What family does the bunting bird belong to. Bunting bird: description of appearance, nutrition, reproduction and photo. Life in captivity

The oatmeal is a small bird in the oatmeal family. You can meet her in Australia, New Zealand, Asia and Europe. The European population is decreasing every year, so for the last forty years the number of individuals has decreased by 50%. Today, the bird has almost completely disappeared in England and Ireland, but in Asia it is common everywhere.

Description of oatmeal

Buntings are birds of the passerine order. The bird is represented by 29 species. The following types of oatmeal are common in Russia:

• ordinary;
• chit;
• garden;
• millet;
• white cap and others.

Appearance

The weight of the bird is about 30 grams, the body length is 18 cm. During the mating season clear differences has a male bunting ordinary:

The color of the feathers in females is not so bright. Pale yellow color with a green tint, brown wings. The young have the same color as the female (regardless of the sex of the chick).

Moulting in birds begins in autumn, then the yellow feathers are replaced by dark plumage. Bright spots remain only on the belly and throat. At this time of the year it is almost impossible to tell the female from the male. In spring, the brown plumage wears out, and yellow and bright feathers appear again.

Singing oatmeal

Quiet and melodic sound issued by the male. The chant consists of 5 or 8 monotonous syllables. Usually, on the last syllable, the tone rises or falls, followed by a short continuation in the form of extended passages.

The male prefers to sing in the early morning from the top of the trees. In an hour he manages to sing up to 300 different tunes. Singing activity begins in April and ends in mid-July. More energetic males begin to flood from the end of winter until the end of August.

Distribution of the common bunting

Oatmeal - early birds, they are the first to return from warm countries. The first to arrive are males who are not afraid of frost. They give debut concerts when the snow has not yet melted. So, they show everyone that the territory is already occupied and the females will arrive soon.

area

Birds are distributed over a vast territory of Europe, in Iran and the western part of Siberia. It prefers to nest in the south of the Iberian Peninsula, along the coast of France and the coast of the Balkan Peninsula, in southern Italy. In the north, it can fly to the Scandinavian countries and the Kola Peninsula, in Russia to the valleys of the Yenisei and Ob rivers.

A long nesting border passes through southern Moldova, Ukraine and goes around the northern part of the Taganrog Bay, then stretches to the lower reaches of the Ilovli River. Separate nesting area is located in the Caucasus and Transcaucasia, which extends to the Iranian mountains.

The common bunting was deliberately relocated from England (1862) to New Zealand. Due to the abundance of food in winter time and a small number of predators, here the bunting began to actively breed. If the number of individuals in Europe has decreased over the past few years, then in New Zealand, on the contrary, the population has increased. According to the latest estimates of scientists, the density of bird nesting on the islands is 3 times greater than in England.

In eastern nesting territories, the bird sometimes interbreeds with the white-capped bunting, thereby forming hybrid populations.

habitats

The habitats of the bird are different forests and forest-steppes, where they are mainly distributed in dry areas with sparse woody vegetation. In the forest, it prefers to settle on the edges, glades with young vegetation, as well as along the line railways, under power lines, in floodplains of rivers and lakes, on the outskirts of various swamps and fields. Often oatmeal settles in forest plantations.

He is not afraid of people and does not avoid them, if the conditions are favorable for life, then he settles in the city. During the nesting period, it stops in quiet and inaccessible places, for example, in ravines, embankments, ditches. In winter, oatmeal can be found on the outskirts of populated areas, in harvested fields and vegetable gardens. At the time of the use of horse traction, in winter she fed on oats in the yards and near the stables.

The bird is able to climb the mountains to the subalpine belt. There she prefers to be among the bushes.

Features of nutrition and reproduction

When the snow is just starting to melt and there are slight frosts at night, the bunting males return from wintering. In early spring, the trill of these birds is heard one of the very first.

reproduction

mating season in ordinary buntings, it begins in April and pairs are formed by the end of the month. Loud and bright males court the females, filling in with a melodic trill. After the female has chosen a mate, the search for a place for the future nest begins.

