jackdaw- a settled bird, of medium size, black, with a gray "kerchief" on its head. In winter, they often feed with crows in flocks, and in spring the birds break into pairs and make their nests in hollow trees, in the ventilation openings of buildings. Birds give themselves away with the characteristic call of "gal-ka, gal-ka." The jackdaw is an omnivorous bird, often feeding on garbage heaps.

Magpie- a medium-sized bird with a bright black and white color: the head, neck, upper chest, tail and wings are black with a metallic sheen, the abdomen and large spots on the shoulders are white.

It flies heavily, often flapping its wings.

A scream is a loud, sharp chirping. Nests are built on trees, more often on a birch, they look like a ball, consisting of dry twigs and branches. Inside it is a bowl smeared with clay. It feeds on forty insect worms, does not disdain a small frog.

swallow family.(Slide 13.14)

Short and wide, especially at the base of the beak, a large slit of the mouth, narrow and very long wings, a wide chest and at the same time an elegant physique, short and weak legs, of little use for moving on the ground, and finally, a forked tail - a sign by which it is easy to distinguish representatives this family from other birds.

barn swallow, or killer whale, as it is popularly called, has a forked tail, in which the extreme feathers - pigtails are long and thin. The top of the body is black-blue, the ventral side is white, the forehead and throat are rusty-brown.

This is a typical migratory bird, it appears with us in the first days of May and chirps.

Swallows are not very good flyers, they usually hover not far from the nest. The barn swallow's nest is an open cup attached sideways to the wall of a wooden building. The nest is molded from lumps of clay moistened with saliva and straw, inside there is a soft bedding on which the chicks hatch from the eggs. For them, swallows catch small insects in the air and feed the chicks up to 600 times a day.

Titmouse family. (Slide 15.16)

This family combines agile, lively birds with a short, straight beak. Their plumage is dense, soft, wings are relatively short. In the coloration of tits, white “cheeks” are typical.

great tit- the largest of all tits, a little more than a sparrow. It differs from other tits by a black longitudinal strip - a “tie” on a yellow-green chest, and a light spot on the back of the head.

In mixed and deciduous forests, her voice is often heard: "Sin-sin-verr." She begins to sing her wedding song in our area at the beginning of February. At this time, at the end of winter, flocks of wandering tits break into pairs. Bird nests are located in tree holes.

Their main food is insects, which the tit eats both in summer and winter. Her winter activities are especially useful for humans, when she pecks eggs of the gypsy moth on the trees. At the same time, tits can eat seeds of various plants, and large ones are crushed, holding them right in their paws. In the summer, tits feed themselves and feed their chicks exclusively on insects. Their broods are very large in one brood grows up to 14-15 chicks. There are usually two broods during the summer.

Starling family.(Slide 17.18)

The birds of this family are densely built, with a short tail and long wings, a rather long thin beak and strong hind limbs. Insects feed on fruits and berries.

Starling common appears with us in early spring after the rooks. First, males arrive, occupy a birdhouse and begin to sing. However, if there is no birdhouse, the birds settle in hollows. The females arrive in a few days. From dry grass and plant residues, birds begin to build a nest inside a birdhouse or hollow. Both parents incubate the eggs in turn, and both feed the chicks, bringing them food from gardens and fields up to 320 times a day.

At first, the chicks are helpless, and by the end of the third week they begin to scream loudly, jump up to the entrance hole for food, while helping themselves with their wings, and protrude from the nesting place. After 21-23 days after birth, they leave the nest.

Wagtail family. (Slide 19.20)

They will unite small birds the size of a sparrow. The legs of most species are thin and long, with large, slightly curved claws, well adapted to movement on the ground; medium-sized beak is thin and straight.

A typical representative white wagtail. Very dexterously and quickly running on the ground, this bird constantly shakes its tail. The wagtail has a black and white coloration, a black cap, throat and chest stand out.

It keeps alone and in pairs, on the ground, near water bodies, where it eats insects flying over moist soil.

In dachas, household plots, she appears, as if an inspector, after digging the soil, easily runs through the beds, pecks flying insects and, as it were, checks the quality of tillage.

    1. Group reports with demonstration of tables, discussion, evaluation of each group (3 minutes).

    Formulation of conclusions and their discussion.

    Homework: crossword puzzles, riddles, poems, lesson feedback, drawing of a bird on a cozy nest.




Top