Do you know a lot of birds with original names? We think not. For example, a tap dance bird. How many people saw her, or at least imagine the appearance of this feathered? We will try to tell you more about her.
Tap dance is a small bird whose size is only slightly larger than the chizh. But because of its long tail, it seems much larger. But if you see this wonderful creature, you are unlikely to evaluate its size, as all the splendor of appearance will catch your eye. The tap dance got its original name because of its amazing voice, which is very similar to the sound of heels at the dance of the same name.
Light and gentle tones prevail in its coloring. If we are talking about a male, then his crown is crowned with a bright carmine-red spot, his whole neck and back are slightly whitish, covered with unsharp “notches” of light gray color.
The tap dance is the owner of a wonderful pink tail nails. But the “crown of the program" is goiter and abdomen, painted in magnificent raspberry pink color.
Unfortunately, females are not so beautiful. However, this is a common occurrence among songbirds. You can describe its coloring in a few words: the whole body of the bird is light gray, covered with small stripes of raspberry or red. No wonder it is called the "fiery thorn."
The tap dance bird lives in the middle zone of North America and Eurasia. To the south they fly only at the time of nomadism in especially cold winters. So, in the Altai Territory they are rightly called the "messengers of winter", since the tap dance plays the role of our bullfinches there.
Most often, these birds can be found along glades, clearings and copses in the winter forest. In regions with forest-steppes per square kilometer you can find up to hundreds of individuals.
The breeding process begins when there is still solid snow everywhere. Unlike many songbirds, this species is very “social”: nests of several pairs can be located on the same bush. Moreover, this amazing species sometimes shares nesting sites with fieldbirds.
There are no bushes and trees in the tundra, and therefore nests are located among lingonberry bushes and other berry crops of the North. The egg container itself is solid. Birds for its construction use a lot of thin twigs, mosses and grass, as well as their own down and feathers. A tap dance bird (photo of which is in the article) lays no more than five small brown eggs in it. Only the female incubates them, and the male has the responsibility to provide her with food.
Chicks hatch in just a couple of weeks. They sit in the nest for the same amount of time. If the weather is too cold, then the female continues to stay with them, and the male has the responsibility of feeding the entire family.
Some couples after feeding the first brood sit on the second nesting, and often do it near the old place. Sometimes in the difficult matter of feeding new chicks, the previous litter helps.
But their most remarkable feature is the amazing fearlessness of these birds: you can actually come close to their nest, and if you visit it for several days, the tap dancing sometimes give themselves a stroke. No wonder they became incredibly popular pets in imperial times.
In a word, tap dance is not only a beautiful bird, but also extremely unusual in its behavior.