Building a nest of bunting begins in mid-May, when the air and the earth are well warmed up. After all, birds nest under bushes, in tall grass, and even on the ground, along the edge of ravines.

During nesting, the bunting hides its family as much as possible from otherworldly eyes. The shape of the nest resembles a small bowl. A nest is laid out from the stems of cereals, dry grass, wool or hair of ungulates.

In one season, the bunting lays eggs twice, in a clutch there are no more than five eggs. The eggs are small, purple, gray with a pink tinge. The whole shell is framed with dark and thin veins that create an interesting pattern of specks and curls.

After 12-14 days, the first chicks appear. The chicks are covered dense red down. During this period, the male is looking for food for his family. Children are fed mainly with small insects. When the offspring grows up and becomes independent, the diet is replenished with young plant seeds. After 14 days, the chicks make their first flight attempts.

Before the first offspring will independently search for food, the female is looking for a place for a new nest. And he starts building it up.

In August, two generations of buntings flock together and fly off in search of new areas. Which are rich in insects and crops. Such populations often fly far away from their place of permanent residence.

At good conditions, oatmeal can live up to 4 years. However, scientists record cases when the bird lived for more than 13 years.

Nutrition

Basically, ordinary oatmeal eats plant foods. Almost the whole year (summer and the end of winter) she looks for grains of different plants in the grass. When the chicks appear, much more food is required. Under such conditions birds feed on insects, which make up the main diet of children.

After nesting, the birds choose places rich in millet and buckwheat and fly here to feed. At the beginning of autumn, flocks fly to the southern regions, thus escaping from cold and frost.

Buntings, like sparrows, in winter period stay close to human habitation. They look for food in manure - undigested grains by ungulates.

The best time to catch birds is spring. At this time, buntings begin to sing melodiously, so it is easy to choose the most vociferous singer for your home. You can catch a bird on a decoy female or for food.

The first few days after capture, the bird is kept in a cage, which is covered with a dense cloth. During this period, she sings, so a sudden change of residence can do harm. If this condition is not met, ordinary oatmeal will be silent and will sing no earlier than next spring. The cage must be spacious, otherwise the bird will sing quietly or stop altogether.

You can keep several birds, but each individual should have its own separate cage. The length of the dwelling is not less than 60 cm. The bottom of the cage is covered with washed or sifted sand. After a while, the sand is replaced by regular paper bedding.

The lighting in the oatmeal house should be good. Therefore, during the day it is recommended to expose the cage to a sunny place. The lack of bright light leads to fading of feathers, the color of the bird becomes faded, grayish.

Oatmeal needs open access to clean water and daily bathing. So, a drinking bowl and a wide, small container with clean water should be present in the cage.

diet

The best treat for oatmeal is rice, millet, rapeseed, oatmeal, weed seeds. Seeds that contain fat (sunflower) should be discarded. Birds are very fond of flour worms, they are also included in the diet.

During molting, the bird needs animal proteins. Typically, these fats are part of the finished feed mixtures for birds.

You should also include in your oatmeal diet:

• fresh greens;
• germinated grain;
• mineral feed.

Beautiful and bright oatmeal to bring great benefits agriculture. It destroys the main pests and seeds of weeds. And the bird that lives at home, with proper care and maintenance, in early spring will please with their wonderful singing.

Strynatka extraordinary (earlier - Aўsyanka extraordinary)

The whole territory of Belarus

Oat family - Emberizidae.

In Belarus - E. c. citrinella breeds throughout the territory, except for the east, where E. c. erythrogenys.

Common nesting sedentary and nomadic, partly migratory species. The most numerous of the oats. Belarus, perhaps, except for the northernmost part, lies within the boundaries of the wintering grounds of this species, as well as a partial migration. Probably, the buntings that we meet in winter are not sedentary, but nomadic birds. In spring, the movement of nomadic buntings in the northeast direction is noted, in autumn - in the southwest. In Belarus, it is found throughout the territory.

