Elektrostal, like any large city, has its own bird fauna, the so-called avifauna. The urban fauna is affected by many factors, both internal and external, and all these factors directly or indirectly depend on humans. In order to manage the most complex processes of change in the fauna of the city, it is necessary to study all the components, both from the animal and plant world, and from humans and the results of their activities.

The role of birds in the life of a modern city dweller has increased. When we see a great tit, we have no idea how useful it is in our ongoing battle against insect pests. Trees in public gardens and parks are often attacked by widespread species of harmful insects, and these birds are largely responsible for reducing their numbers. Starlings, flycatchers, and waxwings are also useful and necessary birds in the city.

But the number of some other birds is increasing, and with it the danger of people becoming seriously ill is increasing.

The relationships between birds and humans are complex and varied. I would like this relationship to become optimal for people and birds.

The purpose of our work is to study the state of the current bird population of the city; identification of their ecological role; participation in the conservation of beneficial birds within the city.

Review of works on the problem.

Identification of the city's bird population.

Birds are perhaps the most visible of our country's wild inhabitants. Animals rarely catch the eye, and birds appear in plain sight every now and then, although many aspects of their life are not so easy to spy on.

In winter, there are few birds almost everywhere, but it is easy to observe them - birds often gather closer to people, to feeders. There is an opportunity to take a good look at them and gain first skills in identifying them. In spring and in the first half of summer, as more and more new species arrive and thick grass and leaves appear, the task becomes noticeably more complicated. But on the other hand, the birds at this time are “dressed” in the most characteristic and striking breeding plumage, they are very mobile, often catch the eye and more strictly adhere to habitats typical for each species. In addition, singing and other sounds made by birds can be very helpful in identification. Autumn is the least favorable season for observations. At this time, many young birds appear, which are not so characteristically colored. And adults often wear modest autumn outfits. In addition, it is in autumn that birds can often be found in areas and habitats atypical for the species.

In addition to determining the species composition of birds for practical activities, it is important to know how they are distributed throughout the territory where they are concentrated in different seasons of the year. Such data are needed to monitor the number of birds in different landscapes. The fauna (number of species) and bird population density (number of individuals of all species per 1 sq. km) are different in different types of landscapes. They change under the influence of human economic activity.

In my work, I paid attention specifically to urban birds. So, I concluded that the house sparrow and rock pigeon dominate in our area. And the bulk of the city's bird population is made up of passerines.

All birds can be roughly divided into several groups that react differently to increasing anthropogenic impacts: the first increase population density in heavily and completely urbanized areas, the second avoid human-altered areas, and the third maintain the same level of density in variously human-altered areas.

A small group of species increases population density in highly human-modified landscapes: rock pigeon, black swift, city swallow, great tit, house sparrow, common starling, hoodie, jackdaw, magpie, white wagtail.

At the same time, species such as the white wagtail, great tit, magpie, and jackdaw have a high population density not in the city, but in suburban forest parks and holiday villages. The hooded crow has the highest population density in the city's central park.

In residential areas on the periphery of the city, in small areas of wastelands constantly visited by people, the nesting fauna of birds is extremely poor. The bulk of the population consists of feeding birds flying in from residential areas. As urbanization increases, the species composition and population of birds in open landscapes become greatly depleted until the complete disappearance of this complex in the central parts of the city, and new ornithocomplexes are formed that differ from those that existed here previously.

In winter, the fauna and population of birds differ significantly from those during nesting time. Residential areas are poor in the number of bird species. More species are found in the central parks of the city, due to the fact that here, in addition to synanthropic birds (sparrows, hooded crow, jackdaw, rock pigeon, great tit), forest birds are added.

Just as in the summer, in winter several groups of birds can be distinguished, the density of which increases, decreases, or remains constant; synanthropic birds increase their numbers in residential areas of the city. Species typical of populated areas appear here - the rock pigeon and the house sparrow. In different years, the number of waxwings and bullfinches wintering in cities varies, feeding on the fruits of rowan, hawthorn, apple trees and other fruit trees, of which there are much more on boulevards, parks and streets than in the surrounding forests.

House sparrows, hooded crows and jackdaws are concentrated in areas rich in food of anthropogenic origin. Probably due to the fact that the city has a mild climate and more food than in the suburbs, rooks and starlings often remain in large numbers for the winter.

In winter, the population density of each species largely depends on the degree of its food specialization and the ability to use a wide range of feeds, including feeds of anthropogenic origin.

In autumn, the number of arrivals of forest species increases due to young individuals. In early autumn, a large number of birds feed in fields and wastelands in the suburbs: corvids, pigeons, buntings, tree sparrows. Large flocks of fieldfares and starlings roam the city’s parks and squares.

For hooded crows and jackdaws, an increase in population density is associated not only with the abundance of food at nearby houses in the form of various garbage and food remains, but also with the presence of convenient nesting places.

The overall bird population density, despite the depleted species composition, has increased.

The number of most wintering birds gradually decreases, and only a few species that have adapted to life in urban areas increase.

Identification of the practical significance of city birds.

The harmfulness and usefulness of any species are relative and may vary depending on the location of the city, time of year, seasonal conditions, number and density of the species. It is especially difficult to assess the usefulness or harmfulness of a species as a whole in urban conditions, since the ecological connections of the species with humans are diverse, and appropriate methods do not yet exist.

Positive value

The presence of birds in the city is, first of all, of great positive significance, both for humans and for the ecological communities inhabiting the city. Here birds act as natural regulators of the number of harmful insects.

By being sensitive to changes in the urban environment as a whole, individual species can be used as an indicator of the overall health of the urban landscape. Such indicators can be the hooded crow, jackdaw, rook, rock pigeon, great spotted woodpecker, swift, great tit, field and house sparrows and some other species.

The presence of birds in any city has great aesthetic and moral significance. Birds always meant a lot in his life, and this was reflected in material culture and language. Birds singing improves the sound environment and has a good effect on people's mood, causes positive emotions, and increases their performance. Birds are a convenient object of environmental education and training.

Negative meaning

Due to the increase in the number of hooded crows and rock pigeons, their damaging activity has increased significantly. Resting on horizontal ventilation pipes and metal coverings of eaves, they leave behind layers of droppings and pockets of corrosion that destroy roofing iron.

In recent years, the medical importance of birds as carriers of infection has increased significantly. Influenza-like viruses have been discovered in birds, and epidemiologists suspect migrating birds of spreading influenza infections. In our country, more than 16 viruses have been identified from birds that cause serious illnesses in humans and domestic animals.

Identification of ways to manage the city's avifauna.

