Common crows are among the smallest species of owls that inhabit European territory. They can be kept in captivity, easily tamed, just bred at home, so they have gained popularity among bird lovers.
Biological description
Ordinary cinquefoil or dawn (Latin Otus scops) belongs to the order Owls, lives in the steppe and semi-steppe territories of southern Europe.
The bird is an insectivore, its main prey is large beetles, butterflies and orthopterans, it attacks vertebrate mammals only as a last resort. Life expectancy is up to 6 years.
The body size is usually up to 21 cm with a weight of 60-130 g, the wingspan can reach up to 50 cm. The plumage is gray-brown in color, there are white spots on the shoulders, dark streaks and a streaky pattern with color splashes are visible throughout the body, reminiscent of woody color bark. In nature, there are 2 color species: red and gray.
On the head are ears in the form of 2 tufts of feathers, similar to jewelry, eyes are round with a yellow or orange iris, the beak is dark. Due to its color and size, it is difficult to find a bird in the forest until it gives a voice.
She got her name for the sad characteristic cry “sleep-plus” or “sleep-u-y” with whistles, which is heard every 2-3 seconds. It has several subspecies that live in various regions of Europe, Asia, the Caucasus and the Balearic Islands.
Lifestyle & Habitat
Like all owls, splyushka leads a nocturnal lifestyle. Its nests can be found in many regions of southern Europe, Siberia (from the southern part to Lake Baikal), in Asia to the foothills, North Africa and the Middle East.
He loves deciduous trees, settles in gardens, parks, in light forests with pine plantations, prefers olive groves in the Mediterranean, and often settles down closer to human habitation. In mountainous areas nests up to an altitude of 3 km above sea level.
The scoop is a migratory bird: for the winter it migrates to the tropical forests of Africa, located south of the Sahara.
Common sputus flies to Russia in April and settles before the end of August-September. In the daytime it hides in tree branches, and in case of any danger it raises its ears and stretches into a column, merging with the surrounding tree bark.
Breeding
The breeding season begins immediately after returning from wintering, and for southern species - already in February. Nesting scoop occurs in May-July, and in some regions later. Before mating, the male begins to call the female, after her answer, they settle in the selected nest and live as a couple, chicks are removed once a year.
He chooses hollows, crevices in rock formations as nests, sometimes occupies abandoned houses of magpies or other birds of prey, burrows of kingfishers and bees. Couples, as a rule, live on a certain territory for many years in a row and nests arrange permanent.
An ordinary scoop (splyushka) lays 2-6 eggs of white color every 2 days, about 3 cm in size, weighing up to 15 g. The incubation period is 25 days, feeding the chicks is up to a month. The female hatches eggs, and both parents are engaged in feeding alternately. Chicks in the nest are often of different ages.
Little chicks are covered in white down. A few days later, young people who have a stripe-colored light gray color other than adults and leftover fluff on their backs leave the nest and learn to fly. A mesoptile is formed at the mating by the age of 45 days, after partial molting it rests on an adult characteristic “outfit”.
Adult birds are ready for breeding at the age of 10 months.
African look
The common African splyuska (lat. Otus senegalensis) is closely related to the Ussuri scoops, but it is brighter in color: there are longitudinal motley feathers with a relief pattern on the abdomen. The plumage of these birds is intended to mask during the hunt so that they merge with the background in the form of a tree bark.
The size of an African scoop can reach 24 cm. It got its name because of living in the African savannah on sparsely growing trees and thorny shrubs, in a wooded area with grass, in a selva, etc.
Habitat: African continent south of the Sahara Desert and further most of the southern regions of the continent.
The diet of African splyushka contains more small mammals compared to other species: rodents or small birds. During hunting at dusk or at night, they rush from the perch and fall sharply down, insects are caught in the open.
The nesting season falls at the end of summer - the beginning of autumn, and in the southern regions - until February. Most often, females use already built housing or hollow in trees.
Singing and voices
The most common song of the ordinary splyuska is a loud long yell reminding the word "sleep", for which the bird got its Russian name.
The male during the breeding season calls the female with a monotonous draft mating cry, which several birds can simultaneously call each other at once. Sometimes splyushki emit a "cat" cry, and in southern Africa they are capable of reproducing sounds similar to stuttering muttering, less often - songs resembling the sound of a flute at high frequencies "fyu-yu-yu."
In the midst of “courtship, ” the couple sings a duet in a consistent manner, only in females the voice sounds a little duller. When the weather is warm and cloudy, screams can be heard in the daytime.
Captivity
Scoop is very calm about a person and can become a tame pet. The content of ordinary spitus at home is quite simple and interesting, because they easily adapt to life in captivity.
Usually they are kept alone, sometimes a couple is housed in a large cage, where there is a hollow or a house. The optimal living size is about 1 cubic meter. m, convenient branches are essential, because in the afternoon the birds sit motionless in a quiet corner, and in the evening they begin to feed and lead an active lifestyle.
It is difficult to distinguish the gender of the bird due to the same appearance, but the females are slightly larger. It is easiest to tame birds raised from chicks and fed by humans. They can sit on the hand, finger, take food from the owner.
A diet of captive in captivity: locusts, various types of cockroaches, larvae, flour and earthworms, etc. You can give finely chopped meat, sprinkled with ant eggs. Occasionally, chicken hearts or stomachs are added to food, but only fresh food should be given. With food poisoning, the scoop can not be saved. In the summer, green parts of dandelions and fruits are added for a change. Necessarily the presence in the cell of clean water.
From mid-January to the end of summer, a molting period takes place, during which the diet must be carefully selected.
Reproduction in captivity is successful, usually females lay 4 eggs, hatch them and with confidence relate to the host during this period.