A small bird, slightly larger than a sparrow, age and sexual dimorphism is expressed in the color of plumage. The characteristic lemon-yellow plumage of the head, chin and abdomen is more pronounced in males than in females, and is clearly visible all year round, but especially in spring. In an adult male, the top of the head, throat and chest are lemon-yellow, stripes of grayish-brown feathers run along the sides of the head and cheeks; the back is grayish-brown with dark spots, the uppertail is reddish-brown, the wings and tail are brownish-gray. The chest is rusty-brown with gray streaks, the same streaks cover the sides of the body. The beak and legs are greyish-brown. At adult female and young birds, yellow tones in plumage are less pronounced and partly replaced by greenish-gray. Male weight 20-36 g, female 22-34.0 g. Body length (both sexes) 16-18 cm, wingspan 23-29.5 cm. Male wing length 7.5-9.5 cm, tail 7-9 cm , tarsus 1.7-2.4 cm, beak 0.9-1.2 cm. Wing length of females 7.5-9 cm, tarsus 1.7-2.2 cm, beak 1-1.2 cm.

Characteristic bird of dry forest edges, thickets of bushes, forest belts along railways and highways, wastelands and upland meadows with groups of trees. It is difficult to determine the timing of the arrival of the bulk of buntings, but it is still noticeable that in March their numbers increase.

During the nesting period, it settles in separate pairs, appearing in breeding areas in March. The male sings from March to July, usually sitting on the top of a tree, uttering a sonorous, but rather monotonous "si-si-si-si-sitt", turning into a drawn-out "zhii". Pairs sometimes settle close to each other. The nesting area is guarded, the male sings, sitting on top of a tree, bush or on power lines.

Favorite nesting places are sparse forest areas, their edges near fields, meadows and pastures, along roads, as well as forest clearings, clearings, overgrown clearings, young, mostly coniferous growth, copses, groves among fields, roadside forest belts. In rural areas, it is also found in gardens and parks.

The nest is located in a hole on the ground in a herbage among bushes, in a well-lit place, most often on the edge of a forest, occasionally somewhat deep in a large forest, in damp places, often on the slopes of road embankments, ditches. It is hidden among sparse thickets of bushes, in tall grass or under a lone tree in a treeless area. Sometimes the bird places its nest above the ground itself (in the root part of shrubs, on creases of dry nettle stalks) or at a height of up to 1-2 m (in dense plexuses of horizontal branches of Christmas trees, in juniper bushes).

The nest building looks like a shallow cup. The relatively loose outer part of it is carelessly woven from dry stems and leaves of cereals, the ends of which usually stick out along the edges of the structure. This distinguishes the nests of the bunting from the nests of the forest pipit, which lives in similar biotopes. The inner part of the structure of the common bunting is dense, thick, consists of narrow grass leaves with an admixture of moss and semi-decayed vegetable fibers. The tray is carefully lined with thin roots and horsehair, which is much more abundant in wet, rainy years. Nest height 5.5-7 cm, diameter 11.5-13.5 cm; tray depth 3.5-5 cm, diameter 6-7 cm.

In full clutches 4-5, occasionally 6 eggs. The shell is matte or slightly shiny, white or off-white with a purple or pinkish tint. Characteristic black, black or brownish-violet thin veins, twisted threads, curls and strokes either evenly cover the shell, or form a semblance of a corolla at the blunt end. In some cases, the eggs are covered with "clouds" or spots, as it were. Egg weight 3 g, length 18-24 mm, diameter 14-17 mm.

The first fresh clutches appear from the end of April and are found throughout May. There are two broods per year. The second masonry occurs in mid-June and later. Lays one egg per day, incubation begins after the end of laying or a day later. Both members of the pair incubate for 12-14 days, but the male replaces the female for a short time and irregularly. Both parents feed the chicks. In hatched naked chicks, the ear canals open on the 3rd-4th day, and on the 11th-13th day, the chicks leave the nest. Very soon, the female, having built a new nest, begins to lay eggs of the second breeding cycle. Nests with clutches can thus be found until mid-July.

