The birds are screaming or singing. Night birds: names. Night birds of Russia. The sounds that birds make

03.11.2019

Instruction

This bird is popularly recognized as the most vociferous in the world. The trills of the nightingale stand out sonorously from the singing of other birds. These creatures are considered to be skillful feathered singers. Nightingales sing day and night. Their evening "concerts" are generally worthy of special praise! Often people take special walks in the evenings through parks, squares and even through the forest in order to enjoy the trills of these sweet-voiced "orpheus" to their heart's content. It is curious that not all nightingales are excellent performers of their trills. Among them there are both real masters of their craft, and very mediocre performers. This is because vocal prowess is not an innate trait of this bird species. Young birds acquire the talent of singers only when they are taught this by other birds.

lark

Larks sing beautifully, but a little strange. The fact is that it is almost impossible to hear a lark sitting on a tree. Their singing is necessarily accompanied by flight: the bird flies up and begins to sing. The higher the lark flies, the louder its singing. When the bird descends, its singing is abrupt. Already at 20 meters from the ground, the lark is completely silent. If the bird takes to the sky again, then the singing begins anew. It's funny that only male larks possess vocal skills. Females at this time just sit on the ground and listen to their gentlemen. Already in the second half of summer, the lark is not heard or seen.

These birds are unique singers. Why unique? The fact is that starlings have a fairly wide range of sounds that allow them to imitate: these birds can copy cat meowing, frogs croaking, glass rattling, typewriter sound and other noises. Starlings are real thoroughbreds. It costs them nothing to copy the singing of this or that bird. For example, upon returning to their homeland after wintering, starlings arrange a whole “potpourri” of melodies borrowed from South African birds, and starlings living in Central Asia and Kazakhstan easily imitate the bleating of old sheep, the barking of dogs, the clicking of a whip.

These birds are also called "forest flutes". It is believed that the oriole is not only one of the most beautiful birds in the world, but also the best songbird of the Russian forests after the nightingale. The trills of the oriole are like skillful flute playing. It is almost impossible to see this "singer" - she almost never shows up in dense foliage, hiding from prying eyes. Such a humble bird! It's funny that sometimes the sounds of the sweet-voiced oriole turn into some kind of wild cat screams. This is quite normal: the unpleasant cries emitted by these birds are a battle cry warning their relatives of danger.

Bird singing is one of the most pleasant sounds for humans. Our planet would look strange and uncomfortable if all these trills, whistling, chirping suddenly stopped overnight. And what birds are considered good songbirds among a great variety of birds?

The beautiful singing of birds gives a person a real aesthetic pleasure. It is no coincidence that a good singer can still be respectfully called the Kursk Nightingale. Almost all birds can make sounds. This is due to the vibration of the membranes located at the junction of the trachea and bronchi. However, such sounds are not always beautiful and melodic. For example, a hoarse croak is unlikely to appeal to any person. And the shrill, unpleasant cries of peacocks are simply a striking contrast compared to their wonderful appearance. Just like in the cartoon about Baron Munchausen, who decided to get this "miracle bird, which, judging by the plumage, should sing great." Therefore, birds that are capable of making melodic sounds that are pleasant to the human ear are also “singing”. Most of the songbirds are in the order "Sparrow-like". This is the most, numbering about 5400 species. The birds included in it are small and medium in size, and are divided into two large groups: insectivorous and. Granivorous songbirds include, for example, siskin, goldfinch, canary, crossbill. Their singing is not as varied as that of insectivores. It is sharper, even rougher. Such birds, as a rule, easily get used to captivity and quickly begin to eat there. Insectivorous songbirds - nightingale, starling, robin, warbler, bluethroat, thrush, warbler, oriole and others. Their singing is much more varied and melodic. They are more difficult to get used to captivity and do not immediately begin to eat ready-made food. Among these birds there are excellent imitators. First of all, this applies to starlings, which are able to reproduce the sounds of other birds with exceptionally high accuracy, even such large ones as a crane, for example. Budgerigars (especially males) do not formally belong to songbirds, but they also sing often and quite well. As a rule, this indicates a good mood of the bird or that it wants to communicate with the owner. In wildlife, birds sing most actively during the period of nesting and incubation of eggs. When the chicks hatch, singing becomes much less frequent, and after the chicks leave the parental nest, in many cases it stops altogether. True, some sedentary birds sing year-round. In some cases, a bird (for example, a red warbler) can simultaneously play two melodies.

