Little bittern. Bittern small or spinning top (ixobrychus minutus) Bittern small or spinning top
Appearance . The plumage of the back and upper part of the head is black, the chest and neck are buffy, the abdomen is white, the wings are yellow-pink with black ends. The legs are green, the beak is also with a greenish tint. The female has a brownish back, and young birds are completely brown with streaks.
Lifestyle . The top lives on reservoirs of the most various places (forests, steppes, deserts), but it is obligatory with reed or bush thickets. An ordinary migratory bird, but it is very difficult to detect it, because the top is as careful as possible, hidden and keeps only alone. Pair nesting, prefers old women, ponds, lakes or reservoirs, abundantly overgrown with reeds, reeds or willows. The nest is constructed from twigs and stalks of reeds, located low on trees, in shrubs or on bent reeds. The shape is typical of herons, but smaller in size. Clutching is carried out from mid-May to June, in the clutch of 5-9 eggs, white with a rough shell. It shows activity only at night and at dusk. In case of danger, hides, extends its beak and neck and becomes like a reed. It does not fly for long, soars very easily and quickly, even through dense thickets, but it soon sits down. The flight is relatively fast, often flaps its wings, and plans to land when landing. It moves well along the reed stalks and branches of the bush, catches prey from this position - sitting on a branch above the surface of the water. Food - frogs, small fish, insects. The top’s voice depends on the time of the year: in the spring - a jerky and dull “pumb .. pumb”, the rest of the time - a quick and clear “ke-ke-ke”.
Similar species. It differs from other tops in black plumage of its back, from other birds of the heron family in small size. Together with other types of tops does not occur.
The small bittern belongs to the order Ciconiiformes, the heron family, the genus Small bittern and the species Small bittern. The second name of this bird is a spinning top.
Behavior and appearance
We can say that this is the smallest of herons in our fauna, the size of her body is not larger than the size of a jackdaw, her body is 33 to 38 cm long, wingspan is 52 to 58 cm, and weight is from 100 to 150 grams. The physique is slim and light, the beak is thin and long, the legs are long-toed. She very easily moves along reed stalks and branches of bushes, cleverly clasping them with her paws. And yet more often they were seen flying low enough over the undergrowth or water. Compared to the drink, the small bittern is not so secretive and more often it can be discerned, but nevertheless, in case of danger, it also takes a "pose of holding", stretching its head and neck upward. In an active state, they arrive at dusk and in the afternoon.
Description
In a small bittern, a sexual difference is very pronounced, although for herons this is a rare occurrence. Males most often have a pale ocher color, a back, a cap, tail and fly feathers in them are black. During the flight, the difference between the bright “shield” of the wing and the feathery black feathers is striking. The beak of males can be from light yellow to orange, and the legs are green. The female is much dimmer. The black color is replaced by brown (many feathers have a light border), the pale ocher is replaced by a dirty sand color, and dark stripes are visible on her neck (they are almost invisible in males). But the two-tone color of the wings, characteristic of a small bittern, is also observed in the female, although it is not so contrasting. During the flight, the bittern folds its neck, and it looks quite short. Young individuals of plumage are light brown in color, with a large number of dark longitudinal streaks. Well, the chicks are covered with fluff, light red in color.
The small bittern has a voice remotely resembling the voice of a large bittern, but it is not so expressive in it. She makes hoarse, quiet sounds, which, from a distance, can resemble a dog barking, and near a slightly dull aspiration. These sounds are called the “song” of the top, but you can hear them in the May and June months. At other times, she is quite silent.
Little bittern in a nest with chicks
Spread
Small bitterns build nests on the continents and islands of the Eastern hemisphere of the Earth. These are Central Asia, Europe, Australia, West India, Africa. We find it in the territory starting from the European part (north to St. Petersburg) and ending with Western Siberia. In European Russia, you will not find this bird in winter; for the winter, it flies to Africa.
Lifestyle
They arrive in the spring in the last days of April or in May, and fly away for the winter in September. The little bittern, like the big one, flies away to winter and returns to the nesting place alone. A flock does not form. More often they settle in places where surface grassy vegetation and reed thickets with flooded dense shrubs alternate. It can also choose small ponds for living - ponds, river old women and similar places.
