Pied flycatcher migratory birds or not. Flycatcher. Nest of gray flycatcher

25.08.2020

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See what the "pied flycatcher" is in other dictionaries:

Pied flycatcher- Ficedula hypoleuca see also 18.19.2. Genus Pied flycatcher Ficedula Pied flycatcher Ficedula hypoleuca Male is black above with white stripes on forehead and wing, white below. In the female, the black color is replaced by a grayish brown. Nests in light ... ... Birds of Russia. Directory

Exist., number of synonyms: 2 flycatcher (12) bird (723) ASIS synonym dictionary. V.N. Trishin. 2013 ... Synonym dictionary

Pied flycatcher, Pied flycatcher… Spelling Dictionary

pied flycatcher- margasparnė musinukė statusas T sritis zoologija | vardynas atitikmenys: lot. Ficedula hypoleuca English. European pied flycatcher vok. Trauerschnapper, m rus. pied flycatcher, f pranc. gobemouche noir, m ryšiai: platesnis terminas – margosios… … Paukščių pavadinimų žodynas

white collared flycatcher- Ficedula albicollis see also 18.19.2. Genus Variegated flycatchers Ficedula White-collared flycatcher Ficedula albicollis Very similar to the pied flycatcher, but on the sides of the neck there are white stripes, sometimes connecting at the back of the head, the upper tail is light, females ... ... Birds of Russia. Directory

Exist., number of synonyms: 12 gzhigolka (6) caterpillar (5) flycatchers (2) ... Synonym dictionary

- (Muscicapa) a genus of songbirds from the flycatcher family (Muscicapidae). Signs of the family: the edges of the beak are even, the upper half is bent at the end; nostrils more or less covered with bristles; a short metatarsus (tarsus) on the back side is covered with two ... ...

See flycatcher... Encyclopedic Dictionary F.A. Brockhaus and I.A. Efron

paradise flycatcher- Terpsiphone paradisi see also 18.19.4. Genus Paradise flycatchers Terpsiphone Paradise flycatchers Terpsiphone paradisi Head with a green tint, reddish upperparts, greyish white belly. Some males are white with a black head. Nests in Primorye and ... ... Birds of Russia. Directory

A small inconspicuous bird lives in our forests. However, despite the dim appearance, the bird is distinguished by the ability to sing wonderfully. The name of this feathered bird is Ficedula hypoleuca, which in Latin means pied flycatcher.

Scientists attribute this bird to the order of passeriformes. The family, which includes the pied flycatcher, is called the flycatcher, the genus is the variegated flycatcher. Let's take a closer look at this wonderful bird, find out how it lives and what it eats. But first, a description of the appearance of the pied flycatcher.

Appearance of a bird

The body size of the pied flycatcher reaches about 13 centimeters in length. When the bird spreads its wings, their wingspan is 22 - 24 centimeters. The pied flycatcher weighs approximately 19 - 20 grams.

Females and males differ in plumage color. Males have a black back, their wings are also black and decorated with white stripes. The ventral part of males is white. The females are not as contrasting in color. From above, their feathers are painted in a gray-brown shade, the abdominal part is off-white. There is an ocher patch on the chest.

The eyes, paws and beak of the pied flycatcher are painted in dark colors. It is worth noting that in all young individuals the plumage has the same color as in females, and only with adulthood do males change their color.

Where does the pied flycatcher live?

Populations of these songbirds live on the territory of Europe and a significant part of Asia - up to the regions of Western Siberia. In our country, these birds are habitual inhabitants, their singing can often be heard walking along a forest path.

Lifestyle and behavior of the pied flycatcher in nature

With the onset of spring, pied flycatchers arrive after wintering in warm regions. These birds settle in forests of various types: mixed, deciduous, coniferous. The most important thing for them is that there are hollows in the trees, and voids in the stumps, because it is these natural depressions that the pied flycatcher uses to build a nest. In addition to forests, these songbirds can be found in parks and squares located within the boundaries of the settlement, as well as in olive groves and orchards.

The hollow is a favorite place for the nest of the pied flycatcher.

The pied flycatcher builds its nest at a height of 15 centimeters to four meters from the ground.

Listen to the voice of the pied flycatcher

Pied flycatcher is a very dexterous bird, it jumps along the branches with great speed. This bird is very active, it practically does not sit still and is able to spend the whole day in motion. And how does she get tired?

However, there is a force that can freeze these nimble birds in place and make them sad - this is cloudy weather. When it is gloomy and there is no sun outside, the pied flycatcher sits quietly on a branch and hardly moves.

What does the little songbird flycatcher eat?

The main food for these birds are considered. Pied flycatcher eats sawfly larvae, ladybug larvae, flies, caterpillars, cicadas.

In addition, this bird feeds on the fruits of fruit and berry plants.

Breeding offspring of the pied flycatcher

Arriving from warm lands, the birds begin to build a nest. Usually, this process takes 3 to 10 days. Typically, eggs are laid in May. One female is able to lay about 5 - 8 pieces. Hatching of eggs lasts approximately two weeks. All this time, the “father of the family” carefully takes care of the female, bringing her food directly to the nest.

Growing annuals in the garden has at least two advantages over growing perennials. First, most popular annuals bloom profusely throughout their growing season. Secondly, many letniki are freely sown and appear in the garden year after year with minimal participation from the grower. Which letniki can be planted only once, and then, following simple tricks, meet them in the garden every season?

You can cook jelly and meat salad with onions from pork knuckle. The knuckle, especially the back knuckle, is a very tasty and affordable part of the pork carcass, which you can feed a small company. From a 2-kilogram shank you get a bowl of meat salad and a large plate of jellied meat. There will still be meat broth, on which I advise you to cook cabbage soup or borscht. For this dish, we take the back knuckle weighing from 1.7 to 2 kilograms, I advise you to beg the meatiest one from the butcher.

Eggplants require sunny but short days, medium-warm temperatures without sweltering heat, sufficient moisture, but without flooding the root system. It is quite difficult to provide such conditions in the open ground of most regions of Russia. Therefore, earlier eggplants were grown only in protected ground conditions. With the development of selection, it became possible to grow eggplants in open ground not only in the southern regions, but also in the middle lane.

Among predator plants, sundew rightly claims to be the brightest and most expressive beauty. This plant attracts, first of all, with unusual textures and a play of colors. But the nutritional mechanism of this marsh and quite hardy miracle is so exotic that it is very easy to forget about sundews as plants, primarily ornamental ones. Sundews are quite demanding on humidity, but they are not so difficult to grow in ordinary living quarters.

A chocolate cake with custard made from simple and affordable ingredients turns out to be so tasty that rarely anyone is limited to one piece. Biscuit cakes are moist, it seems that they are made of real dark chocolate, although the recipe contains only cocoa powder. Creamy custard is delicate and light, goes well with chocolate biscuit. All this splendor of flavors is complemented by coconut flakes, the ingredient is simple, but in this recipe, like a cherry on a cake, it comes in handy.

Although the calendar spring begins in March, it is very difficult to call this month spring. But May is already a real long-awaited spring, filled with aromas and multicolors of awakened nature. Fresh young leaves on trees and shrubs attract the eye yearning for greenery during the long months of winter. In May, the parade of primroses continues in the garden, ornamental shrubs, perennials delight with variegated foliage and flowering, conifers are renewed.

In the middle lane, the formation of grapes suggests the possibility of shelter for the winter period, which means that the guideline should be to maintain the head of the bush at soil level. Even further north, one cannot count on a large harvest, but such areas also have their own pruning principles. The article considers a sleeve-fan scheme for the formation of a grape bush, often used in the middle lane, and a cordon scheme, which has shown itself well in regions with a more severe climate.

Beef with eggplant with vegetable sauce in the oven is a simple, very tasty and not very high-calorie dish, which is quite important in our time. Sauce only from vegetables, no flour, sugar, milk or cream. Meat without fat, and, nevertheless, it turns out juicy and tender. Can be replaced with chicken fillet or veal. Eggplants do not need to be fried first, just a little salt to make them soft. I advise you to prepare a light yogurt sauce for the finished dish.

