This article will talk about one of the surprisingly small inhabitants of mixed and deciduous forests. We will talk about the bird, which brings considerable benefits for forestry.
This is a black-headed nut. She also has other similar relatives, which can be found out by reading this article.
It should be noted that the characterization of this bird is a little difficult due to its great similarity with other species of gaits, for example, with a brown-headed. But more about that below.
Black-headed (or bog) gadget: description
A swamp nut, or black-headed, is a small titmouse weighing about 10-11 grams. It is smaller in size than a sparrow and has a plumage color that is not very bright.
The total length with a weight of up to 15 grams is 12-14 centimeters, and the wingspan reaches 18-20 cm. The neck and head are blue-black, the throat and chin are black, and the feathers on the tips have a white border. The back is dark sand with an olive tint, and the hips are more brown. Tail (with stripe) and grayish wings. The sides are reddish, and the abdominal region is light gray. Off-white cheeks, black beak, paws are dark gray.
The black-headed gait is a rather mobile bird. Her flight is very fast and undulating. These birds do not have sexual dimorphism; it is difficult to distinguish a female from a male. Young birds in the shade of plumage look more dull, and their hat is matte and dark brown.
External differences in species
Outwardly, a black-headed gadget and puffer are very similar. How to distinguish between them? Unlike the second, the upper and lower torso of a black-headed gadget are clearly distinguishable by color.
This bird has one more detail of the plumage of black color - a small spot with slightly blurry edges under the beak itself (does not reach the chest).
It is also practically indistinguishable in nature from another species. What is the difference between a brown-headed and black-headed nut? There are two barely visible distinguishing features - a shorter hat with a bluish tint and a thicker beak in the second.
Habitats, lifestyle
Black-headed gaiter - a bird that lives mainly in deciduous forests and riverine thickets of poplars, bird cherry trees and willows. It occurs, in addition to swampy damp lowlands, and in dry wild thickets, gardens, groves and parks.
The habitats of this little bird vary with the time of year. In contrast to the brown-headed nut, the black-headed one avoids coniferous forests, it can appear in them only in winter and autumn, during the period of roaming.
In the month of February, gaits are observed in meadows, among willow thickets and in alder forests. In May they can live in spruce-alder, in alder forests, in hornbeam-oak forests, and in June, also in hornbeam-oak forests and in alder forests. In dense shoots of hazel, in mixed spruce-deciduous forests and in young oak trees, they can be found in July, and in mixed forests, among birch forests and young pine forests, this bird lives in August-September. In October-November, birch forests, mixed forests, alder forests and pine forests become the habitat of the gaiter.
This bird nests in hollows of deciduous trees and in stumps with rotting wood. As a rule, the hollow is located at an altitude of about 1-1.5 meters above the ground, sometimes higher. It is cleared by the nut itself. If she hollows out the hollow on her own, she splinters the wood chips away from the future nest for some distance.
The hollow is usually so small that the litter of the nest and the bird sitting in it are often visible from the outside. In the clutch (April-May) there are 5-9 white eggs interspersed with a reddish-brown hue. Rarely, but these birds sometimes make a second clutch.
A black-headed gaiter is an ordinary (both settled and wandering) bird. These bird species, like other tits, hold together in flocks and pairs. They are very agile and agile, like to cling and hang on the tip of thin branches.
How is a nest built?
Outside, a nest is constructed of green moss interspersed with wool and cobwebs. The tray itself is usually lined with wool interspersed with horsehair, and sometimes with down and feathers. The size of the nest on average in diameter is 3-6 centimeters. The height of the tray is not more than 3 cm, and its average size is 1.4 cm.
A black-headed nutlet nests in single pairs. For the most part, unlike its close appearance (brown-headed nut), it uses the existing hollow, only expanding it if necessary by plucking wood from it. Nests are sometimes located at an altitude of about 3 meters. Typically, the diameter of a lettuce hollow is no more than 3.5 cm. This bird can also populate artificial hollows.
In full clutch, this bird has an average of 7-10 eggs. Their shell is milky white, shiny, covered with small rusty-reddish brown spots. Egg weight is 1.3 g, diameter reaches 13 mm, length - up to 17 mm.
Food
The black-headed nut eats mainly caterpillars and spiders, and in autumn and winter with seeds, including thistle seeds.
Also, the food for these birds are insects and their larvae with chitinous hard shell, as well as flies, spiders and aphids.
Adult birds feed on ants, weevils, spiders, various small bugs in the summer. In the spring they eat anthers of black alder, willow, aspen, drink maple juice, birch. In autumn and in winter, most of the diet is represented by seeds of spruce, pine, maple, black alder, mountain ash, various herbaceous plants, etc. Their little birds feed their chicks mainly with caterpillars of butterflies and spiders.
Features
The voice of a black-headed gadget is very diverse. His call is a resounding "qi-qi-zhee-zhee" or a little sadder "puyu-puyu." Her singing is surprisingly sonorous and melodic. Also, a gadget can make a quick "sip, sip" with hoarse exclamations and with metallic notes, or a protracted "tei-tei-tei" meaning alarm. There is another whistling song - "sis-si-rice-these."
A characteristic feature of this bird is the manner of holding only in pairs and a strong attachment to each other. In the usual winter mixed flocks, in which small wintering birds gather, as a rule, one or two swamp gaiters can be found. They rarely live alone. Partners are not separated neither in winter nor in autumn, even when they are in a flock of their relatives or join flocks of other tits.
The hare’s lifestyle is sedentary and in winter it always stays at the nest.