With the current level of municipal management, collection and storage of food waste, unlimited opportunities are created for feeding a large number of corvids and pigeons. At the same time, architectural structures provide them with convenient places for nesting. Under these conditions, a naturally effective environmental means of limiting and reducing the numbers of these species will be the use of special containers and ensuring that attics and niches suitable for nesting in buildings and warehouses are inaccessible.

When carrying out these activities, it is necessary to pay attention and carry out explanatory work among city residents.

To limit the number of species that are undesirable in the city (the hooded crow, the rock pigeon), it is necessary to increase the level of sanitary conditions in the city and control the feeding of birds.

At the same time, feeding birds that are of economic or cultural-aesthetic value to the city should be encouraged in every possible way, since it is thanks to winter feeding that a high number of great tits is maintained, many of which then remain to nest in the city. There would have been even more of them if not for the shortage of hollows and hollow-like niches suitable for making nests. Feeding areas and feeders are visited by bullfinches, waxwings, nuthatches, great spotted woodpeckers, and finches in the fall.

By feeding, it is possible to increase the concentration of birds in the city. And hanging artificial nesting boxes is another powerful regulator of the number of beneficial birds in the city. Most of these nesting sites are inhabited by starlings and tree sparrows; a few are inhabited by pied flycatchers, great tits, redstarts and some other species. The reason for this disproportion lies in the design defects of handicraft nests and their environmentally incorrect placement.

A well-known way to enrich the avifauna of cities and other populated areas is by landscaping their territories and hanging artificial nesting boxes. When landscaping streets, it is desirable that areas of tree and shrub plantings be continuous and in contact with suburban forest parks.

Among the environmental factors that attract beneficial birds to the city, a special place is occupied by plants, the seeds and fruits of which are used by birds for food in the autumn-winter period. Such plants include: rowan, viburnum, small-fruited apple tree, elderberry, ash, birch, maple, larch and others. These plants attract waxwings, bullfinches, siskins, tap dancers, linnets, warblers, and many other birds needed by the city.

Moreover, certain bird species are ecologically associated with certain plants. For example, siskins and redpolls - with birch and alder, fieldfare thrushes, bullfinches and waxwings - with viburnum, rowan and small-fruited apple trees, warblers - with elderberry, etc.

To construct their hollows, spotted woodpeckers need soft types of wood, preferring to hollow aspen, alder, and linden.

On the other hand, proper pruning of the crowns of trees and shrubs creates favorable conditions for nesting for many species of birds. By selecting the composition of tree and shrub species taking into account the interests of birds, trimming their crowns, concentrating them in groups, it is possible to attract many species of birds, replenishing ornithological complexes.

It is also necessary to strengthen propaganda for the protection of beneficial bird species living in anthropogenic landscapes.

In the widespread use of methods to control bird behavior - a gentle means of influencing urban biocenoses - we see great opportunities to specifically influence the bird fauna, replenish it with useful species and limit the number of undesirable species.

The work was carried out in the Northern microdistrict of the city of Elektrostal, Moscow region. A special place of observation was the microdistrict of school No. 15 with in-depth study of individual subjects. Observations were carried out during the autumn and winter of 2007-2008.

Brief description of the methods used.

1. Quantitative recording of birds and calculation of their population density.

To conduct quantitative bird counts, you must be able to identify them by their appearance and voices directly in nature.

The most acceptable method of bird counting is route counting, designed to survey large areas - an area of ​​at least 1 square kilometer. We carried out our work on the territory of the Northern microdistrict, satisfying this condition.

During the count, the observer follows the route and records in a special diary all birds encountered (seen or heard), regardless of the distance to them. The speed of movement along the route should be low enough so that the sound signals of birds and their species can be accurately determined. You should not linger in one place for a long time in order to listen to the birds singing, this may lead to errors in recording. The normal speed is 2-2. 5 km/h during the non-breeding period and 1.5-2 km/h during the nesting period.

In such a diary they note: the place of recording (region, district, city), date, weather conditions (cloudiness, temperature, presence or absence of winds, height of snow cover, presence of snow on branches).

To obtain reliable data, it is necessary to travel a certain distance necessary to obtain correct data. This distance could be a route of at least 5 km in each habitat surveyed.

After completing the census work, the bird population density is calculated. The calculation is carried out for each of the encountered species separately.

2. Methodology for counting birds by tracks

To determine the number, density and species composition of birds, the winter route census method can be used. The counting methodology is based on the fact that the average number of crossings of bird tracks of a counted species along a counting route is directly proportional to the population density of that species. In turn, the number of crossings depends on the average length of bird tracks.

To determine the number of bird individuals per unit area, it is necessary to determine 2 indicators:

1) Average number of crossings of daily tracks of counted birds per unit route length;

2) A coefficient associated with the length of the daily movement of a given bird.

The population formula for each individual bird species is as follows:

D= A·K, where D is the population density of a given species (individuals per 1 sq. km), A is the route count indicator (number of tracks per 1 km of route), K is a conversion factor associated with the length of the birds’ daily movement in registration period in this territory.

3. Photo-video counting technique. (we came up with it ourselves)

When moving along the city streets, counting the birds seen with binoculars, it is difficult to count a large number of birds at once. This problem can be solved using pictures taken with a digital photo-video camera. Computer processing of images makes it possible to accurately count the number of bird individuals when enlarging the frame.

4. Methodology for identifying birds (Vladimir Flint)

To identify birds you need to use color tables. First, you need to remember the appearance of birds from different orders and families, so that when you meet them, you can recognize them by sight. It is necessary to remember the most striking details of color and structure, the behavior of birds. Quickly draw up as detailed a “verbal portrait” of the bird as possible, then look for the corresponding drawing on the tables. Read the description, the habitat of a similar bird, look at range maps to compare more precise details.

To observe birds, it is advisable to have good six- to eight-power binoculars. Clothing should not be too bright and, if possible, match the colors of the surrounding landscape.

The best time of day for bird watching is early morning.

Approximate number of birds in the Northern microdistrict of the city. El-steel from September to December 2007

Ecological significance of city birds.

Type Food Ecological significance

Sparrows Seeds, berries, insects Regulate the number of insects. They are considered agricultural pests because they feed mainly on plant seeds.

Crows Grains, bird eggs, small rodents, carrion, They are carriers of garbage and carriers of diseases, they regulate the number of rodents and waste.