Houseplants are much more dependent on top dressing than garden plants. Thanks to top dressing, they get everything they need for growth and flowering. The substrate is depleted several months after transplantation. And if nutrients are not replenished, plants quickly begin to show signs of macro- and micronutrient deficiencies. The leaves are the first and most obvious signal of it. About the deficiency or excess of what elements will the leaves of indoor plants “tell”?

Duck with oranges in French - exquisite, juicy, with golden skin. Such a baked duck will decorate any holiday table, and it is prepared simply, although, compared to traditional fried chicken, it takes a little longer. To speed up the process, to keep the secreted juices, use a sleeve or a baking bag of the right size, remember that not every bag can fit a large duck! We serve the duck on the table with the sauce and filling that remained after baking.

Purslane is a well-known, widespread weed throughout the world, which has a number of qualities for which all gardeners unanimously hate it. One of them is indestructibility. Purslane is so viable that even one seed can be the beginning of the capture of the site by this weed. To remove purslane from the garden and orchard, patience, knowledge and clarity in the implementation of measures to destroy it are required. In this article, we will consider methods for dealing with purslane on the site.

The first half of spring is stingy with flowering plants. Yes, primroses are already pleasing, but there is a very special plant that is impossible not to be touched. This is a perennial evergreen groundcover of obriet. I think those who saw low pillows, or, as they say, curtains of this plant during flowering, probably wanted to have it in their garden. And I hasten to please you, obrieta is a very unpretentious and easy-to-care plant. Although, there are some features.

Delicious cabbage soup with lamb, sweet peppers, tomatoes, potatoes and, of course, with cabbage! It takes quite a lot of time to prepare this dish, but this does not mean that you have to stomp in the kitchen all day. Prepare vegetables and meat - wash, chop, arrange in bowls. Then sauté vegetables, add lamb. When the soup boils, you can go about your business for about 1.5 hours, then add potatoes and cabbage and bring to readiness for another half hour.

If you have an apple tree growing in your garden, naturally you want to get as many tasty fruits from it as possible. Often, novice gardeners believe that the more magnificent the tree, the greater the harvest will please. But it's not. In order for an apple tree to give a rich, high-quality harvest, so that the fruits turn out to be large and juicy, each of its branches must receive enough light and air. With a decrease in the amount of light on the branches up to 30 percent, fruit buds do not form on the trees.

Ferns are one of the rapidly growing categories of houseplants. Their luxurious leaves with unique ornaments and soothing mysterious shades of green look so elegant that it’s hard to resist the beauty of ferns, even if they don’t have suitable place. Along with unpretentious ferns, rare and original species are becoming more common. And among them is a bizarre epiphyte polypodium with unusual leaves and colors.

Bigos in Belarusian is a hot dish of sauerkraut and meat, which is prepared in many countries: Germany, Poland, Lithuania, Ukraine and Belarus. Each country has its own cooking characteristics, but the basics are about the same everywhere - a mixture of sauerkraut and fresh white cabbage, pork belly and smoked meats. Bigos is cooked for a long time, but the result is worth it. You can easily get rid of the not very pleasant aroma of stewed sauerkraut by following my recommendations.

The pied flycatcher in nature can only be mixed with the barnacle, however, their ranges coincide only in some forest-steppe regions. The color of the male is black and white, “magpie”, in the middle lane it is characteristic only of pied among all forest birds, smaller than a sparrow. Thus, the bird can be immediately and easily recognized. In females and young males, all tones are less bright. The color of the top of the bird is brownish, almost gray, the bottom is not white, but whitish. Frequent and rapid shaking of wings is very characteristic of flycatchers. The bird, as it were, tries to take off, quickly spreads its wings a little and immediately folds them again. At the same time, she moves her tail up and down and leans forward somewhat. Especially often flycatchers repeat this movement when they are disturbed.

English name: European Pied Flycatcher
German name: Trauerschnapper
Spanish title: Papamoscas Cerrojillo
Italian name: Balia nera
Estonian name: Metstikk, Must-karbsenäpp
Azerbaijani name: Ala milçəkqapan
Armenian name: Խայտաբղետ Ճանճորս .

French title: Gobemouche noir
Ukrainian name: Strokat flycatcher
Belarusian name: Pyarestaya valasyanitsa
Kazakh name: Teњbіl shybynshy
Lithuanian name: Margasparnė margoji musinukė, Margasparne musinuke, Margasparnė musinukė
Georgian name: ჭრელი მემატლია
Latvian name: Melnais mušķerājs.

Other names: birch, birch warbler, pied, chemise, black-headed flycatcher, black-headed, motley nest, teplyanka, small nest, motley flycatcher.

Taxonomic Serial Number (TSN): | Encyclopedia of Life (EOL): | Bird Life International (BLI):
National Center for Biotechnological Information (NCBI): | Global Biodiversity Information Facility (GBIF):
conservation status (IUCN): (Least Concern) Least Concern (LC) .

LIST OF SUB-SPECIES OF THE VIEW Muscicapa hypoleuca (Pallas, 1764)
According to IOC World Bird Names checklist, version 7.3 (July 2017) by Frank Gill & David Donsker.

- Northern Pied Flycatcher -
- Siberian pied flycatcher - Ficedula hypoleuca sibirica (Khakhlov, 1915)

BASIC SOFTWARE DESCRIPTION: northern pied flycatcher — Muscicapa hypoleuca hypoleuca (Pallas, 1764)

Description Habitat Biotop Food Reproduction and nestingField signs Wintering Gender and age

Wing formula 3≥4>5>2…

body length males 126-145, females 122-145, on average 138.7 and 133.7 mm.
Wingspan males 230-260, females 220-245, on average 243.4 and 236.6 mm.
tail length birds 50-61, on average 56.2 mm.
Wing length males 75-85, females 74-82, on average 79.0 and 77.3 mm.
The weight birds 12-16.5, on average 13.6 g.

Coloring. adult two year old male black on dorsal side, white spot on forehead. The size of the spot varies greatly (even in birds from the same locality) from paired, barely noticeable dots on the sides of the forehead to a spot that occupies most of the forehead. The loin is gray or whitish, the middle tail feathers are brownish-black, the lateral ones are brown, on the two extreme pairs the outer (sometimes also inner) webs are white along the entire length of the feather, except for the base and apex. The ventral side is white. The border of white and black in the neck area goes from the cut of the beak to the wing more or less straight. Sometimes on the sides of the neck, the white coloring moves somewhat upwards in the form of a protrusion, but does not go above the eye. On the wing there is a large white mirror formed by the tips of the greater wing coverts, the outer webs of the hind secondaries and the white bases of the outer webs of the secondaries and primaries (there are no white spots on the bases of the outer webs of the first four feathers). The rest of the helmsmen is dark brown.
In females, as well as in young and old males in autumn plumage, the black color on the back is replaced by grayish-brown, the ventral side is dirty whitish with a brownish or buffy coating on the sides of the craw and on the sides. Flight feathers and tail feathers are browner than in males.
Young in nesting feather variegated above, they have light edges of the flight feathers and a brownish back with a buffy coating. On the ventral side, the streaks are small and numerous, the belly and undertail are whitish.

Literature
"Determining the sex and age of passerine birds of the fauna of the USSR". Directory. Vinogradova N.V., Dolnik V.R., Efremov V.D., Paevsky V.A. Responsible editor: doctor of biol. Sciences Ilyichev V.D. Ed. "The science". 1976 pp. 81-82.

Sites
www.pbase.com, ibc.lynxeds.com, orientalbirdimages.org

Pied flycatcher - Muscicapa hypoleuca Pall.

Synonym. Ficedula hypoleuca Pall.