Page 2 of 2

Birdsong

In birds, sounds originate in the throat, in much the same way as in humans. But their vocal apparatus (syrinx) is located in the lower part of the trachea (lower larynx), while in humans it is in the upper (upper larynx). In such low-voiced birds as the American crane and the trumpeter swan, the trachea is very long - 90-120 cm. The European white stork has no voice at all, since it does not have a vocal apparatus.

Most birds sing in the mornings or evenings, and are silent during the day. Nightjar calls at dusk, mockingbirds and nightingales sing at night. To the trained human ear, the singing of each bird species is as specific as its appearance. Bird watchers are able to recognize by sound some types of flycatchers that are visually indistinguishable.

In almost all bird species, males sing more expressively than females. Singing, the male claims his rights to a certain territory, for which he sometimes repeats the song thousands of times a day, jumping from branch to branch across his possessions. Singing reaches its peak just before the breeding season, and when it ends, most birds stop singing.

For a person, singing serves as a means of communication only in artificial situations, such as a musical or opera, but in birds it does not serve for “everyday” communication. For example, when birds quarrel, call chicks, ask for food, they communicate primarily with the help of calling signals. These signals help them not to fight off the pack. Sound communication - be it singing or calling - is especially important in the forest, where it is often easier to hear than to see.

Why don't birds fall off branches when they sleep?

Songbirds are usually small, but not all of them are miniature. And not every songbird makes beautiful sounds. However, these four-odd thousand species, no doubt, have a common ability - the ability to sit on a perch. The toes are adapted for a tight grip - be it a twig, a reed, or telephone wires.

According to the method of capturing branches with their paws, songbirds are perched. The secret to perching is in the position of the fingers. Songbirds have four fingers, three of them look forward, and one, the strongest, looks back. When a bird lands on a branch, the rear finger grabs it from below, and the tendons automatically tighten all the fingers into a strong lock, so that it is impossible to fall.

Songbirds can grab their paws not only for a branch, but also for other objects. Swallows, which have small and weak legs, prefer electric wires. The meadow troupial sings, sitting on the fence. A swamp short-billed wren balances on a swaying reed. Ground-walking birds, such as the wagtail and horned lark, have longer fingers and straighter claws. Birds that climb tree bark, such as nuthatches and the American pika, have strong and curved claws. The dipper's tenacious paws allow it to walk underwater on slippery rocks.

In the 16th century, the ancestors of indoor canaries were brought to Europe from the Canary Islands. Wild birds did not look much like today's pets. They had a greenish back with darker stripes and a yellowish-green abdomen. Through painstaking artificial selection, a wide variety of shapes and colors have been obtained, including the familiar bright yellow, "canary", as well as bizarre breeds with tufts and collars.

As pet birds, various small finches from Africa, Asia and Australia compete with canaries, distinguished by a striking variety of plumage. For example, the zebra finches have a dark outfit. Spectacled finches, astrilds and wax-billed weavers sport bright red feathers, while the Gouldian finches combine all the primary colors. These birds are never fully tamed, and their joyful iridescent songs are rarely heard, but they do not hold cheerfulness. In captivity, canaries do not feel well alone, but if they live in a “company” cage, they breed well.

Few know which birds chirp. But everyone is pleased, going into a park or garden, to hear the trills of birds, the sonorous chirping of small birds. Especially in spring, when they begin active work on arranging their nests, breeding chicks. Without their polyphony, nature would have plunged into dead silence, become numb.