Breeding
Small bittern nests form separate pairs, which occupy a decent plot of land. They position the nests so that they are well camouflaged in the vegetation. The nest is usually built on the branches of a willow shrub, it either touches the water with its base, or can hang above the water at a distance of 50-60 cm. Also found on low trees, in the plexus of reed stems. It turns out that the height of the nest depends on the vegetation on which it is located. The nest has a cup-shaped shape, initially it looks like an inverted cone, but over time it is crushed and the bottom becomes flat. The building materials are dry, stiff stalks of vegetation, sometimes with the addition of alder and willow branches, but inside the nest is lined with reed leaves and thin stems. This type of egg drink lays from the first of June to the last of July. It depends on the climate and terrain. Usually 5 to 9 eggs are laid. Both male and female are involved in incubating and raising chicks. They incubate eggs for 16-19 days. After a few days, the kids begin to climb reed stems, and after a week and a half, they already leave the nest for a short while. A month later, they already begin to stand on the wing.
Small bittern during the flight
Nutrition
Most often, they choose reed stalks for hunting. They sit on these stems, which are located above the water itself, near the edge of dense thickets, in close proximity to clean water and guard their prey. They eat tadpoles, frogs, small fish, various aquatic invertebrates. They were also seen in the ruin of nests of passerine small birds that live in dense vegetation near the water, while they steal both their eggs and their chicks.
Security
Many European countries have noted a clear reduction in the number of small drinks between 1970 and 1990. The main factor was land reclamation, which led to the final disappearance of many small reservoirs, another factor was the destruction of coastal trees, thickets and shrubs, for the use of reservoirs for economic purposes, as well as the destruction of nests by various predators.
Small bittern is listed in the Red Books of the Leningrad and Tver Regions, as well as in the Red Books of the Estonian and Latvian Republics, Belarus. It is listed in the EU Rare Bird Conservation Directive, in Appendix 1, in Appendix 2 of the Berne Convention, in Appendix 2 of the Bonn Convention, this species is also referred to SPEC 3.
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Plan
Introduction
1 General description
2 Distribution
3 Lifestyle
3.1 Power
3.2 Voice
3.3 Reproduction
List of references
Introduction
Small bittern or spinning top (lat. Ixobrychus minutus) - a bird of the heron family, the smallest heron.
1. General characteristics
The growth of the small bittern reaches only 36 cm. The weight is 136-145 g, the wing length is about 15 cm. The small bittern is the only representative of the order of Ciconiiformes, in which the male and the female are different in color. The male bittern has a black cap with a green tint on his head, wings and back, cream-white head and neck, buffy belly with whitish feather ends. Bill is yellowish-greenish. The female from the back is brown with streaks, belly, head and neck are buffy. The female has a yellow beak with a brown end.
2. Distribution
Small bittern nests in Europe, Central Asia, Western India, Africa and Australia. European bitterns - migratory birds flying to Africa for the winter. In Russia, a small bittern can be found from the European part (in the north to St. Petersburg) to Western Siberia.
3. Lifestyle
Small bittern nests on the banks of large and small reservoirs with stagnant water overgrown with vegetation. This bird leads a very secretive lifestyle, cleverly climbing on the reed, grabbing the stems with tenacious long fingers. It flies not very willingly, only for short distances, very low over thickets or the surface of the water. Active mainly at night. In Europe, it flies from wintering in April - early May, flies for wintering in August-September. Like the big bittern, the small one flies to the nests and flies away for the winter alone, without forming a flock. Most often flies at night.
Food Small bittern eats small fish, frogs, tadpoles, aquatic invertebrates. Sometimes nestlings of small passerine birds are grabbed. Vote
3.3. Breeding
Spinning tops nest singly or less often in scattered colonies. Each pair occupies a rather large nesting area. Nest arranges in the thick of reeds or in the branches of a tree. The nest of the conical shape after the removal of the chicks is trampled and becomes flat. A small bittern lays eggs from the beginning of June until the end of July, depending on the terrain and climate. In clutch 5-9 white eggs. Both parents incubate and raise nestlings. Already at the age of several days, chicks of the small bittern cleverly climb the stems of the reed, grabbing them with long, thin fingers. At the age of 7-12 days, the chicks can already leave the nest for a short time. At the age of 1 month, little bittern chicks already take to the wing.
List of references:
1. Boehme R. L., Flint V.E. The bilingual dictionary of animal names. Birds. Latin, Russian, English, German, French. / edited by Acad. V. E. Sokolova. - M .: Rus. lang., "RUSSO", 1994. - S. 24. - 2030 copies. - ISBN 5-200-00643-0
Chaplya-lazyanik (earlier - Bugai are small)
The whole territory of Belarus
Heron Family - Ardeidae
In Belarus - I. m. minutus (a subspecies inhabits the entire Palearctic part of the range of the species).