Description. An adult male in breeding attire the general color of the top is piebald, the back is pure black to gray-brown, the loin and rump are gray; the two extreme pairs of tail feathers are brown, with white outer webs, except for the base and apex, the rest of the tail feathers are brownish-black. On the dark brown wing there is a large white “mirror” formed by the tops of the greater coverts, the outer webs of the hind secondary feathers, and the white bases of the outer webs of the secondary and primaries (except the first four) feathers. Underwings with dark bases. The spot on the forehead and the ventral side are white, the border of white and black in the neck area goes from the cut of the beak to the wing almost straight. The second flywheel is usually shorter than the fifth, rarely equal to it, very rarely longer. In autumn plumage, the black color on the back is replaced by grayish-brown, but the upper tail coverts are always black, the ventral side is dirty whitish, with a brownish or gray coating on the sides of the crop and on the sides, the flight and tail feathers are browner than in summer. Beak and legs black, eyes dark brown.
Females and molted young similar to autumn males, but their forehead is never white, and the upper tail coverts are not black, but grey.
Young autumn birds well distinguished from the old ones by the wing pattern: the strip along the wing is narrow, yellowish-white, and not wide, white, as in adults.
Young in nesting feather variegated on top. The back is brownish, with a buffy coating, flight feathers with light edges. On the ventral side there are blackish scaly streaks, small and numerous, the belly and undertail are whitish.

Dimensions:
male wing 75-85, female 74-82 mm.
tail 49-61 mm.
lantern 16.5-18 mm.
beak from the anterior edge of the nostril 6-7 mm.

The weight:
April, Mangyshlak, females 12.1 and 12.5 g; R. Ural, male 13.5 g)
May, R. Ural, male 13.2, female 12.5 g.

Chick covered with sparse gray down on the eye (not always), supraorbital, occipital, dorsal and shoulder areas. Tall, rather short and massive beak is somewhat swollen in the area of the nostrils, which, unlike gray flycatchers, are round. The nails are dark, the oral cavity is yellow, with an orange tint, the thick fold at the corners of the mouth is yellowish-white.
Eggs blue, lighter than redstarts, by the end of the clutch - often pale, almost white in color. Dimensions 16-19.5 x 12.1-14.4 mm.
Subspecies. It forms three subspecies, of which one lives in Kazakhstan - Muscicapa hypoleuca hypoleuca .
Pied flycatcher is common in the forests of all Europe, from the shores of the Mediterranean Sea to 70 ° N in Scandinavia and 61°N. in the Urals, in the southern part of Western Siberia east to the mouth of the Irtysh and the upper reaches of the Ob and in North-West Africa. The southern border of the pied in Western Siberia passes very close to Kazakhstan: from Shaitantau in the Southern Urals, through the lake. Sinara border goes to Omsk, passing in the region of the Tobol-Ishim, and partly the Ishim-Irtysh interfluve, then the border runs parallel to the Irtysh outside of Kazakhstan and goes to Barnaul.
Pieds hibernate in tropical Africa.
[u]In Kazakhstan, nesting of the Pied Flycatcher has not been proven. There are two indications of its possible nesting to the north of Petropavlovsk. M.A. Kuzmina in the vicinity of the village. Suvorovka, Bulaevsky district and A.M. Cheltsov-Bebutov, north of Ryazanka, we met one female each at empty, apparently old nests, no one knows whose. Pied nesting on the right bank of the Irtysh was admitted by V.A. Khakhlov and V.A. Selevin (1928), but this was only a guess.
Regular passage of pied in Kazakhstan observed only in the most western parts of it. Orenburg has a weak span. Further to the southwest, it regularly appears in small numbers along the Urals, between Yanvartsevo and Chapaevo, and in the Volga-Ural steppe at the same latitudes; further south along the Urals, near Kalmykovo and Yamanka, they fly less and, apparently, irregularly, even more rarely they are on the migration near Guryev and on Mangyshlak. Apparently, the migration here has a general southwestern direction, and not southern, and therefore the bulk of migratory pied flycatchers bypass Kazakhstan, and only a small number of them cross Western Kazakhstan.
The available indications of the passage of the pied beetle along the Irtysh (Khakhlov and Selevin, 1928; Zalessky, 1931) are not supported by any specific materials; we do not have reliable facts of its meeting here.
In Kazakhstan, nowhere else is a regular passage of pied flycatchers observed. A loner, apparently random, obtained by Zh.A. Dolgushin on May 21 in Tselinograd; in the spring, on April 26, I met a single flycatcher with a white “mirror” on the wing at st. Arys M.N. Korelov.
Pied flycatcher inhabits variety of forests. In the north of the range, it prefers burned areas, sparse taiga, at least with an admixture of deciduous species, but also inhabits dark tall spruce forests; in the south of the European part of the USSR, it chooses tall oak forests, pine and aspen forests. During the migration, pied flycatchers also choose areas of tree and shrub vegetation, avoiding treeless places, but on the lake. Ak-tastykul, not far from Orenburg, a loner was found at the edge of reeds (Sushkin, 1908).
Pied flycatcher male easily distinguished from all forest birds by its black and white coloration; it differs from the almost similarly colored white collar in the absence of a white collar. The black back, wings and tail, white underparts, spot on the forehead and “mirrors” on the wings, combined with the typical habits of the flycatcher, make the male pied easily recognizable.
females and young from other flycatchers, except for the barnacle, they are easily distinguished by white “mirrors” on the wing. Pied is much more mobile than the gray flycatcher. Sitting on a branch, she often and quickly shakes her wings, moves her tail up and down, and, leaning forward a little, spreads her wings with a quick movement and immediately folds them again, as if about to take off and not daring. Especially often they repeat these movements when they are worried.
Song pied is very diverse. Most often it is a sonorous, but short and abrupt "tsikru, tsikru-zi, tsikru-tsikru"; you can often hear a quiet chirping, very melodic, at a fast pace, sounding like “qu-qu-tsifiruflit”, less often the male sings a pure whistling trill in a decreasing (in some birds it rises) scale: “pil-pil fili-li-lilililu”. The copying of sounds is characteristic: some pieds insert the invocative cry of the crossbill into the song, others - the whistle of the forest pipit and the great tit, and others - the robin or thrush. When alarmed, pieds emit a short and abrupt "peak-peak".
Having basically the same type of foraging Like other flycatchers, the pied fly is much more likely to catch insects on the leaves and branches of trees, and in cold weather - on the ground. Therefore, flying insects occupy a smaller place in its diet than that of the gray flycatcher. Caterpillars are in the first place in the diet of pied beetles, and they most readily eat small caterpillars: moths, scoops, moths, etc .; by autumn, the proportion of beetles and bedbugs increases. The main food for chicks are caterpillars and spiders; Diptera in the diet of nestlings are of secondary importance.
Information about the spring migration of the pied flycatcher in Kazakhstan are scarce. On Mangyshlak, they fly in small numbers from April 9 to May 4. In the lower reaches of the Urals, near the Yamanka, a single male was recorded on April 22. To the north, near Telnov, the passage began on April 28, and near Furmanovo on April 8. Pieds are somewhat more common here in late April - early May, and at the end of the second - beginning of the third decade of May, the migration ends; later on May 23, no pied beetles were recorded here. Near Orenburg, a weak passage of pied flycatchers passes from early April to mid-May. To the north of Petropavlovsk, pied flycatchers appear in early May; at the village Suvorovki, their arrival was noted on May 7th.
There is no information about nesting of pied flycatchers in Kazakhstan.
Outside of Kazakhstan, pieds start breeding 10-15 days after arrival. Nests are arranged in various voids - natural hollows, in closed recesses of buildings, as well as in artificial nests of the most diverse forms. A complete clutch contains five to seven, less often four and eight, even more rarely three or nine eggs. The chicks fly out in the second half of June - early July.
Autumn passage through the Urals takes place in August - September. Near Orenburg, pieds fly from the end of August to the end of the first decade of October. Darinsk P.M. Butovsky got alone on August 28. South of Uralsk, in the region of Kolovertnoe - Budarino, they meet from 6 to 20 August; at Chapaevo, the flight begins on August 13; in the vicinity of Furmanovo they flew from August 27 to September 16, but they were not encountered in the sands south of Novaya Kazanka (Fedosenko). A female was obtained from Krasnoyar on August 8. To the south, in Yamanka, two birds were noted on August 22 (the only time in three observing seasons). On Mangyshlak, a young molted pied bee was caught on September 10.
Pieds are flying both spring and autumn mostly solitary, very rarely two or three birds together. The nature of the span, like that of other flycatchers, is from tree to tree, from one forest to another.
The pied flycatcher is one of our most useful birds, also willingly settling in artificial nests, which makes it possible to increase its number in the right parts of the forest. It is rare in Kazakhstan and deserves all kinds of protection and attraction for nesting in birch groves north of Petropavlovsk.

