Among the huge number of birds (more than 9800 species live on the planet Earth) there are many delightful ones that attract attention and delight and adore their unusual and surprisingly beautiful appearance. There are many such birds in the tropics of southern countries. But relatively rare and unusual specimens that attract attention also live in other parts of the Earth. About some of them and some information is presented in this article.
Yellow color is atypical for birds living in Russia and in the near abroad, as many predators live in these territories. Such a bright color unmasks the birds, especially in the snow. Therefore, many can identify and name not all birds with a yellow breast (or abdomen) that live in these places. A few species of birds of a similar color can be seen in the former CIS.
What are the birds with the yellow belly called? Where can they be found and what is their lifestyle? We will try to figure this out further.
Common oatmeal
This is a fairly small bird belonging to the oatmeal family. It is similar in size to a sparrow, but its tail is longer. The body length reaches up to 20 centimeters, the wingspan is up to 30 cm. In Russia, few people know this beautiful bird, since its habitat is Baikal and some parts of Siberia. It should be noted that ordinary oatmeal has not only a yellow breast, but also a head. And one of the subspecies - the yellow-necked oatmeal, which once lived in Primorye, also has a peculiar crest.
The real bird with a yellow abdomen is a male oatmeal. In the mating season, it is distinguished by feathers of golden yellow tones located on the head, belly, chest, cheeks and chin. On the chest there are numerous streaks of greyish-olive tint in the upper part and reddish-chestnut in the lower part. The back is grayish-chestnut with dark longitudinal streaks. The wings are brown. The beak is short but massive.
The female is generally similar to the male, however, her color is more dull. Yellow tones have a light greenish tint, and brown prevails instead of brown. All young birds are similar to females. Buntings fly in waves, making several jerks.
Features of oatmeal
This amazing bird sings like a nightingale. The number of trills can often reach up to 300 species in one hour. Oatmeal in its musicality overtakes almost all famous birds.
This bird feeds mainly on plant foods. Even in the summer, she does not pay any attention to insects. The diet consists of plantain seeds, oats, wheat, tree buds. And yet, oatmeal violates the rules of his "fast". This occurs only during the breeding season. For the female, better nutrition is needed at this time. She feeds on spiders, woodlice and small slugs.
This bird lives with a yellow abdomen in the wild, and therefore its life expectancy is about 3 years. There are cases when individual specimens living in captivity survived to 13 years.
Dubrovnik
Another oatmeal bird lives in Northern Europe and North Asia. Its weight is 25 g, length - up to 17 centimeters, wingspan - 24 cm.
In its unusually bright color plumage, Dubrovnik resembles tropical birds. In summer, the head of males is almost black, the chest and throat are yellow. The back is brown, the belly is very bright - yellow. On the chest there is a narrow "collar" of chocolate shade. Females have a brownish tint, with a yellow belly and dark streaks on the sides and back.
Typical habitats are river floodplains overgrown with shrubs, as well as meadows and forest edges with dense and tall forbs. For the winter, birds with a yellow abdomen fly off to Southeast Asia. Her song is like sonorous flute whistles.
Tit
This rather beautiful bird with a yellow abdomen can be found not only in Russia. It lives in Central Asia and in Europe.
The back of the tit is colored yellowish-green, the ventral part is yellow. A wide black band runs along the chest and abdomen. It should be noted that the birds of this species of Central Asia have some differences - their plumage has a more bluish-gray hue. The upper part of the head, throat, side of the neck and part of the goiter of Russian tits are shiny black, and the head on the sides is white. The wings are grayish-blue with a transverse light stripe. The tail is almost black with a bluish bloom. For their family, these yellow birds are large. In length, they reach up to 13 cm, and their weight is about 20 grams.
A tit is not a migratory bird. It remains at its habitat for the whole winter, and only in severe colds it moves closer to a person (it is easier to feed this way). For information: in Russia in ancient times there was a decree that subjected a considerable fine to anyone who attempted the life of this beautiful bird.
Interesting facts about the tit
There are many interesting facts related to this bird with a yellow abdomen (photo in the article).
- Tits often prey on small dwarf bat (bats) that are poorly thought out and quite inactive after hibernation. The bird kills them with its beak in the head, and then eats all the insides.
- A tit is a cunning bird. She herself does not make food supplies for the winter, but she skillfully finds them from other birds.
- The most fearless and curious after forty are the tits. They may well attack even a person if there is a danger to their offspring. And at the same time, you can calmly feed this bird with your hands.
- Parents share their responsibilities for feeding and raising chicks equally. These gray birds with yellow belly quite quickly raise their kids on the wing.
Habitat habitats and lifestyle
Tits love to live in deciduous forests, in thickets along the banks of ponds and rivers, in parks, gardens and groves.
This bird is considered settled, but partially roams. This usually happens in late November and early December. They return to their native lands in February and early March. In the warm period they feed on insects, in the winter - on the seeds and buds of trees. Adult tits look very good at their chicks. They bring food to them 31 times in one hour.
Yellow wagtail
This small bird with a yellow abdomen is the smallest representative of its kind. Its weight is approximately 17 g with a body length of about 16 cm.
The yellow wagtail (pliska) is a small slender bird belonging to the family of wagtails. It lives in the vast territories of Asia, Europe, Alaska and Africa. It stands out, like other types of wagtails, with a long tail, which sways from side to side all the time. A distinctive feature is the bright yellow plumage in the abdomen of adult birds (especially in males). Often it can be observed in a damp meadow or along the banks of water bodies. Usually she sits on the top of a tall grass stem, constantly balancing with her wide-spread tail.
The gray-green or gray-brown color of feathers on the back is characteristic of females and males, however, females are slightly duller. Light brown feathers are edged in the form of a strip of ocher color. The tail is dark brown, with steering feathers on the edges, painted white. There are horizontal stripes of white color above the eyes. The legs are almost black.
Wagtail lifestyle and nutrition
This small bird with a yellow abdomen lives in swamps with shrubs and in wet meadows, as well as in the lowlands of forests and river valleys. The yellow wagtail almost does not settle in the taiga, but lives along the banks of the taiga rivers. Their behavior is similar to the behavior of white wagtails, but unlike the latter, the yellow ones are not looking for food in the air, but on the ground, moving agilely and deftly along it. The diet includes small insects (flies, mosquitoes, butterflies, spiders, ants, bugs). In addition, this bird flies beautifully at low altitude.
Yellow Wagtail - migratory bird. Throughout the summer, she leads a nomadic lifestyle, and these movements begin immediately after the chicks begin to fly. Wagtails from this moment fly from place to place, and this continues until the period of departure for the winter. Birds migrate south (South and Central Africa), gathering in flocks. The flight altitude is 50 meters. Birds reach wintering sites by the beginning of November.