The common bunting is predominantly a granivorous bird. Adult birds eat seeds of various weeds, oats, and other herbaceous plants. But they feed the chicks mainly with insects and small spiders. Feeding conditions for birds in winter have changed for the worse due to the virtual disappearance of horse-drawn (horse) transport.

By the end of summer, buntings concentrate in flocks (sometimes up to 50-100 individuals) and wander in search of food, keep in the fields and near the edges of the forest, and with the onset of winter they usually feed near livestock complexes, straw stacks, on roads.

In Belarus, the number of buntings is estimated at 600-800 thousand pairs, and is stable.

The maximum registered age in Europe is 13 years 3 months.

Gurkov2N. Vitebsk region

A small bird from the bunting family, the common bunting is well recognized for its golden yellow plumage on its chest and head. It is distributed in the temperate latitudes of Asia and Europe, where it can lead a sedentary lifestyle or fly away for wintering to warmer countries. Bunting has also taken root in New Zealand, where it was brought by man. Standing out for her grace, grace and sonorous singing, she can even become a bright inhabitant of a home living corner.

Appearance - photo

A bird the size of a house sparrow weighs about 30 g, and reaches a length of 18 cm. During the mating season, the male of the common bunting differs:

• a large number of golden yellow feathers on the belly, chest, chin, cheeks and on the top of the head;
• numerous longitudinal streaks on the chest and goiter;
• a greenish-olive pattern of transverse stripes on the cheeks, on the sides of the head and on the forehead;
• grayish-chestnut with dark mottled back;
• dark brown wings;
• chestnut uppertail and loin;
• long tail.

The color of the feathers of the female is duller. Faded yellow tones have a greenish tint, and the brown color of the feathers is replaced by brown. Juveniles, regardless of gender, are similar in color to the female.

With the onset of autumn, the birds molting is coming, and then the yellow feathers are replaced by darker plumage. Only barely noticeable blotches on the abdomen and throat remain. At this time of the year, it is almost impossible to tell a male from a female. By spring, brown feathers wear out, and yellow plumage appears again on the surface.

Buntings willingly populate clearings, edges and clearings. Often, birds choose trees and bushes along the roads standing in open areas as housing. On open landscapes, they are able to detect the enemy in advance and fly away. Birds are not afraid of people, therefore, under suitable conditions, they can live even in the city. In winter, they live in harvested gardens and fields or on the outskirts. settlements. Bunting can also be found in the mountains, where it rises only to the subalpine belt.

Migratory birds fly away for the winter to the Mediterranean countries or to Western Europe. They return to their homeland in March or April. At this time, buntings unite in large flocks with sparrows, finches or other types of small birds, and go in search of food.

What does common oatmeal eat?

The basis of the bird's diet is vegetable feed. Most of all, oatmeal prefers grains of cereals and seeds of various herbs:

• plantain;
• yarrow;
• cornflower;
• dandelion;
• forget-me-nots;
• clover
• peas;
• shards;
• stinging nettle;
• fescue;
• bluegrass.

During the breeding season, birds need protein, so they begin to eat small invertebrates:

Chicks are fed with mixed feeds, bringing them already half-digested food in the goiter.

Reproduction features

In common oatmeal, puberty occurs at the age of one year. They start nesting in mid-spring. From the warm countries in which the birds wintered, the males are the first to return. They find a place for a nest, sit down not far from it on the top of a bush or tree, and begin to sing for a long time. Thus, they report that the place is occupied and invite females.

Ten days after the males, the females arrive, and after some time they begin to build the nest.

Bunting nests

For their dwelling, birds choose the edges of the forest or young coniferous growths. They do not settle in the forest area, because small birds have many enemies there.