Small nesting, migratory and transit migratory species. It is widespread, but in recent decades it is almost everywhere found rarely. Most of the Belarusian population nests in Polesie.
Zoya Kiseleva, a reservoir in the microdistrict. "Gomselmash", Gomel
The smallest of our herons (less crow). Sexual dimorphism is well pronounced in the color of the plumage of adult birds. The male has the top of the head, back, feathers of shoulders and mantle black with a greenish tint, the top of the neck is gray, the wing coverts are yellow, the ventral side is buffy with a brown longitudinal pattern, the fly and tail feathers are black. Beak is yellow-green, legs are green. In the female, the dorsal side is dark brown with buffy streaks, the sides of the head and neck are reddish-brown, and a longitudinal pattern on the front neck. Young birds look like a female, but there are more dark speckles. The weight of males and females is 130-170 g, body length is 31.5-38.5 cm, wingspan 50-55 cm.
Inhabits various water bodies with developed coastal grass-shrub vegetation. It is kept in thickets of willows and reeds along the banks of water bodies, skillfully hiding. It is rarely possible to see the top, usually in the evening, when this bird often makes flights from one section of thickets to another. The male’s voice - a repeating jerky "buh ..." - is also heard mainly at dusk and at night.
In spring arrives in April - the first decade of May. Migrates alone at night.
Valery Kiselev, reservoir of microdistrict. "Gomselmash", Gomel
Favorite nesting sites are swampy floodplains of slowly flowing rivers with numerous backwaters and elders, gently sloping and low shores of lakes and reservoirs, lowland swamps with open water areas, fish ponds, old peat bogs in the presence of areas of dense thickets of reed, cattail, willow and alder. For the location of the nest is not necessary the presence of extensive arrays of reed or shrubs; sometimes there is a fairly small curtain or a separate bush overgrown with grass, or a narrow strip of thickets along the edges of the dams of fish ponds. Nests were found even on old quarries and sewage treatment plants filled with water and overgrown with willow and willow bushes. Occasionally, a bird settles in small overgrowing ponds on the outskirts of settlements or in the adjacent shaded swamps. Due to a secretive lifestyle, more active during twilight times, as well as due to nesting in places that are hardly visited, the bird rarely catches your eye. This may give the impression that it is rarer than it actually is. In nesting places during the day, individuals flying over the vegetation of water bodies can be observed.
Bittern lives in single pairs, each pair occupies a relatively large nesting site. For the nest, he selects areas of coastal shrubs or grassy-shrubbery thickets, often flooded with water or at its very edge. The nest is usually well hidden by surrounding vegetation.
It is being built in the lower forks of branches of shrubs or small trees, in a thick plexus of reed stalks, undersized willow, nightshade and sedge, on creases in curtains of dry reed or cattail. The height of its location depends on the nature of the vegetation. Often, a nest built among surface grass plants almost touches the base of the water surface, and if there are convenient forks in willow bushes, it can be found at a height of 50-70 cm, and sometimes even higher.
Valery Kiselev, reservoir of microdistrict. "Gomselmash", Gomel
A nest is built from pieces of dry stems of hard vegetation, often with an admixture of thin branches of willow and alder, while nesting among shrubs - mainly from twigs. Building material does not twist, and at first the nest is a loose structure in the form of an inverted cone with a weakly expressed tray lined, although not always, with thinner stems and reed leaves. The height of the nest is 12-15 cm (by the end of the incubation 5-6 cm), diameter 17-25 cm; tray depth 1-3 cm, diameter 7-12 cm.
In full laying, most often 6 eggs, but often 5, as well as 7. Clutches of 4, and sometimes 8-9 eggs are found. As an exception, a clutch of 10 eggs was recorded in Europe. The shell is white, without a pattern, greenish in the lumen. Egg weight 12 g, length 35 mm (33-37 mm), diameter 26 mm (23-28 mm).
Clutches appear late - in late May - early June, occasionally, especially in the northern regions, only from mid-June. There is one brood in a year. In bodies of water with frequent and sharp fluctuations in water level, many low-lying nests are flooded, and birds are forced to re-nest. In such places, clutches are often found at the end of June, and sometimes in July.