Pigeons Seeds, due to lack of food they feed on Dispersal of seeds, just like crows can be carriers of diseases by waste

Jackdaws Insects, grains, tubers, berries, fruits Eat a large number of leaf beetles, elephant beetles, beetles and others. They are garbage carriers

Waxwings Fruits of trees and shrubs Distribution of plant seeds

Bullfinches Buds and plant seeds, small nuts, Plant seed propagation (rowan)

1. The species composition of urban birds is diverse and differs in summer and winter.

2. Many birds protect urban plants from insect pests, and their attraction improves the condition of green spaces.

3. Hanging feeders and artificial nests helps to increase the number of only some bird species;

4. Since some birds are carriers of garbage, it is necessary to reconstruct garbage containers and instruct city residents.

Practical use of project results.

1. The collected material from the structures of artificial nests and feeders can be used to regularly update them.

2. Compiled appeals to city residents can be used to regularly remind city residents:

On maintaining the sanitary condition of the city

The need to take care of beneficial birds

3. An increase in the number of tits and other birds due to artificial nesting boxes and feeders will improve the health of the city’s green spaces and get rid of many insect pests.

Social significance of the project

Thus, we see how complex and multifaceted the relationship between humans and birds is in a city, and how important it is to take into account all aspects of the coexistence of both birds and people when planning and implementing practical activities regarding birds.

From the whole variety of birds, people prefer to choose only those species that are needed or useful in the city. Spontaneously, without realizing it, he is already doing this, engaging in green construction, shaping the architectural appearance of the city.

What should a person do in relation to already selected species that are included in the urban avifauna, or potentially possible “citizens”, whose existence in the city will depend on what environmental conditions are necessary and how quickly a person creates them.

First of all, it requires monitoring control over the state of populations and their existence in the city. Such monitoring allows us to carry out environmental work towards the formation of urban avifauna. Now is the time to use behavior management techniques in a more targeted manner to benefit not only humans, but also the larger bird population.

By launching widespread propaganda for hanging artificial nesting boxes and feeding birds, we must achieve significant changes in the numbers and distribution of individual species. Success in solving this problem can only be achieved on the basis of systematic approaches. This is necessary, first of all, because birds are an integral component of a complex ecological system - a city.

Hurry up to help the birds!

Let not a single winged friend be left without shelter!

Make houses for birds, inspect old birdhouses. Check whether they are holding tightly, whether they need to be adjusted, repaired, or the cracks covered.

An increase in the number of insectivorous birds will keep the green spaces of our city green and make our lives joyful.

Hurry up to help the birds!

Don't forget to set up a winter bird feeder.

It is entirely within your power to do it.

Feed the birds and they will delight you with a cheerful song and return kindness for kindness - they will destroy larvae and pests, and save our green world!

Be careful!

Our sloppiness and carelessness at the intermediate stage of waste disposal leads to a massive accumulation of birds, which can be carriers of dangerous diseases.

Everything is within our power!

Bag out any food scraps you throw away.

Dispose of garbage only in trash containers.

Greetings, my reader. The most significant element in the animal world of birds in our country is the cultural landscape, which arose as a result of both purposeful human activity and the natural environment, influencing many natural processes of transformation of nature.

In the conditions of Russia in the European part of the country and in Siberia, this landscape consists mainly of agricultural land, forming areas of the so-called cultural steppe, which dominates in the most populated areas of the country and is spreading more and more.

Another element of the cultural landscape is artificial objects created by man - crowded cities and human settlements.

Finally, in the arid regions of our country, the cultural landscape is mainly of the nature of fertile oases and artificially irrigated areas.

The world of birds of the cultural steppe

The richness and diversity of bird fauna in human settlements is largely associated with the development of woody vegetation in them; Basically it corresponds to the fauna of broad-leaved and mixed forests. The same fauna is characteristic of shelterbelts and other artificial plantings.

However, the fauna of agricultural land is of greatest importance to the bird world. Here are some that are currently characteristic of the landscape of the cultural steppe:

1. from chicken - quail and gray partridge,
2. from shepherdesses - corncrake,
3. among passerines - crows and rooks, house and tree sparrows, some buntings, in particular the steppe and common buntings; skylarks and crested larks, partly magpies, hoopoe and others.

The economic development of these territories by humans in the form of plowing and deforestation has led to a sharp disruption of the natural habitat and to such unfavorable natural processes as:

• soil erosion and sand spread,
• air and natural water pollution,

which significantly affected the change in the distribution of certain bird species in Russia: the movement to the north of a number of species, in particular the gray partridge and the crested lark.

The development of human settlements attracts -

• house sparrow and swift,
• village and city swallows,
• jackdaw and raven.

In winter, common buntings gather near settlements. The development of urban gardens and parks over recent decades has caused an increase in the number and a change in the area of ​​distribution:

• blackbird and black redstart,
• orioles and grosbeaks,
• goldfinch, chaffinch and partly rook.

In recent years, a wild canary has penetrated into the cultural landscape of the steppe type from the west, reaching Riga and Kyiv. These birds avoid remote uninhabited areas, but go far to the north behind human settlements. Spreading low shrubs growing in clearings attract:

• warblers and warblers,
• lentils and linnets,
• greenfinches and shrikes,
• forest pipits, etc.

Change and development of the cultural landscape

The development of meadows along river banks resulting from forest clearings is associated with the spread of certain bird species:

1. meadow stonechats, yellow pliskas and white wagtails,
2. meadow pipits and skylarks,
3. corncrakes and harriers,
4. quails and other birds.

The hoopoe, which has become a regular nesting bird in the Moscow region since the 20s of our century, settles in the young pastures of bushes. The roller also moved north.

Thus, it is clear that the development of a cultural landscape in itself does not cause depletion of the fauna, but only leads to its change.

Of course, in this case, species that are associated with the presence of forests are forced to retreat and partially disappear as the forest area decreases.
First of all, this includes such relatively small birds as. The same is the fate of birds, which, as objects of hunting, are directly persecuted by humans - this is

• capercaillie and hazel grouse,
• pheasant and roach,
• swan, etc.

Only one species was completely exterminated in historical times on our territory - the large flightless cormorant, discovered in 1741 on Bering Island, which finally disappeared around the middle of the last century.

Apparently, at the beginning of this century, the Canada goose disappeared from the Commander and Kuril Islands.

The fact that human activity, changing and diversifying the natural landscape, contributes to the enrichment of the animal world, is clearly seen when studying the birds of cultural areas of the North Caucasus. The list of species characteristic of them is very rich:

• white stork and hobby,
• kestrel and hawk tyuvik,
• black kite and desert owl,
• owl and hoopoe,
• turtle doves - common, ringed, small,
• black swift and mynah starling,
• oriole and greenfinch,
• goldfinch and house sparrow;
• tree sparrow and black-throated sparrow,
• dun reel and black coin,
• swallows - killer whale and red-rumped,
• Asian skylark, etc.