Literature
"Birds of Kazakhstan". Dolgushin I.A., Korelov M.N., Kuzmina M.A., Gavrilov E.I., Gavrin V.F., Kovshar A.F., Borodikhin I.F., Rodionov E.F. Under the general editorship of Dolgushin I.A. and Korelova M.N. Ed. "Science" of the Kazakh SSR. Alma-Ata. 197 About g. volume 3. pp. 436-441.

Pied flycatcher - Ficedula hypoleuca (Pallas, 1764).

Motacilla hypoleuca Pallas, 1764, Vroeg's, Cat. Adumbratiunculae: 3, Holland.

Syn.(Russian): variegated flycatcher .

Description. Compiled according to 81 copies. from the European part of the USSR.
The top of the wing is formed by the 3rd and 4th primary primaries (3 4 - 80.3%); the 2nd and 5th are slightly shorter (2 5 - 4.1%). 2nd is always greater than 6th.
The 1st primaries is very small and projects only a few millimeters beyond the apices of the brush coverts or is equal to them. In most individuals, the outer webs of the 3rd-5th primaries are noticeably narrowed in the apical part.
Number of bristles at the corners of the mouth at the base of the beak (on each side of the head) is 3-4 (3 - 89.9%; 4 - 10.1%). The length of the largest setae (n = 41) is 4.0–6.5 mm (on average, 5.2).
At the top of the tail (in the center) is a small notch.
Sexual dimorphism is expressed in the color of the plumage and slightly in the size of individual parts of the body (wing).
The species is characterized by the phenomenon of morphism: adult males have up to 7 types of plumage coloration. The numerical ratio of color morphs among adult males in populations of different parts of the species range is different.
Spreading. The European part of the USSR and Siberia to the east to the Yenisei valley. Western Europe (to the north in Norway up to 70 ° N, and in Finland to 65 ° N, west to the Atlantic coast and south to the Mediterranean coast of Spain and France, 43 ° N on the Apennine Peninsula -ova, Southern Yugoslavia and Western Bulgaria), North-West Africa (in Morocco - south to the Middle Atlas, in Tunisia - up to 35-36 ° N), the islands of Great Britain and Solovetsky (Stepanyan, 1978). Pieds of the European and Asian parts of the nesting range are migratory and winter mainly in the savannahs of tropical Africa.

Systematics. Polytypic species, forming 3 subspecies, one of which - nominative occurs and breeds on the territory of the USSR.
The African part of the breeding range of the species is inhabited by the subspecies Ficedula hypoleuca speculigera (Bonaparte, 1850).
On the Iberian Peninsula, the form is common - Ficedula hypoleuca iberiae (Witherby, 1928), which some researchers (Vaurie, 1959) combine with the nominative subspecies. However, E. Curio (Curio, 1960), having studied pieds from Spain, proved that the subspecies Ficedula hypoleuca iberiae actually exists, and its representatives in terms of color details clearly differ from those of the nominative subspecies and are closer to the North African form.
Taxonomic status of pied eastern (Siberian) populations described as an independent subspecies - Ficedula hypoleuca sibirica (Chachlov, 1915), has not yet been fully elucidated. Some researchers (Vaurie, 1959; Portenko, 1960; Stepanyan, 1978; et al.) recognize the real existence of this form, while others (Dementiev, 1937; Blagosklonov, 1954; et al.) classify the Siberian lemmings as a nominative subspecies. The main distinguishing features of the form Ficedula hypoleuca sibirica from the nominative one, according to V.A. Khakhlova (the description is based on 3 females), is a lighter gray overall plumage, and according to L.S. Stepanyan (1978) - and a significantly lower occurrence of the black morph among males in populations of this form. A detailed study of the plumage coloration of adult and young birds, carried out by us on serial materials, taking into account age, seasonal and individual variability, allows us to oppose the selection of a form. Ficedula hypoleuca sibirica. The color diagnostic features of the latter are very insignificant and completely fit within the limits of individual variability of the nominative subspecies, and we consider the identification of the Siberian subspecies only on the basis of differences in the numerical ratio of color morphs among males to be unjustified, especially since these differences are detected mainly on collection materials and the margin for error is very great.

northern pied flycatcher - Ficedula hypoleuca hypoleuca (Pallas, 1764).

Motacilla hypoleuca Pallas, 1764, Vroeg's, Cat. Adumbratiunculae: 3, Holland.

Description. Compiled according to 81 copies. from the European part of the USSR.
In adult males, plumage color very changeable. There are up to 7 color morphs. In the male of the extreme black morph, the upper part and sides of the head (except for the forehead), neck, as well as the back and upper tail coverts are velvety black. There is a small white spot on the forehead, the shape and size of which vary greatly. Some individuals have 2 small spots. The lower back and rump are gray to greyish-brown. The plumage of the lower body is white. The underwing coverts are white in the apical half of each feather and brown (of varying intensity) in the basal one. The tail is uniformly velvety black to black with white (often asymmetrical) spots and stripes on the outer tail feathers. Flywheels are black. At the base of the latter, starting from the 5-8th primary feather (from 5 - 5.5%; from 6 - 88.9%; from 7 - 3.7%; from 8 - 1.9%) white spots appear , which, when the wing is folded, are covered by the covering brushes or only slightly protrude beyond their tops. On the upper part of the wing there is a white "mirror" formed by spots at the base of the secondary feathers, on the outer webs of the tertiary feathers, as well as on the large and medium upper coverts of the feathers.
Male extreme gray morph almost indistinguishable from females in coloration. The plumage of the upper body is from brownish-gray to brownish-brown. The white frontal spot is very weakly developed or completely absent. The plumage of the bottom is from white to pale brownish-buffy. Upper tail coverts and tail coverts are black. On the outer webs of the last three extreme pairs there are white spots or stripes. The "mirror" on the wing is much smaller, with a pale buffy tint. Between these extreme opposite color morphs
all transitional types are available.
Beak black. Legs black-brown. Raduzhina eyes are dark brown. Seasonal variability is manifested in the partial browning of black feathers and in the lightening of the overall color as a result of feathering and fading of plumage.
In an adult female the plumage of the upper body is brownish-brown. The sides of the head and forehead are lighter. Throat, crop, chest and upper belly pale brownish to light brownish buff. The underside of the abdomen and undertail coverts are white. The upper tail coverts are brown. The steering wheels are dark brown. On the three extreme pairs there are pale buffy spots and stripes. Flight feathers are dark brown. At the base of the latter, starting from the 6th primary feather (100%), pale buffy spots appear. The "mirror" on the upper part of the wing is pale buff to white.
Juveniles in nesting attire yellowish-brownish-brown above with buffy spots edged with dark brown borders. The underparts are white to pale yellowish-buff with a brownish-brown wavy pattern, which is least pronounced on the abdomen. The undertail coverts are white. Flight feathers and tail feathers are dark brown. Along the edge of the outer webs of tertiary primaries and large upper coverts of secondary primaries there are yellowish-buff edges.
First post-breeding outfit identical along with the adult female, but large upper coverts of the secondaries (unmolted parts of feathers) and thirds with yellowish-buff edges.

Body mass, d: males (n = 2) (V, Ural River) - 13.2-13.5, on average - 13.4; females (n = 3) (IV-V, Western Kazakhstan) - 12.1-12.5, on average - 12.3 (Kovshar, 1970).