During the breeding season, buntings choose a suitable recess among the bushes, and start building a nest. It takes them a long time to furnish their home. To make the nest strong, as building material birds use the leaves and dry stems of cereal crops, adding a small amount of lichen and moss to them.

From prying eyes, buntings mask their dwelling with the help of crushed stems of large herbaceous plants, which are added to the nest structure. Along the edges, the ends of these plants remain unwoven, due to which the bird's dwelling is almost imperceptible among the bushes.

Particular attention is paid to the bottom of the nest. It carefully lined with horsehair or small roots. If the construction takes place during a rainy period, then the birds try to put as much hair as possible on the bottom. In such a nest, the chicks will feel very comfortable.

Bunting nest is made in the form of a small bowl and reaches a height of 80 mm and a diameter of 130 mm. To ensure good protection for the chicks, the depth of the tray should be at least 50 mm. In this case, the babies will not fall out of the nest.

Nesting and chicks

During the season, the common oatmeal lays eggs twice. The first laying takes place in the middle of spring, and the second - in early summer. Each clutch contains two to six "thick" shaped eggs. They can be of a very different shade - pink, light purple, bluish gray or rusty brown. The eggs may have a dark pattern in the form of spots, specks, commas, curls. The largest egg measures 23mm and the smallest measures 15mm.

The female sits on the nest after laying penultimate or last egg. The female incubates them alone. The male does not help her, because he is responsible for food, flying for food.

After twelve to fourteen days, chicks appear. They are covered with thick grayish-brown or reddish down and have a raspberry-red or pink mouth.

Both parents feed the offspring. But after some time, when the babies have not yet left the nest, the female leaves them for the male, and she herself begins to build a new nest for the next clutch. The youngsters leave their “parental home” already on their twelfth or thirteenth birthday.

The behavior of the mother hen when an animal or person approaches is very interesting. She flies up to a branch of another tree, and begins to emit alarm signals in the form of a jerky tsukka or a long high-pitched whistle. If the chicks have already hatched, then in order to distract a potential enemy from their home, parents fall into the grass and, imitating a wounded bird, begin to crawl away.

In autumn, birds of all ages gather in flocks and look for habitats in open spaces where food is more available. The average life expectancy of the common oatmeal is about three years.

It is best to catch small birds in the spring. At this time, they begin to sing, and it will be possible to choose the best singer for your live corner. It will be possible to catch him on a decoy female or for feeding.

In the first two weeks after catching oatmeal, they are kept in a cage or kuteika covered with a dense cloth. These days, the bird sings, so changing the location of its new home is strictly prohibited. Otherwise, the bird will be silent until next spring. The oatmeal house should be spacious. In cramped conditions, they do not sing in full voice or do not sing at all.

Inhabitants of meadows and steppes at home require good lighting. To do this, the cage with the bird must be regularly taken out to open air, and put in a sunny area. Lack of light causes the feathers to fade to a dirty yellow color. Whitish spots appear on the wings and tail.

Oatmeal should be fresh drinking water and daily bathing, for which the cage is equipped with a drinking bowl and a wide container of water.

Feeding

The most useful delicacy for birds is rapeseed, millet, oatmeal, canary grass, weed seeds. Sunflower seeds and other seeds that contain fat should be discarded. oatmeal very fond of mealworms so you can include them in your diet too.

During the molting period, birds need animal proteins, which are included in a variety of grain mixtures and feed for insectivorous birds. In addition, oatmeal should be given fresh herbs, sprouted grains, mineral feed.

A beautiful songbird, the common bunting is of great benefit to agriculture. It destroys the seeds of weeds and insect pests. And a pet living at home, with the right maintenance, will delight every spring with its magnificent singing.

Bunting bird can become a bright inhabitant of your living corner, standing out with melodic sonorous singing, grace and grace.

Buntings (Emberiza) are birds from the order of passerines, distributed almost all over the world. They are most often found in Europe, North Africa and Asia, living both on the plains and in the mountains.