Many other species are not so closely associated with the oasis landscape, such as:

• starling and gall oatmeal,
• roller and bee-eater,
• wagtails and bullfinches,
• shrikes and blackbirds.

All these species of birds are mainly associated with the fauna of forests and shrubs, that is, in the conditions of the North Caucasus with the fauna of riverine tugai, and then with forest-shrub vegetation of the foothills and mountains.

The appearance of the fauna of birds in various latitudinal zones of Russia

Not all bird species found in our country can be distributed among the landscape zones indicated above.

In the Russian bird world, there are a significant number of widely distributed species, the connection of which with certain latitudinal conditions is unclear; This especially applies to aquatic or near-aquatic birds.

Among them are the following:

1. of the gulls - herring and common gulls, common tern, great grebes, grey-cheeked grebe;
2. many species of ducks - mallard, pintail, teal, shoveler;
3. among copepods - the great cormorant;
4. some waders, such as snipe;
5. among the long-legged ones - gray and red herons, bitterns;
6. among predators - the true falcon, merlin, kestrel, white-tailed eagle, osprey;
7. of owls - eagle owl, little owl, common nightjar;
8. many passerines - raven, jackdaw, starling, white and yellow wagtail, reed bunting, skylark, gray shrike, grasshopper warbler and common warbler, whitethroat, missus thrush, common wheatear, bluethroat, killer whale and funnel swallow, sand martin and others.

Of course, the distribution of these birds depends on certain conditions, in particular on the presence of natural or artificial reservoirs for:

• seagulls and ducks,
• terns and waders,
• osprey and grebes;

if there are bodies of water, these bird species are found at different latitudes.

Other of the listed species are found on the territory of Russia in a wide variety of conditions. For example, the eagle owl nests everywhere except the tundra - from the northern border of the forest to the south of the Caucasus, staying in forests and steppes, high in the mountains and in deserts.

In the same way, the common falcon nests in the tundra, in forest belts, in the Caucasus mountains, avoiding only flat, treeless or vertically undissected areas. The common wheatear can be found in the Arctic, and in temperate latitudes.

Not being characteristic of a particular latitudinal zone, these widespread bird species, however, significantly influence the appearance of the bird fauna of certain areas of our country, since in different parts of the country they are often represented by local subspecies.

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And that's all for today. I hope you enjoyed my article about the cultural landscape of our country's birdlife and learned something useful from it.

Maybe you too have seen some of these representatives of the bird world. Tell us about it in the comments to the article, I will be interested in reading it. Let me say goodbye to you and see you again, dear friends.

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Presentation on the topic: Birds of urban landscapes

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Compilation of a partial species list of birds found in the city of Rostov-on-Don. Compilation of a partial species list of birds found in the city of Rostov-on-Don. Determining the nature of the presence of birds in the city. Studying the distribution of birds within the city

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For many centuries, man, directly or indirectly influencing nature, changed its appearance. Following the change in living conditions, the animal world also changed. Some species disappeared, others became scarce and survived only in areas untouched by humans. But many more resilient species of animals and birds, despite the drastic change in the environment, managed to adapt and settled in habitats that were unusual for them. By developing the necessary biological characteristics, they change not only the composition of food, but also the nesting biotope and become typical representatives of the cultural landscape - urban birds. For many centuries, man, directly or indirectly influencing nature, changed its appearance. Following the change in living conditions, the animal world also changed. Some species disappeared, others became scarce and survived only in areas untouched by humans. But many more resilient species of animals and birds, despite the drastic change in the environment, managed to adapt and settled in habitats that were unusual for them. By developing the necessary biological characteristics, they change not only the composition of food, but also the nesting biotope and become typical representatives of the cultural landscape - urban birds.

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As cities expand, some bird species leave urbanized areas forever, others immediately adapt to city life, and others first retreat and then return and colonize the changed landscapes. The adaptation of birds to life in the city occurs too quickly to be explained by the action of natural selection. The urbanization of birds is based on changes in behavior leading to the formation of a special “urban” population structure. As cities expand, some bird species leave urbanized areas forever, others immediately adapt to city life, and others first retreat and then return and colonize the changed landscapes. The adaptation of birds to life in the city occurs too quickly to be explained by the action of natural selection. The urbanization of birds is based on changes in behavior leading to the formation of a special “urban” population structure.

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The crow is a large bird that can be identified by its color. People say that she is wearing “a black tailcoat on a gray vest.” This is a sedentary or nomadic bird. The crow is a large bird that can be identified by its color. People say that she is wearing “a black tailcoat on a gray vest.” This is a sedentary or nomadic bird. It builds nests in trees and on power transmission poles. Crows are omnivores. Their diet is based on various food scraps, waste from food production, and household waste in garbage dumps and landfills. They destroy the nests of songbirds and eat the eggs of chicks. To reduce the number of hooded crows in the city, it is necessary to improve the sanitary condition of the territories and attract birds of prey to parks to regulate the number of crows.

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The largest of all tits, slightly larger than a sparrow. It differs from other tits by a black longitudinal stripe-“tie” on the yellow-green chest, and a light spot on the back of the head. The largest of all tits, slightly larger than a sparrow. It differs from other tits by a black longitudinal stripe-“tie” on the yellow-green chest, and a light spot on the back of the head. Nests are placed in tree hollows, in holes between bricks, and in artificial nest boxes. In spring and summer, the diet of the great tit is dominated by insects and other invertebrates; in winter, the role of seeds increases, and near human habitation, food waste. In general, tits are very intelligent creatures. In England they learned to peck at the caps of milk bottles and drink some of the milk from them. With snow falling, most of the tits migrate to the south, and the remaining individuals for the winter move to the outskirts of populated areas.

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Adult starlings are black with a metallic sheen. If you look closely you can see reddish, purple and greenish tints in the plumage. In autumn, there are white spots at the ends of the contour feathers, as if covering the bird’s body with a scattering of pearls. The beak is yellow in spring and darkens in autumn. Juveniles have dull brownish plumage, which in the first autumn of life is replaced by adult plumage. In spring, starlings are among the very first to arrive at their nesting sites. It feeds on a variety of animal and plant foods and, at the end of the nesting period, gathers in large, dense flocks. It nests mainly near human dwellings, occupying artificial nesting boxes made and hung especially for starlings, niches under balconies and roofs, etc.