Forests, meadows and parks enliven with their unforgettable. But each bird speaks in its own way. These sounds are diverse and unique. Further, we will learn in detail how the birds "talk" among themselves: who crackles, rings, and who hums.

The sounds that birds make

Each bird makes a sound. Ornithologists divide all bird vocals into long songs (trills) and short beeps. So what sounds do birds make? Nightingale, thrush - flood, whistle, click. Oriole singing consists of the sounds "fiu-liu-li" or "gi-gi-gi-gi". The starling imitates many sounds. The lark is ringing. The cuckoo was named after her cry - "cuckoo". With this sound, the male attracts the female during the mating season. They say: "The cuckoo cuckoos." But where did the yellow-bellied titmouse get its name from?

After all, she does not have blue plumage. The people noticed that the titmouse, especially in spring, pronounces “zin-zin”. In the people, it is also called Zinka, Zinziver. It is known that the swallow - chirps, the rook - shouts "gra", the sparrow - chirps, the crow - croaks, the magpie - cracks, the dove - cooes, the woodpecker - knocks, the owl - hoots. From poultry: duck - quacks, goose - cackle, rooster - crows. Below we learn about who coots from birds.

Designation

Before answering the question of which birds cooing, let's look into Dahl's explanatory dictionary and find out what the word "cooing" means. The dictionary explains to us its meaning as "to make characteristic sounds, reminiscent of" kurly-kurly ". The cries of turkeys are called cooing. But sometimes they say that the turkey kuldikatsya.

In common parlance, sometimes domestic turkeys are called kuldyks. On the head of the turkey there is a small process that, when air is blown out, vibrates and makes a low but loud sound. In letters, it looks like this: "kh-ul-dykh."

Cranes

Turkeys aren't the only birds that coo. Cranes cry the same way. Returning to Dahl, another interpretation of the word "coo" is: "shout like a crane." With its loud trumpet cry, this bird stands out among other polyphony of birds.

The crane in many peoples of the world symbolizes holiness and spirituality. The ancient Egyptians considered him a bird of the sun, close to the gods and the sky. In the Caucasus, it was believed that after the death of the souls of soldiers who fell in battle, they move into cranes. It was considered a great sin to kill this bird. V was very often depicted on art canvases, and poets composed their haiku about him. And also in this country there is a tradition to give the newlyweds (during the wedding ceremony) paper origami "cranes" as a symbol of longevity, health, faith and peace.

Tall, thin-legged, graceful in its own way, this wading bird has always been a source of inspiration for writers, poets and artists. For example, Paustovsky compared crane cries with the sonorous pouring of water in a glass vessel.

Signs associated with cranes

So, you already know which birds are cooing. Cranes in Russia have always been revered. They were considered mystical birds, and many signs were associated with their appearance:

In the old days, it was believed that a crane wedge flying away in autumn takes the souls of the dead with it to the afterlife.
In the spring, on the contrary, he brings the souls of unborn babies. A particularly joyful event was to meet a crane wedge in the spring. Hearing the ringing cooing in the sky, the peasants ran out into the street and turned to the birds with prayers for health and well-being. Cranes were often mentioned in ritual spring songs and incantations.
It was believed that the one who sees a pair of cranes for the first time in the spring will get married or get married this year. And whoever meets the whole flock as a whole will soon be replenished in the family.
A crane wedge in the sky is a harbinger of a thaw. “It became warm, so the zhurka flew in, and he says: I brought it!”.
If the cranes fly to the Nut Spas, then there will be frost on Pokrov; if not, then winter - later.
If the cranes fly off to the southern countries one by one, then there will be a crop failure, and if in a flock, then one should expect a rich harvest.