Appearance

The bunting bird is represented by 29 species. In Russia, the most common are common oatmeal, baby oatmeal, garden oatmeal, millet oatmeal, white-capped oatmeal and others.

The body length of these birds is from 13 to 20 cm. The long tail has a distinct notch at the end; the general plumage color of these birds is brownish or brown. Bunting males have a brighter color.

Bunting millet (Miliaria calandra or Emberiza calandra)

Each bird oatmeal at home should be contained in a separate cage at least 60 cm long. Washed and sifted sand is poured onto the bottom of the cage, which can later be replaced with paper bedding.

Bunting is a bird of the field. These birds inhabit mainly steppes and meadows, therefore, under home conditions, they need a sufficient amount sunlight. To this end, the cage with the bunting bird must be placed more often in the open air for exposure to sunlight. Lack of light can lead to plumage fading. In this case, the plumage of golden buntings quickly acquires a dirty yellow tint, and whitish spots appear on the tail and wings.

In the cage, be sure to install drinker and quite wide bath, providing the bird with a sufficient amount of fresh drinking water and daily bathing.

bunting birds very shy, therefore, in the initial period of their home stay, it is necessary to provide pets with a calm environment, silence, thereby facilitating adaptation to new, unusual living conditions for them. Gradually, the pronounced fearfulness and distrust of a person in oatmeal disappears, and these birds, no longer feeling fear, cheerfully and cheerfully whistle their songs even during molting, remaining in excellent shape for many years.

White-capped Bunting (Emberiza leucocephala)

Nutrition

Buntings in nature feed on plant seeds and insects. The bunting bird is of great benefit to agriculture, destroying insect pests and weed seeds. At home, these birds are fed grain mixture from canary grass, millet, oatmeal and weed seeds.

flour worms are a favorite delicacy of oatmeal, so they are also included in the diet of pets. During the period of feather change, the diet of the oatmeal bird should be maximally enriched with animal proteins. This includes food for insectivorous birds, a variety of grain mixtures, larger portions of mealworms, as well as a large amount of sprouted grains and fresh herbs. During this period, birds are vital mineral feed, which should be offered to them separately from other types of food.

Bunting nest (Emberiza citrinella)

reproduction

In nature, buntings nest on the ground, but sometimes their nests can be found in bushes and on the stems of large plants. In the laying of the female, as a rule, 4-6 eggs. Oatmeal is also successful breed in captivity and feed their chicks with plant seeds and insects.

Most often, common bunting is found in Central Europe, Asia, and New Zealand. The bird came to Zealand thanks to man and perfectly settled down in new lands. You can easily recognize this bird by its characteristic bright sunny plumage color. Another feature of her is her sonorous iridescent voice. You will learn about the lifestyle of a bird, how it manifests itself in its natural environment and what it eats from our article.

Oatmeal belongs to the order of passeriformes and the oatmeal family. In its dimensions, it resembles a sparrow. body length adult reaches 17 cm, and the mass does not exceed 30 grams. Bright yellow plumage flaunts on the head, neck and abdomen of the bird. The region of the goiter and chest is variegated with gray patches. The rump and loin of the bunting are brown. The tail is long relative to the body.

The differences between the sexes are expressed only in the fact that the brightness of the plumage of males is slightly greater. As for the young, the new generation is similar in color to the females. The molting period in birds begins in autumn. In the autumn months, there are no differences between females and males. After the transformation, the feathers acquire a more saturated color.

Varieties and their names

In nature, there are many varieties of bunting birds:

• common (emberiza citrinella);
• bile, practically indistinguishable from the common one, leads a migratory lifestyle;
• the red-billed lives in Greece, Cyprus and the African continent, is distinguished by a pink-red beak;
• yellow-browed is found in coniferous Siberian thickets, has a yellow “eyebrow” characteristic of the species on its head;
• mountain outwardly very similar to a sparrow and common oatmeal, lives in the countries of the Old World, Asia and Africa;
• gray is distinguished by the greenish color of the feathers on the head and the gray plumage of the back and abdomen, lives in Europe;
• garden looks almost the same as ordinary, with the exception of dark motley blotches, which she has more.