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A short and wide beak, especially at the base, a large mouth opening, narrow and very long wings, a wide chest, and at the same time an elegant physique, short and weak legs, unsuitable for moving on the ground, and finally, a forked tail is a sign of this family. A short and wide beak, especially at the base, a large mouth opening, narrow and very long wings, a wide chest, and at the same time an elegant physique, short and weak legs, unsuitable for moving on the ground, and finally, a forked tail is a sign of this family. The nest is molded from clay to the buildings. They feed on insects caught in the air on the fly. The city swallow often forms colonies of several dozen or more pairs. During the period of migrations and autumn migration, it gathers in flocks of up to several hundred individuals. The total number of this subspecies is very large.

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A resident bird, medium-sized, black, with a gray “handkerchief” on its head. A resident bird, medium-sized, black, with a gray “handkerchief” on its head. The most remarkable thing about the jackdaw is its eyes, the black pupil of which is surrounded by a gray-blue iris, so they appear whitish with a silvery tint. Jackdaws feed on both animal and plant foods. Among food of animal origin, insects – pests of trees and shrubs – predominate. At the end of summer and autumn, the basis of the diet consists of grains of cultivated cereals, in late autumn and winter - food waste. The feeding activity of jackdaws is beneficial for humans. For nesting, they choose enclosed spaces - tree hollows, attics. Winters in populated areas, where it is usually found together with crows.

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The rook is a large bird, its plumage is black with a metallic sheen. Due to the fact that birds constantly dig worms and larvae out of the ground with their beaks, the plumage of old birds is wiped off and dirty white skin is visible around the beak. The rook is a large bird, its plumage is black with a metallic sheen. Due to the fact that birds constantly dig worms and larvae out of the ground with their beaks, the plumage of old birds is wiped off and dirty white skin is visible around the beak. Nests are built in groups of trees in or near human settlements. Such a colony is called a rookery. The rookery can be seen and heard from afar. The main food is harmful insects and their larvae, as well as waste from various products near human habitation. One of the significant differences between the rook and other corvids that lead a sedentary lifestyle or make autumn-winter migrations within the nesting area is that the rook is a migratory bird for the northern regions of its habitat.

Slide no. 14

Slide description:

Slide no. 15

Slide description:

In places where birds gather, favorable conditions are formed for the reproduction of ticks, lice eaters, fleas, flies, and moths. In places where birds gather, favorable conditions are formed for the reproduction of ticks, lice eaters, fleas, flies, and moths. According to experts, from 40 to 90% of birds are infected with psittacosis, a dangerous disease transmitted to humans. Birds can also be carriers of pathogens such as encephalitis, brucellosis, pasteurellosis, etc. Birds, especially sparrows, fly into indoor spaces (public premises, grocery stores, indoor markets, food factories), where they spoil products, peck at packaging and bring goods into disrepair. Bird droppings spoil the appearance of buildings, destroy metal and finishing materials, and are also a substrate through which various infections (in particular, psittacosis) are transmitted. Synanthropic (dangerous) species in the city displace other birds that could nest in city parks. City birds deal with urban noise in their own way. Male robins sing at night so that the female can appreciate the beauty of their voice. Tits in Belgium are switching to higher frequencies, and nightingales in Germany have begun to sing so loudly that they are already breaking European noise pollution laws. We must not forget about possible disruptions to various services (power lines, airports, etc.) caused by bird activity. According to statistics, one of the most common causes of aircraft accidents is bird strikes. The impact force of a bird the size of a seagull at an airplane speed of 320 km/h is 3200 kg, at a speed of 960 km/h - 28800 kg. For a visual comparison, with a bird weighing 1.8 kg and an aircraft speed of 700 km/h at an altitude of less than 2400 m, the force of the bird hitting the aircraft is three times stronger than the impact of a 30 mm projectile.

Slide description:

By pecking insects and their larvae, sparrows bring great benefits to the seeds of weeds. They certainly play a useful role as orderlies in city landfills. By pecking insects and their larvae, the seeds of weeds are of great benefit to sparrows. They certainly play a useful role as orderlies at city dumps. Once upon a time in China it was decided that sparrows harm rice crops by eating grain. They announced a reward for the sparrow corpses, went out together, the whole commune, and began to prevent the birds from landing on the ground. The exhausted falling birds were pierced and strung on strings and handed over to the state. Then, as expected, the Lord of the Flies came and brought with him his little insect friends, who, better than any sparrows, devoured the crops. New sparrows had to be purchased abroad. You don't joke with nature - it turns out too expensive. Capable and prolific Chinese outside China are ready to restore the population of small sparrows in their homeland, and those, in general, don’t need much - at least a grain of rice of freedom. But constantly. In one day, a starling can eat as many caterpillars as it weighs itself and will not get fat at all, since it spends a lot of energy searching for food, building a nest and caring for chicks.

Slide no. 18

Slide description:

Swifts use their own saliva as a building material. With its help, they glue together fluff, scraps of paper and other debris flying in the air. Swifts use their own saliva as a building material. With its help, they glue together fluff, scraps of paper and other debris flying in the air. The most modern nest was demonstrated at one of the ornithological conventions: it was a crow's nest made entirely of aluminum wire. Passeriformes (the largest order of birds known to science) are close relatives of parrots and falcons. Woodpeckers, hawks, owls and hornbills look very different, but all are closely related to passerines. A tit feeds its chicks a thousand times per day. The French call the pigeon a “flying rat.” Birds do not sing because they are happy. This is how they mark their territory. The most flying bird is the black swift. It can stay in the air for 2 to 4 years. In the air it eats, drinks, sleeps and mates. When it first leaves the ground, a swift flies about 500,000 kilometers before landing. When flying, birds do not flap their wings up and down. Their movement is rather forward and backward, resembling a figure eight when looking at the bird from the side. .

Birds of urban landscapes

The purpose of the work is to show the diversity of birds in the city of Rostov-on-Don to reveal the biological characteristics and characteristics of the “behavior” of birds to show the mutual influence of humans and birds on each other

Objectives: Compiling a partial species list of birds found in the city of Rostov-on-Don. Finding out the nature of the presence of birds in the city. Studying the distribution of birds within the city

City birds For many centuries, people, directly or indirectly influencing nature, have changed its appearance. Following the change in living conditions, the animal world also changed. Some species disappeared, others became scarce and survived only in areas untouched by humans. But many more resilient species of animals and birds, despite the drastic change in the environment, managed to adapt and settled in habitats that were unusual for them. By developing the necessary biological characteristics, they change not only the composition of food, but also the nesting biotope and become typical representatives of the cultural landscape - urban birds.

