Many people are well aware of magpie - black and white, long-tailed, with a loud and rather sharp voice. A curious and bold bird has been familiar to children since childhood as the “white-sided magpie” - the heroine of numerous fairy tales.
Below will be described what constitutes a dwelling, a nest of magpies. What it looks like, how it is built by birds, where other information related to this amazing bird is located, you can see and find out by reading this article.
A little about the bird itself: general information
Magpie (common or European) - a bird representing the family of corvidae and the genus forty.
Before we begin the description and find out what a nest of a magpie is, consider the habitats and distribution of birds around the world.
Magpies inhabit all of Europe. It is absent only on some Mediterranean islands. They also inhabit parts of the coastal areas in Morocco, Tunisia and Algeria (northern Africa). At its core, magpie is a settled bird, but there is also a migratory bird in Scandinavia.
Different populations of magpies live on the most diverse ends of the Earth. The magpie nest also differs in shape and size depending on its habitat.
There are magpies in Turkey and in part of Iran, where they spread almost to the coast of the Persian Gulf itself. Birds of this species are distributed from north to south to the Sea of Japan. In Asia, they are settled in northern Vietnam, in northwestern Mongolia. A separate isolated population lives even on the Kamchatka Peninsula. There are also natural monuments - a small protected population in the northwest of about. Kyushu. North America also has a haven for forty-western half of the continent (from Baja California to Alaska inclusive).
Magpie nest: photos
Magpies are clearly drawn to dense shrubby and woody vegetation. They are especially fond of lake and river floodplains with thickets of alders and willows, with small meadows, the remains of the indigenous forest and grasslands. The real kingdom for them was the forest belts stretched across the southern steppes of Russia.
In these places there is a very close proximity of pairs: they live from each other only a few tens of meters. This is a record population density for birds, as a rule, avoiding such a neighborhood. In more dense and thick forests, magpies practically do not live (rarely), but they perfectly settle in city parks.
Where do magpies build a nest? Common species are sedentary birds. In the spring in early April, the couple usually builds a nest on a bush or tree (height from 1 to 12 meters above the ground), moreover, they compare its location with the level of security and anxiety. In places where people are absent (in nature), magpie houses can be arranged even at a height of about 1.5 meters from the ground, and in city parks - at a height of at least 6 meters.
The nests of forty in shape and size are very large (up to 75 cm in diameter), so they are clearly visible.
Nest construction
How to build a magpie nest? The base of the nest (frame) they make of long and thick dry branches. Then, on such a rather massive foundation, they build a bowl made of earth or clay. Moreover, the latter is reinforced with thin branches of birch. Then, the inside of the tray is lined with thin branches of willow, birch and the roots of some plants, and something like a roof is constructed above the nest itself, representing a loose, rather randomly folded canopy of dry branches larger. The last structure significantly increases the size of the nest. With such a wonderful canopy from the rains there is no escape, but the masonry and chicks from different birds of prey can be perfectly protected.
Magpie nest (photo above) is a fairly reasonably constructed structure.
Habits, behavior patterns, reproduction
Magpies often chirp. This means that in the field of view of the bird came someone undesirable, it does not matter, a person or an animal. Moreover, they show such deep indignation at any meeting. They raise a particularly strong chirp if there are chicks in their nest. It should be noted that even many predators in the daytime avoid appearing on their eyes. The hunt will still fail.
This bird, basically, earned its nickname ("thief") in connection with its irresistible passion for the appropriation of various small objects without the knowledge of their owners. They are especially indifferent to glass or metal products.
This bird is very cautious in the neighborhood with a person, it will never let you be taken by surprise. In the forest, she warns her comrades and all the surrounding inhabitants with a cry of danger.
Despite caution, the magpie is quite easily tamed, and even differs in affection for its master and a peculiar mind. This bird can also learn to pronounce individual words.
It happens that magpies build several nests, and they occupy only one. Represents an almost spherical housing structure with a side entrance. 5–8 eggs are usually laid in April in the female magpie, and then they hatch for about 17–18 days, after which the chicks are fed.
Food
The basis of nutrition for forty in spring and summer is animal food (from the smallest insects to fish thrown ashore). They can even steal the smallest from a bucket from a gaping fisherman. In the winter, the magpie eats everything that is edible, does not even disdain the contents of the boxes intended for garbage.
Magpie is a useful bird that destroys numerous pests and small rodents in the fields. But she also has a negative quality that is harmful to humans: she often steals chicks and eggs on farms.