Among other varieties of oatmeal: taiga, reed, remez, Yankovsky's oatmeal, white-capped, crumb, black-headed, Japanese, garden, as well as Kozlov's oatmeal.

Lifestyle

Common bunting, like most of its other species, belongs to sedentary birds. Representatives of the family spend the winter in the Mediterranean countries and the warm regions of Western Europe. The flocks return home in March and April. Gathering in groups, buntings often unite with their relatives, finches, sparrows and other types of small birds. Moving in groups, they get food for themselves and look for reliable shelter.

Bunting chooses open spaces as habitats: places for cutting down trees, steppes, fields and edges. Birds are trusting people, so they often stop in urban and rural areas. Sedentary species of bunting hibernate in fields and vegetable gardens, finding their livelihood in the form of leftovers from field crops.

Nesting features

A place for the construction of a future home is chosen by male buntings. Forest edges with an abundance of dense shrubs and tree branches are suitable for this. The small bird avoids densely growing forests, as many predatory mammals and birds live there.

Bunting build their nests for a long time and painstakingly. The material used is twigs, thin branches, blades of grass, moss, feathers and horsehair. The birds skillfully disguise the dwelling, weaving the soaked stems of various plants into the structure.

The ends of the stems are not woven into the nest. This creates the effect of visual merging with surrounding nature. Horse hair and moss are laid at the bottom. This provides the chicks with warmth and comfort even in the rainy season.

Reproduction and offspring in oatmeal

The lifespan of the bunting, compared to other birds, is very short. For the three years allotted to the bird, she tries to leave behind a healthy and numerous offspring.

Bunting lays eggs twice in one season. This process is carried out in the middle of spring, and then in the first summer month. One clutch includes from 2 to 6 dense round eggs. Their color varies from light pink to gray-violet with spotted patches.

Females sit on the nests only after they lay the last egg. Incubation period lasts two weeks. All this time, the partner is engaged in the extraction of food and protection.

Chicks are born covered in a dense layer of down with pink-red beaks. Both parents are involved in feeding the offspring. After some time, the partner leaves this process to start building a new nest for the second clutch. Further feeding of the babies is completely taken over by the male.

Young mature chicks leave the nest within a couple of weeks after birth.

Feeding oatmeal in the wild

The poultry diet is based on plant food: various seeds of plants, as well as herbs. Oatmeal feed on grains and seeds of peas, yarrow, bluegrass, nettle and oatmeal. During the mating season, birds need a lot of strength, so they include squirrels in their menu, hunting insects such as flies, wood lice, cockroaches, earwigs, grasshoppers.

As for the chicks, mixed feeds are used for feeding them. For harmonious growth and rapid development, young animals require protein and plant foods at the same time. Adult birds feed their offspring with insects, which they crush with their beaks, as well as small flax and millet seeds.

Keeping poultry at home

For goodwill, easy character, cheerful disposition and the ability to melodious singing, oatmeal is continually sought to be domesticated. This is wild bird, which, nevertheless, relatively easily gets used to human hands. It is better to catch a bird in the spring, when the birds are puzzled by finding a partner. At such times, they are especially vociferous and inattentive.

After catching a bird, it is placed in a separate cage, which is covered with a dark natural cloth. The minimum height of the dwelling is 60 cm. The bottom of the cage is laid out with sawdust or sand. The oatmeal is under the cloth for the first two weeks. During the period of habituation, it is impossible to change the location of the cell. Otherwise, the pet will stop singing until the new spring.

When it comes to captive oatmeal nutrition, you need to feed your pet a varied and balanced diet. Let the menu include flour worms, grain mixtures, seeds, including germinated, mineral feed and clean water. All these products are sold in abundance in zoological stores.

In the oatmeal cage, you need to place a crossbar and an additional bowl of water for bathing. Keeping a cage with a bird is recommended in a well-ventilated area.

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