As cities expand, some bird species leave urbanized areas forever, others immediately adapt to city life, and others first retreat and then return and colonize the changed landscapes. The adaptation of birds to life in the city occurs too quickly to be explained by the action of natural selection. The urbanization of birds is based on changes in behavior leading to the formation of a special “urban” population structure. Some species of birds, forced out of their usual habitats by growing cities, surprisingly quickly adapt to completely new living conditions in the city. At the same time, stable changes in behavior appear in the birds, and the stereotypes of choosing habitat, food and nesting sites characteristic of this species are abandoned. The “starting place” of bird urbanization is usually settlements in suburban forests or wintering aggregations in the city itself. From there, there is a directed “recruitment” of birds into the emerging urban population.

The most characteristic birds for the city

Gray Crow The crow is a large bird that can be recognized by its color. People say that she is wearing “a black tailcoat on a gray vest.” This is a sedentary or nomadic bird. It builds nests in trees and on power transmission poles. Crows are omnivores. Their diet is based on various food scraps, waste from food production, and household waste in garbage dumps and landfills. They destroy the nests of songbirds and eat the eggs of chicks. To reduce the number of hooded crows in the city, it is necessary to improve the sanitary condition of the territories and attract birds of prey to parks to regulate the number of crows.

Great Tit The largest of all tits, slightly larger than a sparrow. It differs from other tits by a black longitudinal stripe-“tie” on the yellow-green chest, and a light spot on the back of the head. Nests are placed in tree hollows, in holes between bricks, and in artificial nest boxes. In spring and summer, the diet of the great tit is dominated by insects and other invertebrates; in winter, the role of seeds increases, and near human habitation, food waste. In general, tits are very intelligent creatures. In England they learned to peck at the caps of milk bottles and drink some of the milk from them. With snow falling, most of the tits migrate to the south, and the remaining individuals for the winter move to the outskirts of populated areas.

Starling Adult starlings are black with a metallic sheen. If you look closely you can see reddish, violet and greenish tints in the plumage. In autumn, there are white spots at the ends of the contour feather, as if covering the body of the bird with a scattering of pearls. The beak is yellow in spring and darkens in autumn. Juveniles have dull brownish plumage, which in the first autumn of life is replaced by adult plumage. In spring, starlings are among the very first to arrive at their nesting sites. It feeds on a variety of animal and plant foods and, at the end of the nesting period, gathers in large, dense flocks. It nests mainly near human dwellings, occupying artificial nesting boxes made and hung especially for starlings, niches under balconies and roofs, etc.

Swallow Short and wide, especially at the base, beak, large mouth opening, narrow and very long wings, wide chest, and at the same time graceful physique, short and weak legs, unsuitable for moving on the ground, and finally, a forked tail is a sign of this family . The nest is molded from clay to the buildings. They feed on insects caught in the air on the fly. The city swallow often forms colonies of several dozen or more pairs. During the period of migrations and autumn migration, it gathers in flocks of up to several hundred individuals. The total number of this subspecies is very large.

Jackdaw A sedentary bird, medium size, black, with a gray “handkerchief” on its head. The most remarkable thing about the jackdaw is its eyes, the black pupil of which is surrounded by a gray-blue iris, so they appear whitish with a silvery tint. Jackdaws feed on both animal and plant foods. Among food of animal origin, insects – pests of trees and shrubs – predominate. At the end of summer and autumn, the basis of the diet consists of grains of cultivated cereals, in late autumn and winter - food waste. The feeding activity of jackdaws is beneficial for humans. For nesting, they choose enclosed spaces - tree hollows, attics. Winters in populated areas, where it is usually found together with crows.

Rook The rook is a large bird, its plumage is black with a metallic sheen. Due to the fact that birds constantly dig worms and larvae out of the ground with their beaks, the plumage of old birds is wiped off and dirty white skin is visible around the beak. Nests are built in groups of trees in or near human settlements. Such a colony is called a rookery. The rookery can be seen and heard from afar. The main food is harmful insects and their larvae, as well as waste from various products near human habitation. One of the significant differences between the rook and other corvids that lead a sedentary lifestyle or make autumn-winter migrations within the nesting area is that the rook is a migratory bird for the northern regions of its habitat.

Varying degrees of connection between birds and human habitation

Why do birds bother us? In places where birds gather, favorable conditions are formed for the reproduction of ticks, lice eaters, fleas, flies, and moths. According to experts, from 40 to 90% of birds are infected with psittacosis, a dangerous disease transmitted to humans. Birds can also be carriers of pathogens such as encephalitis, brucellosis, pasteurellosis, etc. Birds, especially sparrows, fly into indoor spaces (public premises, grocery stores, indoor markets, food factories), where they spoil products, peck at packaging and bring goods into disrepair. Bird droppings spoil the appearance of buildings, destroy metal and finishing materials, and are also a substrate through which various infections (in particular, psittacosis) are transmitted. Synanthropic (dangerous) species in the city displace other birds that could nest in city parks. City birds deal with urban noise in their own way. Male robins sing at night so that the female can appreciate the beauty of their voice. Tits in Belgium are switching to higher frequencies, and nightingales in Germany have begun to sing so loudly that they are already breaking European noise pollution laws. We must not forget about possible disruptions to various services (power lines, airports, etc.) caused by bird activity. According to statistics, one of the most common causes of aircraft accidents is bird strikes. The impact force of a bird the size of a seagull at an airplane speed of 320 km/h is 3200 kg, at a speed of 960 km/h - 28800 kg. For a visual comparison, with a bird weighing 1.8 kg and an aircraft speed of 700 km/h at an altitude of less than 2400 m, the force of the bird hitting the aircraft is three times stronger than the impact of a 30 mm projectile.

How to fight birds There are sound simulators of birds of prey. They create various visual, acoustic and other interferences that prevent birds from orienting themselves in space. They create various mechanical obstacles for birds to land and move.

Benefits of urban birds By pecking insects and their larvae, weed seeds are of great benefit to sparrows. They certainly play a useful role as orderlies at city dumps. Once upon a time in China it was decided that sparrows harm rice crops by eating grain. They announced a reward for the sparrow corpses, went out together, the whole commune, and began to prevent the birds from landing on the ground. The exhausted falling birds were pierced and strung on strings and handed over to the state. Then, as expected, the Lord of the Flies came and brought with him his little insect friends, who, better than any sparrows, devoured the crops. New sparrows had to be purchased abroad. You don't joke with nature - it turns out too expensive. Capable and prolific Chinese outside China are ready to restore the population of small sparrows in their homeland, and those, in general, don’t need much - at least a grain of rice of freedom. But constantly. In one day, a starling can eat as many caterpillars as it weighs itself and will not get fat at all, since it spends a lot of energy searching for food, building a nest and caring for chicks.