Spreading. Almost the entire breeding range of the species, except for the Iberian Peninsula and Northwest Africa. In the USSR: the European part and Siberia to the east to the Yenisei valley. Pieds of this subspecies are migratory throughout their range and winter in southwestern Europe and the African savannas north of the equator. Instructions N.A. Zarudny and S.I. Bilkevich (1918) for the wintering of this flycatcher in the upper reaches of the river. Amu Darya is unlikely. At best, the authors dealt with a stray specimen. There is a well-known varietal flight in the Western Baikal region (Khamar-Daban) (Vasilchenko, 1982).
Habitats. They inhabit a wide variety of types of deciduous, mixed coniferous-deciduous and coniferous forests, mainly on the plains, as well as in the foothills and mountains up to 1350 m above sea level. It penetrates into mountain forests mainly along river valleys. It gravitates towards old sparse and lightened areas of the forest, burnt areas, but also nests in continuous dense massifs. It settles in old parks, squares, gardens, in green tree plantations of estates and streets of settlements, including large cities (Moscow, Leningrad). As an exception, it nests on human buildings at a considerable distance from the nearest trees. In the presence of artificial nesting willingly populates a variety of young forests and plantings.
Number. On the territory of the USSR, in most places in the western and central parts of the breeding range, it is common, in favorite biotopes it is numerous. At the borders of the range, it is most often rare. When hanging artificial nesting sites in characteristic biotopes, the number of pied beetle in these areas can be raised to 900-3800 pairs / km2 (Ptushenko, Inozemtsev, 1968).
Arrival and spring migration on the territory of the USSR. Passes from the first decade of April to the first decade of June inclusive. In the remote northern areas of the nesting range (Priobye), arrival lasts until the end of June. Pieds fly during the migration period both during the day and at night - singly and in small flocks, trying to stick to forested areas. Old males are the first to arrive at nesting sites, and only 3-10 days later, females and advanced one-year-olds fly.
Reproduction. In most regions of the USSR, pied bees that have arrived at nesting sites do not start breeding immediately, but only after some time. In the south of the nesting range - in Moldova this period is 20-25 days (Ganya, Litvak, 1961), in Belarus - 15-16 (Fedyushin, Dolbik, 1967), in the Moscow region. - 10-16 (Blagosklonov, 1954; Ptushenko, Inozemtsev, 1968), in the Volga-Kama region - 5-8 (Birds of the Volga-Kama region, 1978), in Latvia they start nesting immediately after arrival (Taurins, Tim. - Cit. . after: Blagosklonov, 1954). Deterioration of weather conditions delays the start of nesting and affects the course of reproduction in general.
Before the formation of pairs, males occupy nesting sites and behave very lively at this time. They begin to sing even on migration, but they are most active near nesting sites. The melodic and loud song of the male consists of short and abrupt stanzas and is highly subject to individual variability. According to A.S. Malchevsky (1959), pied also includes individual sounds and even stanzas from the cries and songs of other birds: crossbilly, forest pipit, great tit, song thrush, robin. The formation of pairs is accompanied, in addition to the intense singing of males, by their current demonstrative behavior.
Most individuals are characterized by seasonal monogamy. However, cases of polygyny are also known (Shcherbakov, 1967; Anorova, 1976; Shutova, 1981), in which some males mate with two or even three females during the breeding season. This occurs both during the period of oviposition (in this case, the male simultaneously feeds the chicks in two or three nests), and at the end of the period of incubation of eggs by the first female. The area of nesting sites for pairs is 210-220-950 m2 (Blagosklonov, 1962).
Being typical hollow nesters, lemmings most often build nests in natural or hollowed out by other birds (woodpeckers, tits) hollows, frost cracks and deep crevices in trunks, branches and stumps of trees (pine, birch, linden, mountain ash, elm, alder, aspen, pear, oak), as well as in artificial nesting sites (various nest boxes), and in parks and gardens of settlements - in the crevices of human buildings. The height of the nests from the ground varies greatly. Most often they are placed at a height of 0.3-7.0 m, on average - 2.3 (our data; reported by V.P. Belik and S.I. Parkhomenko), less often - up to 15.0 (Zimin, 1972 ) and as an exception - up to 20.0 (Dergunov. - Quoted from: Blagosklonov, 1954) or - at the same level with the ground (Zarudny, 1910). An interesting fact is the nesting of pied in artificial nests (hollows) buried in the ground (Vilks, 1965).
Nest building lasts 4-11 days (Zimin, 1972). It is built by the female. Sometimes a pair starts building nests in several places at once, but completes the construction, as a rule, only one, in which eggs are laid. Information by A.V. Mikheeva (1953) on the nesting of pied beetles in hollows that do not have any nest inside, except for wood dust, are doubtful and need to be verified.
Nest is a loose, rather massive structure, the shape and dimensions of which depend mainly on those of the lower part of the nesting cavity. As building materials for the nest, birds use thin scales of bark (birch, pine), dry leaves of woody and herbaceous plants, thin twigs of trees and shrubs, stems and roots of herbs, inflorescences of wild cereals, strips of bast, bunches of mosses, pine needles, and according to E.S. . Ptushenko, A.A. Inozemtseva (1968) - tow, scraps of rags and threads. The tray is either not paved, or is lined with thin stems and leaves of grasses, leaf veins, strips of bast and other plant fibers, as well as the hair of large mammals, the thinnest scales of the bark and individual needles. In rare cases, according to our data, flycatchers also use moss sporogonia (Polytrichum commune), single small feathers, pieces of lichen thalli, and even pieces of paper in cities (Blagosklonov, 1954). Nest sizes, mm: diameter 70-120 x 75-130, average - 95 x 106; height 30-83, on average - 54; tray diameter 45-68 x 43-90, on average - 55 - 61; tray depth 20-45, on average - 31.
During the breeding season, on the territory of the USSR, the northern pied flycatcher has one, in rare cases, two reproductive cycles (Anorova, 1976). The number of eggs in a complete clutch is 3-11 (Portenko, 1960; Likhachev, 1967; Anorova, 1976; 1984; Malchevsky, Pukinsky, 1983; our data), more often 6-8. Repeated clutches contain 1-6 eggs (Malchevsky, Pukinsky, 1983). The number of eggs in a clutch depends on many factors and is subject to chronographic, seasonal, age (Anorova, 1976, 1984) and geographical variability (Bemdt and Winkel, 1967). The pied flycatcher usually lays its eggs daily. However, this process can be interrupted by adverse weather conditions (cold snap). Only when warm weather sets in, egg laying resumes. As a result, the female continues to lay eggs with a break of 1-4, even 6 days. Very often, as a result of a cold snap or an abundance of precipitation, egg laying sharply decreases, and in some individuals it stops completely (Anorova, 1976; 1984).
Eggs shortened acute-oval, oval, acute-oval, less often ellipsoid, monochromatic (from pale to light blue with a slight greenish tinge). The shell is shiny. Incubation begins with the laying of the last egg. The duration of incubation is 10-17, more often 12-13 days (Portenko, 1960; Ganya, Litvak, 1961; Fedyushin, Dolbik, 1967; Malchevsky, Pukinsky, 1983). The male does not take part in incubation of the eggs. During this period, he usually stays close to the nest and feeds the incubating female. In most nests, the chicks hatch in 1 day.
Downy chick The northern pied flycatcher has short, sparse gray down on the supraorbital, occipital, dorsal, humeral, and ocular pterylae. On the latter, it is rudimentary and does not always happen. The beak is high, rather short and massive, somewhat swollen in the area of the nostrils. The nostrils are round. The nails are dark. The oral cavity is solid yellow with an orange tint. Wide folds at the corners of the mouth are yellowish-white (Malchevsky, 1959). The mass of the hatched chick is 1.3-1.6 g.
Growth and development of chicks proceed quickly and on the 13-18th day (Portenko, 1960; Ptushenko, Inozemtsev, 1968), more often on the 15-16th (Malchevsky, Pukinsky, 1983) they leave the nest. Despite the relatively good flight abilities compared to the fledglings of the small and gray flycatchers, after leaving the nest, the fledglings of the pied fly sit motionless most of the time, periodically emitting calling calls, by which adult birds find them. At the age of one month, young flycatchers pass to an independent life and keep separately from their parents (Golovan, 1982). At this time, the broods break up and in the future, young birds keep in small groups and singly. The protection of the nesting site during the period of egg laying, incubation of the clutch and feeding of the chicks is performed by the male. Although the nests of pied birds located in hollows are much better protected than the nests of open nesting bird species, nevertheless, the death of eggs and chicks in some years, according to A.S. Malchevsky and Yu.B. Pukinsky (1983), reaches a significant size (up to 43%). The main reasons for the departure of eggs and chicks are unfavorable weather conditions, predatory activity by some species of birds and mammals (predators, rodents), the presence of unfertilized eggs in clutches, and in settlements and their surroundings and human concern.
The breeding season of the northern pied flycatcher on the territory of the USSR lasts from the 3rd decade of April to the 2nd decade of August inclusive. The timing of the start of reproduction in individual pairs varies and depends mainly on weather conditions and the age of the partners. The first to start nesting are 2-year-old females, and not older birds or first-year birds (Anorova, 1976).
Molt. Some time after the flight and tail feathers have finally completed their growth, young lemmings begin to change their nesting plumage to the first post-nesting one. This partial molt covers almost all of the smaller plumage except for some of the larger upper coverts of the secondary feathers. On the wintering grounds, the first-year-olds undergo a partial prenuptial molt, during which the tail feathers and some of the small feathers are replaced. Separate batches of the latter molt already at the nesting sites (Vinogradova et al., 1976). Adult birds have 2 plumage molts per year: complete post-nuptial at the nesting sites and partial pre-nuptial at the wintering grounds. The postnuptial molt usually begins in adult pieds only in the late stages of nesting (shortly after chicks appear in the nests). Males begin to change plumage somewhat earlier than females. The replacement of plumage in them is probably slowed down to a lesser extent by the processes associated with reproduction. During late nesting, males often do not participate in feeding the chicks, apparently due to intense molting at this time. Females rarely combine the change of plumage with reproduction. Their molting begins at the later stages of nesting, it is less intense and often goes asymmetrically (Artemyev, 1981). However, some re-nesting females can combine molting with incubation (Malchevsky and Pukinsky, 1983). The rate of plumage change in still breeding individuals is noticeably slower than in birds that have completed nesting. Partial prenuptial molting in adult birds covers only small plumage and proceeds with great individual differences.
Nutrition. Insects form the basis of food different groups and stages of development, as well as arachnids. Much less often, pieds eat centipedes, molluscs, annelids, and in the second half of summer and autumn on migration - small juicy fruits and even seeds of some plants. The ways of collecting food in this species are diverse, and the birds themselves are very plastic in their use. Both partners of the couple take part in feeding the chicks. According to V.I. Golovan (1982), during the first 3-4 days after leaving the nest, the parents fly up to the fledglings and feed them. At the age of 20 days, the young begin to fly after adult birds, persistently begging for food. The first attempts to independently search for and seize prey are noted in young lemmings at the end of the 1st - beginning of the 2nd week outside the nesting life, at the age of 22-24 days. Flying insects are already available to 24-25 day old young.
Departure and autumn migration on the territory of the USSR. It takes place from the middle of the third decade of July to the first decade of October inclusive. Some individuals linger until the beginning of the third decade of October.
practical value. Destroys many insects - pests of the forest and horticultural crops, as well as carriers of pathogens of a number of human and animal diseases.
The plasticity of this flycatcher in nutrition, choice of habitats, together with the possibility of a rapid increase in its abundance in any part of the forest when hanging artificial nests, characterizes this species as very promising for widespread use in the control of forest pests, especially in the centers of mass reproduction of the latter, as well as in coniferous monocultures. breeds of the northern taiga, where the total number of insectivorous birds is low.