Without birds, the world would not be so bright and original. A huge number of birds live on our planet, and how numerous they are, they are just as diverse. And how they sing - any singer can envy the flooding bird trills! How often, sitting on an open veranda in summer, we listened with pleasure to the sounds of a summer night filled with bird voices. And for some reason, it is at night that bird voices especially touch the heart. And it happens that the nightingale trill is replaced by the alarming hoot of an owl or the frightening cry of an owl - the soul from such sounds "goes to the heels."

night birds of prey

Among birds, as well as among mammals, there are predators. And as among all predators, there are those who lead a daytime lifestyle and who prefer to hunt at night. Night birds attract people with their mystery, because during the day you can’t meet them, but at night ... Few of us dare to go for a walk in the night forest or park. Therefore, these feathered nocturnal predators are overgrown with legends - birds hiding from daylight. Eighteen species of nocturnal birds live on the territory of Russia, the most common of them are: gray owl, barn owl, owl, eagle owl, white or polar owl.

Tawny Owl

This bird belongs to the genus Owl. And it should be noted that this species is very numerous: the gray owl, the bearded owl, and others. This is the most common in our country. If you happened to meet an owl in the forest, then most likely it was an owl. This nocturnal predator is small (smaller than a crow) and has an inconspicuous gray color. The gray plumage is, as it were, crossed out with black strokes, there are white spots on the shoulders. The Tawny Owl can also be recognized by its voice: the female emits a deep bass trill, and the male calls the female with a drawn-out “hoo-hoo-hoo” or piercingly calls out “ki-wee”. These nocturnal birds live in deciduous forests and old city parks. The gray owl hunts for small birds and rodents, it is not averse to feasting on large insects. All tawny owls are exclusively nocturnal predators - birds catch prey only at night, it is almost impossible to meet it hunting during the day.

barn owl

This bird belongs to the barn owl family, the barn owl family. These birds settled throughout Russia, with the exception of the Far North. The fact is that this bird does not accumulate subcutaneous fat at all, and therefore prefers not to settle in areas with a harsh Arctic climate. The barn owl is a small bird, about the size of a jackdaw. Body size - thirty-five to thirty-eight centimeters. The barn owl has a very slender body and plumage is soft and fluffy. Barn owls differ in color from each other - it all depends on the habitat. As a rule, the upper part of the body is reddish-red, and the lower part is either white or yellow. Barn owls, like all nocturnal birds, feed on small rodents and birds. During the day, these birds sleep. For an overnight stay, natural niches are chosen: hollows and crevices in trees, they can settle in attics and in old bird nests.

Owl

This bird is very modest in size. The length of the body is not more than twenty centimeters. But despite being a very good hunter, he can catch prey a little smaller than himself. The color of the plumage is dark brown with white spots, on the legs there are white feathers. This bird is distributed throughout our country. The owl is a nocturnal bird, but it can also be found during the day. The bird sees well not only at night and will never let a person near it. If you frighten off a feathered bird from its familiar place, then it will fly low above the ground. It must be said that the owl, although it belongs to nocturnal predators, can arrange hunting in the evening twilight and even during the day. Prefers mice, small insectivores, reptiles and birds. At night, the owl can be recognized by the characteristic cry “ku-vit, ku-vit”. This bird nests in crevices, hollows of trees, rotten stumps, in the attics of houses and even in haystacks. A couple of owls create for life.

Owl

The eagle owl is a fairly large owl, the genus owl, which settled throughout Europe, is found in Asia and Africa. Prefers hard-to-reach dense forests, steppes, where it is possible to hide from prying eyes. The length of the owl reaches seventy-five centimeters. It weighs between two and four kilograms. The upper part of the body is painted with dark spots, the lower part is the color of light ocher. Feathers stick out above the bird's eyes, which many mistake for ears. Paws are feathered to the very claws. The plumage is very soft and loose, thanks to which the flight of the eagle owl is almost silent. This bird is an excellent hunter - not a single mouse will hide from a keen eye even at night. And sharp claws and a strong beak will not miss the prey. Eagle owls lead and, even when hunting, do not fly far from their homes. These birds are solitary, and only during the mating season are paired.

snowy owl

This bird is the largest of the order of owls living in the tundra. Females are larger than males. The size of the body in length reaches seventy and sixty-five centimeters, respectively, and the weight is from two and a half to three kilograms. Plumage color - white with dark speckles. This coloring makes it possible to merge with the environment in winter. The polar or snowy owl is a very good hunter. The main diet of her diet is lemmings. In a year, an owl eats more than one thousand six hundred lemmings. It also catches hares, ermines, pikas and other small animals. This bird has a very interesting hunting tactic: it lies in wait for prey, sitting on the ground, and as soon as a careless animal approaches, it rushes at it with lightning speed.