Interesting facts about birds Swifts use their own saliva as a building material. With its help, they glue together fluff, scraps of paper and other debris flying in the air. The most modern nest was demonstrated at one of the ornithological conventions: it was a crow's nest made entirely of aluminum wire. Passeriformes (the largest order of birds known to science) are close relatives of parrots and falcons. Woodpeckers, hawks, owls and hornbills look very different, but all are closely related to passerines. A tit feeds its chicks a thousand times per day. The French call the pigeon a “flying rat.” Birds do not sing because they are happy. This is how they mark their territory. The most flying bird is the black swift. It can stay in the air for 2 to 4 years. In the air it eats, drinks, sleeps and mates. When it first leaves the ground, a swift flies about 500,000 kilometers before landing. When flying, birds do not flap their wings up and down. Their movement is rather forward and backward, resembling a figure eight when looking at the bird from the side. .

Birds are messengers of joy. Every year they bring us spring on their wings. Birds are our faithful helpers, protectors of forests and fields, gardens and vegetable gardens. Birds are beauty and mystery. It is not for nothing that beautiful poems and secrets, songs, legends, and fairy tales have been written about them. Take care of the birds!

The most powerful factor changing natural landscapes is human labor. The use of natural resources is sometimes unsystematic and accidental, but under our socialist forms of economy it always changes the character of the country in a planned and deliberate manner, creating new types of landscapes in place of previously existing ones.

1 Portenko L. A., Essay on the bird fauna of Western Transcarpathia. S^ogshik in memory of Academician P. P. Sushkin. Ed. Academy of Sciences of the USSR, M.-L., 1950.

Deforestation, plowing virgin steppes, artificial irrigation, draining swamps, building roads, highways and graders, building cities and towns, growing artificial forests and creating plantings to strengthen sand - all this changes environmental factors beyond recognition.

The change from the virgin steppe to the cultural landscape does not have any significant impact on representatives of songbirds. Song passerines, which belong to the most advanced groups of the class of birds, fully possess that ecological plasticity that allows animals to widely adapt to changing environmental conditions and spread within them. The species composition of birds characteristic of the steppe landscape will remain unchanged. Larks, buntings, stonechat, and yellow plies will remain just as numerous here. Areas of perennial grasses, collective farm crops, hedges and groups of trees planted near fields will also attract a variety of warblers, gray warblers, shrikes and other birds unusual for the open steppe.

Tree plantations produced in order to consolidate shifting sands in a number of south-eastern regions of our country will create convenient places for songbirds to settle. We had to examine such plantings - “forest dachas” in the Stavropol Territory, surrounded by wormwood steppe and loose sand outcrops. When approaching these “forest dachas,” one immediately notices the very special bird life that abounds in them. The monotonous composition of steppe larks, stonechats, and rare black buntings is replaced by numerous tree- and shrub-associated great tits, warblers, black-fronted shrikes, shrikes, marsh warblers, pallid robins, tree sparrows and flycatchers. Pine plantations in the central part of our country are of a slightly different nature. We had to observe the life of songbirds in such forests of 10-50 years of age in the Bryansk region. More or less extensive areas are occupied by dense pine forests. The lack of light in them interferes with the development of not only shrubby, but also herbaceous vegetation and does not create favorable conditions for birds to settle in them. Rare pairs of finches and gray flycatchers, even rarer great tits, and the occasional missle thrush that flies here - these are, perhaps, all the songbirds of these new forests.

The biggest changes, however, to natural landscapes are made by the villages and cities that arise among them. Many of them have existed for hundreds of years, others arose in our time. Over hundreds of years of living in populated areas, some songbirds have completely adapted to living near human habitation and have lost direct connections with natural landscapes. Other birds, preferring to settle near humans, still live in natural conditions; others, finally, before our eyes, following the development of culture, penetrate into cities and towns from the surrounding forests and fields.

We meet most often the songbirds of cities and villages: we can observe them, they are closer to us, regardless of our specialty and inclination, and therefore we will dwell on these “cohabitants” of ours in a little more detail.

There are no cities in our country that are devoid of bird populations (regardless of the size of the city and its geographical location). Even in such a huge city as Moscow, there are relatively many songbirds. In Moscow we met garden redstarts, gray flycatchers, great tits, finches at the nesting grounds, and on the outskirts of the city - white wagtails and starlings, to which we must add numerous house and tree sparrows, less often city and village swallows. During autumn and spring migrations, the number of species, of course, increases. When listing the species of Moscow city birds, we “spoke only about those that nest inside the city limits - on boulevards, in squares, in small gardens of quiet streets and in city buildings themselves. In large gardens and parks surrounding Moscow (Sokolnichesky, Lenin Hills and others), there are many more bird species.

In cities smaller than Moscow, especially in more southern latitudes, there are even more nesting songbirds and their number can reach 25-30 species (in the city of Ordzhonikidze, North Ossetian Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic - 26 species).

Songbirds that inhabit cities can be divided into three groups. The first should include those species that do not occur without humans and outside human settlements. These are specific birds of the city, relatively few in number. having lost the characteristic features and “habits” of “wild” birds. These include house sparrows, city and village swallows and jackdaws. However, city swallows, or swallows, in the Caucasus, and especially in the Central Asian Soviet republics, also nest in natural mountain landscapes.

The second group of urban songbirds includes species that are fully adapted to the conditions of existence in the cultural landscape of the city, predominantly settling in it, not avoiding the proximity of humans, but also nesting in natural landscapes. These birds are usually called “preferents” (“companions”) of human culture. Of the city birds, these include starlings (which settle in our specially made birdhouses), white wagtails, garden redstarts, gray flycatchers and tree sparrows. These four species often make their nests in the cracks of houses and fences, under the eaves of roofs, under the rafters of barns and warehouses. For the Carpathians, one more species must be added to these birds - the canary finch, a bird that is currently spreading to the east and has reached the Soviet Baltic republics and the Dnieper. A. B. Kistyakovsky writes that the canary finch is a common nesting bird in parks and gardens of villages in Transcarpathia and large cities. It nests in Uzhgorod, Mukhachev, Tura-Remet, Rakhiv, Yesen and other cities. This bird is rarely found between populated areas and especially often settles in small gardens, making its nests on spruce trees planted in them.