Literature
"Flycatchers of the fauna of the USSR". Peklo A.M. Science thought. Kyiv. 1987 pp. 27-41.

Pied flycatcher — Ficedula hypoleuca (Pali.).

Pallas, 1764, Vroeg's Cat. Versam. Vogelen, Adumbratiuncula: 3 (Motacilla hypoleuca);
Menzbier, 1895, II: 701 (Muscicapa atricapilla, L.);
Dementiev, 1937, IV: 202 (M. hypoleuca),
Karpov and Parovshchikov, 1941, Pr. and social hoz., VIII, 2: 391;
Haartman, 1949, Acta Zool. Fenn., 56: 104;
Likhachev, 1953, Bull. MOIP, LVIII, 2; 23;
Hartmap, 1954, Acta Zool. Fenn., 83: 1-96;
Blagosklonov, 1954, VI: 91.

Male coloration in spring and summer plumage varies greatly. There are 7 types of it, ranging from the extreme development of black to gray-brown, almost indistinguishable from the color of the female. In the blackest males, the fine plumage of the upper side of the body is black, with a blue tint. The transverse stripe on the forehead is white. The rump is always gray or brownish. Wings black-horn. In the middle of the folded wing there is a longitudinal wide white stripe. The bases of the primaries, starting from the 6th, are white. On the folded wing, they are visible only in the form of a small triangular spot. The white bases of the secondaries are overlain by the broad white ends of the greater coverts. On the inner secondary white color displaces black, from which only large spots remain at the ends of the inner webs. The tail is black, with a blue tint. There is a white stripe on the outer web of the outer tail feathers. The underside of the body is entirely white.
In birds of the extreme gray type the black on top is replaced by an earthy grey, but the upper tail coverts always remain black. The white stripe on the forehead is already or almost disappears. The longitudinal strip on the wing is also narrower. But on the helmsmen there are white stripes on three outer pairs.
In birds of intermediate types black feathers have brown edges or gray feathers have blurry black ends. Sometimes the black color develops more strongly in the middle of the back.
In autumn dress(before spring molting) small plumage of the upper side of a brownish-salt color. There is little or no white on the forehead. The white longitudinal stripe on the wing is narrow. The upper tail coverts are always black. The underside of the body is white, with an ocher or olive gray tinge on the chest and flanks.
Adult female in summer plumage above brownish-gray, with an olive or nightingal tint. The forehead is never white. Uppertail grey. The upper tail coverts are brown. The wings and tail are grayish or brown-horned. The longitudinal white stripe on the wing is narrow. Three outer pairs have white stripes on the outer webs of the tail feathers. The underparts are white, with a white brownish tinge on the chest and flanks.
In autumn plumage gray and brown colors have an olive tint. The ends of the greater wing coverts are not white, but cream. chicks yellow or hazel-brown above, with light, unsharp spots with blackish rims. Uppertail is greyer, with whitish spots. The strip along the wing is narrow, yellowish-white. By this wing pattern, young autumn birds can be well distinguished from old ones. The underside of the body of the chicks is white, with a yellowish coating on the chest and with a blackish scaly pattern.
Beak and legs blackish-horn color; iris dark brown.

Wing 75.6-84.8 mm.
Tail 49-56.7 mm.
Metatarsus 16.5-18 mm.
Beak 7.2-9 mm.
The weight 11.5-15.5

Common in the forest zone of the European part of the country and Zap. Siberia, north to the border of the forest on the Kola Peninsula, the Solovetsky Islands, Berezov and Surgut. Further, the border descends to Tomsk and Krasnoyarsk. Before the Yenisei, the pied almost never crosses and does not penetrate into the Altai.
nests to the southern border of the forest zone, partly entering the forest-steppe to Barnaul, Petropavlovsk, Ik and Sakmara, to the Kharkov and Kyiv regions; in a small number - in the Crimea. Outside the USSR lives in the West. Europe up to 70°N in Scandinavia, west to Great Britain, east to west. Bulgaria, south to Spain, center. Italy and Yugoslavia, as well as in the northwest. Africa.
hibernates in tropical Africa. Arrives relatively early, in April, closer to the northern limits of distribution - in May, on the Kola Peninsula - even in early June. Feeds on migration in scattered groups.
It nests in forests, parks, groves, is not afraid of the proximity of human habitation, but never gets along in such close proximity as the gray flycatcher. Sporadic in places, numerous in places, up to several pairs per hectare. The singing is short and abrupt, but sonorous and loud. The nest is arranged in hollows, less often in some cracks, at a height, starting almost from ground level to 6 meters or more, more often near water.
The male arriving earlier than the female chooses the nesting site. Nest the female builds, rather slovenly, from dry stems, leaves, roots, with feathers or hair. Masonry for the most part one in the summer, the second masonry is usually forced.
eggs 3-11, more often 6-7, delicate pale blue, sometimes with reddish spots. Full clutches are observed from mid-May to mid-June. As a rule, the female incubates, the male feeds her. Incubation lasts 10-17, more often 12-13 days. Old birds fly with food to the chicks 20-40 times within an hour. Males usually forage closer to the nest, at first they feed the chicks less often than females, then more often. Feeding lasts 13-15 days. After hatching the chicks lead an extremely secretive way of life, retiring to the most remote corners of the forest and only occasionally appearing on the edges.
Moult runs in July and August. From the end of August, departure begins, which drags on in the South until October. Unlike other flycatchers, the pied fly catches a lot of flightless insects and their larvae. During the feeding period of chicks, they make up 2/3 of the total number of insects eaten. Gluttony is noted, greater than that of many other insectivorous birds. With dense settlement, pied beetles can suppress the breeding center of forest pests.
They are among the most useful of our forest birds, although they partially destroy beneficial insect species. Willingly inhabit artificial nests. Chicks easily endure transportation, therefore, in recent times experiments were successfully carried out on the colonization of forests with pied beetles, where, for some reason, an insufficient number of them nested.