Which birds sing can be heard on summer nights in the suburbs?

But night birds are interesting not only for their hunting habits - singing birds are also of interest. After all, more than once, having heard the wonderful trills of a night bird, we were eager to find out who this night singer was. This is especially true for residents of megacities, where the hum of cars drowns out the voices of nature. Singing nocturnal are, as a rule, nightingales and garden warblers. The trill of the nightingale must have been heard by everyone. But few people can boast of having met this midnight singer in the wild. This bird has a completely inconspicuous gray plumage, and even if you meet him in a garden or forest, you will hardly guess that this is the same midnight artist who did not let you sleep with his exciting trills. The warbler's singing is less bright - this bird adopts the sounds of other birds to a greater extent. The characteristic sound for her is the chirping "check-check". She lives in floodplains, along the banks of reservoirs and in gardens.

Conclusion

The world of birds is diverse and amazing. Without them, our planet would not be so delightful: night and day birds are its real decoration, so take care of them.

Nature gave people a sweet-voiced singer - a song thrush. In the spring forest, his song is the loudest and consists of thick low sounds. The thrush sings from dawn until evening. The song thrush is not visible in the branches during the song due to its modest plumage.

How different birds sing - the thrush sings the loudest!

Its cousin, the blackbird, has elegant black plumage, but sings more simply. The rare stone thrush, listed in the Red Book, also nests in the Caucasus. And there is also a thrush - fieldfare, redbrown, white-throated and mistletoe - it turns out in the thrush family there is a whole choir of magnificent singers!

What bird can sing in flight?

At the beginning of spring, larks return to us from hot countries. There are also many relatives in the lark family - field, crested, horned, forest lark and all of them,. They settle in the fields, in the steppes and forest belts, and their own in the grass.

How different birds sing - the lark sings in flight!

The lark sings unlike other songbirds in flight, rising high into the sky. His sonorous voice-bell rings for an inconspicuous girlfriend. With the onset of summer, tiny larks appear, and busy parents collect many insects to feed them. Now they are not up to the songs!

How the birds sing orioles?

How different birds sing - oriole.

In summer, in the dense crown of trees, you can suddenly hear gentle, like the sound of a flute, whistling - "fiu-fiu", and sometimes a sharp nasal sound, like a meow. So the male oriole sings his mating song at the nest. It is like a basket - a hammock, suspended high on the forks of branches. When oriole sings it is very difficult to see it in the foliage of trees. You can only notice the Oriole when it flies from branch to branch.

Oriole coloring.

The male oriole has a bright golden yellow plumage, on which black wings stand out, and a red beak, but the female and young birds are distinguished by a greenish color on the upper side of the body. Orioles feed their babies with insect larvae and caterpillars, and the grown chicks are treated with berries. Adult Orioles can eat hairy caterpillars covered in poisonous pollen.

How does the titmouse bird, whose nest is like a mitten, sing?

As different birds sing, the titmouse is a remez.

Titmouse - remez weaves a warm nest of blades of grass and vegetable fluff, intertwined with cobwebs and thin fibers. Remez hangs it on a thin willow branch above the water so that predators do not get it. Hiding in the leaves Remez sings subtly, sings his song - "tsii-tsii". If the female likes the nest, she herself will complete the side entrance in the form of a short tube.

In a warm mitten, a tiny titmouse will breed offspring, and a male titmouse will build a simpler bachelor's nest for himself, without an extension. The nest is woven so firmly and reliably that sometimes it hangs on a branch for several years without being destroyed by rains, winds and snowfalls.