Both members of the pair incubate alternately for 16-19 days. Chicks remain in the nest for only 7-9 days, after which they begin to skillfully climb branches of bushes and stalks of reeds near the nest and at the end of the third week of life leave the nests. However, young people begin to fly only at the age of 30 days.
Autumn departure and migration occur in the 2nd decade of August - September, only a few individuals are found in the first half of October.
Aquatic invertebrates, frogs and small fish make up the nutritional basis of the top. Sometimes it eats eggs and chicks in nests of small birds nesting in reeds.
The number in Belarus at the end of the XX century. was estimated at 300–600 pairs, the trend is a slight decrease. Small bittern is listed in the Red Book of the Republic of Belarus since 1993.
The maximum age registered in Europe is 7 years 10 months.
Valery Kiselev, md. "Gomselmash", Gomel
Valery Kiselev, reservoir of microdistrict. "Gomselmash", Gomel
Literature
1. Grichik V.V., Burko L. D. "Animal kingdom of Belarus. Vertebrates: textbook. Manual" Minsk, 2013. -399 p.
2. Nikiforov M.E., Yaminsky B.V., Shklyarov L.P. "Birds of Belarus: A Handbook for Determining Nests and Eggs" Minsk, 1989. -479 p.
3. Gaiduk V. Ye., Abramova I. V. "Ecology of birds in the south-west of Belarus. Non-fox-like: monograph." Brest, 2009. -300s.
4. Fransson, T., Jansson, L., Kolehmainen, T., Kroon, C. & Wenninger, T. (2017) EURING list of longevity records for European birds.
Appearance and behavior. The smallest representative of herons of our fauna, the size does not exceed, body length 33–38 cm, weight 100–150 grams, wingspan 52–58 cm. It has a light and slender physique, legs are very long-toed, the beak is long and thin. Cleverly climbs the stems of the reed and the branches of the bushes, clasping them with his fingers, but most often catches his eye flying low above the water or over the thickets. Compared to drinking, it is far from being so secretive and more often allows itself to be considered, although in case of danger it can also take a “hold-up pose” with the neck and head extended upward. Active during the day and at dusk.
Description. Sexual dimorphism is well expressed, which is a unique phenomenon for our herons. The male is mostly pale ocher; his back, cap, and fly and tail feathers are black. In flight, the contrast between the black fly feathers and the light “shield” of the wing is striking. Paws are green, beak is from light yellow to orange. The female is much duller, the black color is replaced with brown (there are light borders on many feathers), and the pale ocher is replaced with dirty sand, dark longitudinal stripes are noticeable on the neck (they are almost indistinguishable in the male). However, the characteristic two-tone color of the wing is also noticeable in it, although it is not so contrasting. In a steady flight, like all herons, it folds its neck so that it looks short. Young birds are light brown in color with many longitudinal dark streaks. Chicks are covered in light red down.
Vote not as expressive as u, although it remotely resembles it: these are soft, hoarse sounds from a distance resembling a rhythmic dog barking, but close to a muffled aspiration. These screams are the “song” of the top, they can be heard in May and June, the rest of the time he is silent.
Distribution, status. It nests on all continents and many islands of the Eastern Hemisphere, starting from the south of the taiga zone. In European Russia, the north reaches approximately the latitude of St. Petersburg. In the north of the range, it is rare and is not found in all suitable places; in the forest-steppe and steppe zone it becomes quite a common species. Wintering is located far south of the region covered by the determinant - in southern Asia and tropical Africa, it does not occur in European Russia in winter.
Lifestyle. In spring arrives relatively late, in late April or May, and departs early in September. It settles in places where thickets of reed and other grassy surface vegetation alternate with dense flooded shrubs. Can live in relatively small bodies of water - river old women, ponds and the like. Breeds in separate pairs, sometimes at a short distance from each other.
The nest is most often located on the branches of a flooded willow bush half a meter above the water or touches the base of the water and is a bowl-shaped structure made of leaves and stems of reed. The tray is usually lined with reed leaves. At the beginning, the nest, like other herons, has the shape of an inverted cone, but later trampled and becomes flat. In clutch up to 10 pure white eggs. Both parents incubate the clutch and feed the chicks. Freshly hatched chicks are completely helpless, after a week they are already in the nest and, when a person approaches, they take the same pose as adult birds, that is, they extend their heads and necks and remain motionless in this position. Very early, the chicks begin to deftly climb the branches and stems of the reed.