Literature
"Birds of the USSR" Portenko L.A. Ed. Academy of Sciences of the USSR. Moscow. Leningrad. 1960 part 4. pp. 117-119.

Pied flycatcher Ficedula hypoleuca.

Signs. Less sparrow. Coloration of males very changeable. In the brightest and most contrasting variant, the upperparts are velvety black, with a wide white stripe on the wing, a white spot on the forehead (the shape of the frontal spot is variable, there are two small symmetrical spots), the underparts are white; the tail is either solid black, or there are white spots or stripes on the outermost 1-3 pairs of tail feathers.
Males of the lightest morph almost indistinguishable from females, with neutral gray to brownish-brown upperparts, small or no white spot on the forehead, underparts coloration from pure white to off-white, with a brownish or buffy tinge; rump, uppertail coverts and tail uniformly black, sometimes there are white spots or stripes on the 1st-3rd outer pairs of tail feathers; the white patch on the wing is much smaller than in the black morph males.
Between these extreme types there are many intermediate options, there are black streaks on the gray top of the head. These color morphs are not associated with age. The female is brown above, no white on the forehead, there are indistinct brownish streaks on the craw and chest, the uppertail is gray, the upper tail coverts are dark brown, the white spot on the wing is small, maybe with an ocher bloom.
In autumn coloration of females practically the same, males are colored like females, but with black upper tail coverts. Juveniles in nesting attire generally similar to the female, more buffy-brown above, with light buffy spots edged with dark brown edges, off-white underparts, often with a dark scaly pattern on the chest, light buffy edges on tertiary flight feathers and greater upper wing coverts .
In autumn young the color of the female, but more yellowish, light buffy stripes on the wing are preserved from the nesting plumage.
Pieds, sitting on a branch, characteristically shake their wings and move their tail up and down. There is an outward resemblance to the white-necked flycatcher. In contrast, the male does not have white on the back of the neck; in females, the white bases of the primaries are mostly hidden under the coverts of the hand and a narrow strip is visible, or these bases are not white at all.

The weight 11-17 g
Length 120-150 mm.
Wing 73-84 mm.
scope 220-260 mm.

Voice. The song is short (2-3 seconds), consists of sonorous, euphonious, as if jumping trills, composed in random order, without a constant system, so that even the songs of one male do not resemble one another: -viti”, “three-tri-vitrityu-vitrityu-pirri-pitya”, “prin-prin-pirritya-trri-trri-tsitsi”, “kru-ti-kruti-tsiti-tsitya-pitiri”, etc. The song sounds carefree, even frivolous. The male sings in crowns, often flies. Sings all daylight hours. Anxiety is expressed with sonorous, even sharp “drink, drink ...”, “thiet, thiet ...” “dzik, dzik ...”, “prit, prit ...”, “peak, peak ...”.
Spreading. Almost all of Europe and 3. Siberia, forest-steppe and most of the forest zones, to the east the range extends a little beyond the Yenisei, in most of the range in our region it is common.
Lifestyle. Arrival occurs around the period of leafing on the trees or a little earlier. Nesting habitats are forests of various types, as well as forest belts, parks and squares, even in large cities. The main condition for nesting is the presence of hollows hollowed out by woodpeckers or tits, natural voids in trees and stumps, at a height of up to 15-20 m, usually 2-4 m from the ground. Willingly populate artificial nests - hollows. They can nest in various niches in human structures. Depending on the size of the nest cavity, the nest itself can be both small and very massive and loose. It is built from thin scales of pine bark, birch bark, dry leaves, grass, thin twigs, roots, moss, needles, etc.
The tray either does not differ in material from the rest of the nest, or is lined with especially thin scales of pine bark or birch bark, coarse wool (elk, cow ...).
Clutch 3-11 eggs, more often - 6-8. Their color is monophonic pale blue, maybe slightly greenish, dimensions - 15-21 x 12-15 mm. The female incubates, starting from the laying of the last egg, from 10 to 17 days (there may be delays during cold snaps), usually 12-13 days.
The male feeds the incubating female.
chicks covered with gray down on top, the oral cavity is orange-yellow, the beak ridges are pale yellow. The chicks leave the nest at the age of 13-18, usually 15-16 days old, already confidently flitting. They become independent at about one month of age. During the summer there is only one reproductive cycle, but repeated clutches are common to replace the dead ones, as a rule, there are fewer eggs in them. It is not uncommon for one male to have two females, each with its own nest (biginia).
Departure begins already in mid-July, lasts all of August and ends in the north of the range until early September, in the steppe zone - to the beginning - mid-October.
migrate singly, but there are clusters.
hibernate in C. and S. Africa. Some of the adult birds next spring return to last year's nesting sites, some fly to other places.
Life expectancy, according to banding, up to 9 years.

Literature
Birds of the Urals, the Urals and Western Siberia. Ryabitsev V.K. Reference guide. Ed. Ural University. Yekaterinburg. 2001 pp. 466-468.

Literature
«Bird fauna of the countries of Northern Eurasia within the borders of the former USSR: Lists of species. (01.2016)" E.A. Koblik, V.Yu. Arkhipov.
IOC World Bird Names checklist, version 7.3 (July 2017) by Frank Gill & David Donsker.
"Birds of the Soviet Union". Dementiev G.P., Gladkov N.A., Blagosklonov K.N., Volchanetsky I.B., Mecklenburgsev R.N., Ptushenko E.S., Rustamov A.K., Spangenberg E.P., Sudilovskaya A. .M., Shtegman B.K. Under the general editorship of G.P. Dementieva and N.A. Gladkov. Ed. "Soviet Science" Moscow. 1954 volume 6. pp. 91-98.

Among the feathered tribe there are many representatives who bring undoubted benefits and are orderlies of forests, gardens and parks, active exterminators of harmful insects. These include flycatcher – bird weighing only up to 25 grams.

She is ranked by scientists as a group of sparrows. Its representatives stand out in a separate family, which, in turn, is divided by biologists into two extensive genera, famous for their huge variety of varieties.

These are real and colorful flycatchers. In size, such birds reach no more than 15 cm and are similar in size to sparrows - their relatives, but are distinguished by their external features by the color of their plumage, which is known for its diversity and depends on the variety of these birds.

Real flycatchers for the most part have discreet colors, among them brown, gray, olive scales with white and black splashes can be distinguished. But the colors of the variegated flycatchers are much richer. Representatives of this genus are red, orange, blue and yellow, and are famous for other bright colors of plumage.

The wings of such birdies, whose wingspan is about 20 cm, look quite long in comparison with the size of their insignificant body, but are not wide at all. Their legs are weak and do not allow their owners to move far and quickly on them.

The beak is powerful and has a remarkable structure, without specifying which flycatcher description will not be complete. It is wide and flattened, a ridge stands out at the beak.

Elastic bristles can be seen along the edges of the beak and at the base, which in some species even cover the nostrils. The tail of most varieties is straight and short, usually ending in a notch.

The range of such birds is quite extensive. In Europe, these birds are found almost throughout the continent. To the east, their habitat extends up to the ridge of the Ural Mountains and further across the expanses of Siberia.

They are also found in Central and South Asia, find refuge in the Caucasus and even further south, even in, where it is also often found bird flycatcher. And here whichmigratory or wintering this representative of a feathered tribe directly depends on its habitat.

The winged wanderers, inhabiting the northern regions, migrate during unfavorable periods, flying to India for the winter, somewhat to the west - to Pakistan, Iraq, Syria, and to the south - to African countries. For this reason, these are usually classified as migratory.

Flycatcher types

In total, there are about three hundred species of these birds in the world, but in the Russian regions they are found much less, more precisely, no more than fifteen. The most notable of them can be seen on the picture. flycatcher one variety differs from another, for the most part, in the color of plumage.

Species worthy of special mention include the following:

1. gray flycatcher. The coloration of this species is discreet and modest: the top is brownish-gray, and small light blotches are observed below. Having no habit of hiding from people, these birds often settle near country houses, are found in squares and parks.

Although even in plain sight, such birds remain inconspicuous, which is greatly facilitated by their unpretentious color. He also helps them build nests and safely raise offspring in close proximity to signs of civilization and human habitation, while remaining unnoticed. Such a bird makes sounds very rarely, and its song is rather unpretentious, as well as its colors.

Gray flycatchers

2. Pied flycatcher. The males of this species are similar in color to, having a black and white plumage, white spots on the wings and forehead, and the abdomen of the same color. Brown-gray females look much more inconspicuous. Representatives of this species are famous for their omnivorous nature.

When building their nests, pied flycatchers nest in tree crevices and hollows. Like representatives of the previously described species, they are not afraid of people and often even choose artificial nests.

Pied flycatcher

3. Lesser flycatcher. Outwardly, it is similar to the dawn, differing from other species in a red spot, which is located on the chest and is most noticeable in the male half, standing out for its large size. The weight of representatives of this rare species is about 11 grams, and the length of the body is not more than a decimeter.

During the flight, white spots are clearly visible on the tail of small flycatchers. Birds of this species have the ability to make very interesting sounds, which are a mournful, mournful alarm whistle.

Lesser flycatcher

4. paradise flycatcher. The very eloquent name of this impressive one speaks of its extraordinary beauty, which turns out to be an indelible impression for everyone who is lucky enough to see such feathered creatures. Its plumage is contrasting and bright. Its tail is huge, and exceeds the length of the body at least twice.

This species has thirteen subspecies. On the territory of our huge state, such a variety can be found only in the Primorsky Territory. It is also found in the Philippines, Indonesia, China and many other countries with a warm climate. They live in dense forests, trying to hide away from civilization and housing, as well as prying eyes.

paradise flycatcher

5. royal flycatcher. Such birds also belong to the type of very remarkable birds with an original and striking appearance. Their appearance is distinguished by a striking colorful crest on their heads, similar to a crown (for which these creatures received the indicated name).

But the royal flycatchers do not always show such decoration to others, but only during the period of courtship and mating. This variety includes four subspecies.

royal flycatcher

6. Thrush flycatcher. It belongs to the category of poisonous representatives of the feathered tribe, and is the only, unique and inimitable of its kind. The fact is that she feeds on poisonous insects, so her skin and feathers are literally saturated with a disgusting harmful liquid.

But the health of a bird belonging among flycatcher species to unusually original, it does no harm, it has an innate and unusually strong immunity against poisons. It is assumed that in this way these creatures receive protection from dangerous predators. The birds are orange-black in color and live in New Guinea in local forests.

Thrush flycatcher

Lifestyle and habitat

Most often, flycatchers can be found in thickets of shrubs, in small forests, they also prefer to populate forests, choosing open areas: glades, clearings. Those who wish to watch them in the forest have the opportunity to witness the following picture.

These birds are located on a branch, occupying a vertical position, from such a position vigilantly observing whether any insect will fly by. At the same time, the wings of the hunters shake and flutter, and they themselves are ready to fly at any moment, and when they see a suitable victim, they take off from their place to overtake the desired prey in the air.

The main threat to these small creatures is represented by large feathered predators. These birds often live in close proximity to artificial structures and human habitation.

Therefore, often meeting garden plots and in small forests near fields, turn out to be a great success for owners of home gardens, destroying a huge number of harmful caterpillars, larvae and other small pests, and especially during the period of rearing chicks.

Nutrition

They don't call these birds for nothing. flycatchers because their main food is insects. In addition to flies, it can be dragonflies, horseflies and other representatives of this tribe. They also do not disdain spiders, beetles, as already mentioned, larvae and caterpillars, which they seek out on the leaves of trees and among the branches.

However, the menu of these birds varies greatly and depends on the activity of insects, time of day, weather and other factors. The amazing device of the beak of these birds helps them catch edible trifles that are rapidly sweeping by, which is the main food of these birds, right on the fly.

The way of hunting, which is inherent in pichugs, forces them to stay alone. Of course, because relatives in the matter of saturation, given the previously described circumstances, are undoubted rivals and only an obstacle in the process of finding food.

Hiding in the branches of trees, lying in wait for an insect, grabbing it in flight and swallowing it, such birds rush to the former place, where they lie in wait for a new victim, still patiently waiting for the appearance of prey.

Reproduction and lifespan

The nesting period is marked by a call flycatchers singing males, who not only attract females with such melodies, but also jealously guard their territory. And this is a signal to start actions for procreation.

With the exception of only certain species of flycatchers, both parents are engaged in arranging the nest in representatives of this bird family. Together, pairs of birds usually perform the functions of feeding offspring, which is not at all easy.

Nest of gray flycatcher

Flycatchers have to fly up to the cubs, according to the most conservative estimates, up to five hundred times a day, delivering food to the chicks in their beaks. Such intensive feeding lasts about two weeks.

And during this period, flycatcher spouses are of great benefit, destroying insects, the weight of which is a total of several kilograms, and the total number of pests reaches one and a half million. And this, undoubtedly, is a huge contribution to the conservation of flora on the planet.

Gray flycatchers prefer to nest in the forest. They start building a secluded place for chicks quite late, by mid-May. And they build a dwelling for future offspring, using dry grass, straw and plant fibers.

Interestingly, unlike other numerous and diverse species of this family, only the female deals with these problems. And wool and feathers serve as a meager nesting litter for these birds.

Clutch in this variety, usually with up to six speckled, greenish eggs, occurs in June. The plumage of the chicks that soon appeared to the world is characterized by a more brown hue than that of individuals in the adult state.

Laying pied appearance somewhat distinct, with up to seven bluish eggs. But the duration of incubation is, like that of the above relatives, about a crescent.

Pied flycatcher eggs

For the construction of nests, small flycatchers prefer shaded forests consisting of tall trees. They raise nestlings in dense thickets of fir trees, sometimes in spruce-deciduous areas.

Its nesting areas are quite extensive compared to relatives from other species, and often occupy up to three hundred meters. The eggs are whitish with red patches. The chicks that are born after two weeks of incubation are covered with gray fluff.

Having strengthened, the cubs for some time still stay near the parental nest, but soon, having grown bolder, they strive for an independent life, settling in dense bushes. This usually happens towards the end of summer.

Paradise flycatchers tend to hide their nest, which is built from leaves, blades of grass and twigs, in the dense canopy of forest trees. Moss is invariably lined at the bottom of the abode of future chicks. Their clutch usually contains up to five eggs.

Gray flycatcher chicks

The lifespan of birdies depends on the type of flycatcher. Usually it is calculated for a period of up to five years. AT wild nature However, full of dangers, this period is often reduced and is no more than three years. It should be noted that many of the species are endangered.

These include the paradise flycatcher. To restore the population of these wonderful birdies, a wide variety of measures are being taken, for the most part aimed at preserving the natural environment where such birds live. For this, ash, alder, maple and oak forests are planted.