The first two groups of birds - specific urban birds and “companions of culture” - are the main “core” of the urban fauna of songbirds (understanding the term “urban” in the broad sense of the word). For the most part, these are widespread forms, and they can be found in many cities of the USSR, from Vologda and Kirov in the north to Tbilisi and Yerevan in the south. The third group of birds settling in our cities includes species most often associated with forest landscapes. Our modern cities, with their green spaces, with their boulevards, parks, public gardens, reproduce forest and park landscapes in miniature. It is quite clear that songbirds easily adapt to living in new conditions created by man. These birds do not retreat from human culture, but, on the contrary, are adapting more and more to it. During the historical process of adaptation due to the increase in the number of human satellites, the bird population of cities and towns will increase. Songbirds in this category include blackbirds, tits - great and blue tits, shrikes, garden and black-headed warblers, goldfinches, greenfinches, finches, gray flycatchers and many others.

We can find data that allows us to understand the moments of adaptation of birds of this group to life with humans from the very beginning of their appearance by studying the behavior of songbirds in sparsely populated areas. The first step in approaching humans will be the use of human structures as nesting sites and settlements close to humans in order to obtain food. Let us present some data from our observations.

Rosy starlings are not common human companions. They always settle in large colonies in natural crevices and potholes on the steep slopes of ravines, steep cliffs of mountain cliffs and gullies. We had to observe large colonies of pink starlings nesting in a completely different environment. In 1926-1927, in the eastern part of the Caspian steppes, the steppes of Stavropol and the Grozny region, a massive proliferation of locusts was observed. It attracted masses of pink starlings, for which locusts are the main food. Traveling around the steppes of Stavropol in May-June 1927, we discovered nests of pink starlings in piles of dung and in pyramids of adobe bricks stacked in a checkerboard pattern near most farms and villages of the Achi-Kulak district of the Stavropol Territory.

Adobe bricks, made from clay and finely chopped straw, mixed steeply, are made in the southeast in the spring, then dried under the sun in the first summer months and only after that are used for buildings. Starling nests were placed in holes between adobe bricks and in cracks between layers of dung. They contained eggs of varying degrees of incubation and newly hatched chicks.

Black redstarts, rock sparrows, alpine finches, mountain buntings and mountain wagtails are common birds in the middle and high mountains of the Central and Eastern Caucasus. All these birds, belonging to various systematic groups, usually make their nests in rock crevices, in mountain caves, under bushes of plants growing on cliffs. But in a number of cases in the high mountain zone of the Caucasus, one can observe the listed birds also nesting close to humans. Here they build their nests in the voids that exist in the loosely folded and unfastened stone slabs of fences surrounding the sakli and auls of the mountaineers, in the walls of watchtowers and residential buildings. Birds settle near people, since there are a lot of insects near barns and cattle pens, and small gardens along their edges are densely overgrown with nettles, thistles and other weeds. These plants always have a lot of early ripening seeds.

A particularly interesting mountain bird, showing its first tentative attempts to get closer to humans, is the white-throated blackbird,

White-throated Blackbirds are cautious and timid birds. As mentioned above, they inhabit thickets of rhododendrons and the upper border (kolki) of birch forests of subalpine meadows of the Caucasus. Very close in their systematic characteristics to blackbirds, but in contrast to the latter, which are becoming more and more close to humans, white-throated blackbirds clearly prefer uninhabited areas. However, several times we had to observe in the high mountain villages of Georgia and Dagestan how, during the period of feeding their chicks, white-throated blackbirds regularly flew into the courtyards of the outermost houses of the villages to search for various insects there, most often large larvae of dung beetles.

From the examples given, the following conclusions can be drawn: mountain buntings, finches, rock sparrows and other songbirds are gradually becoming the same cultural preferences for cultivated mountain landscapes as the previously noted birds are in non-mountainous conditions.

White-throated Blackbirds show weak attempts to approach humans. Over a number of generations, these birds are likely to acquire the qualities of their black relatives, becoming more common inhabitants of the cultural landscapes of the high-mountain human settlements of the Caucasus.

The example of pink starlings and white-throated blackbirds clearly demonstrates the presence of high ecological plasticity in song passerine birds, which easily adapt to new and completely unusual living conditions.

The composition of the bird population of any landscape, as well as of any organisms inhabiting this landscape, is never in a state of immobility or any kind of equilibrium, always changing both quantitatively and qualitatively. This continuous dynamics of bird populations is especially noticeable when studying the fauna of the cultural landscape, in particular the fauna of cities. Before our eyes, Soviet cities are growing and changing their appearance. Gardens and parks appear in them, and green spaces grow around them. At the same time, new conditions for the existence of birds are created.

The bird population of cities in our Soviet conditions, as a rule, with very few exceptions, tends to increase. A well-known fact - a decrease in the number of house sparrows in cities following the development of mechanized transport - is explained by the inability for sparrows to feed on undigested grains, previously collected by birds in horse excrement. This fact, however, is not absolutely significant. House sparrows, which have decreased in numbers in recent years in large cities of our country, over the same period of time have populated and continue to populate more and more new villages that arise in previously uninhabited places - the Far North, along the Pechora River, in the semi-desert regions of the southeast of the RSFSR, and so on Further.

Consequently, the total number of sparrows living in the USSR is always in motion, and fluctuations in their numbers in total (but not in individual cases) apparently have the same progressive nature.

We had to study in some detail the qualitative and partly quantitative composition of the bird population of the city of Ordzhonikidze, North Ossetian Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic. Observations were carried out over decades and gave very revealing results.

Let us briefly present some data relating only to the group of songbirds and the conclusions arising from these data.

During the period from 1917 to 1920, the total number of species of songbirds nesting within the city of Ordzhonikidze was 26. In 1929-1932, this figure decreased to 18.

Finally, data for 1946-1948 again shows an increase in the number of breeding species, almost reaching the 1920 figure of 24 species.

How can such a fluctuation in the number of nesting species in the same urban cultural landscape be explained? A careful analysis revealed that the number of birds characteristic of the city - house sparrows (for Ordzhonikidze and field swallows), city and village swallows remained almost unchanged. However, Shrikes, Blackfinches, Blackbirds, Wrens, Wood Accentors, Common Warblers and Marsh Warblers have stopped nesting in the city.

A number of species have also decreased in the number of nesting pairs, namely greenfinches, goldfinches, finches, tits, black-headed warblers and others.

The main reason for this disappearance and quantitative decrease in songbirds nesting in Ordzhonikidze was the change in the appearance of the city. The period of the civil war, the economic devastation during it and the period immediately following it, entailed the destruction “for firewood” and for strategic purposes of protective plantings (trees and shrubs) in gardens (often the gardens themselves) and in city parks. The cemeteries located within the city limits were completely stripped of bushes and old hollow trees, giving shelter to numerous birds. The difficulty of restoring a “green” economy, which requires several years for its development, and the inability to find suitable nesting sites did not allow all of the listed bird species to continue to live in the city. And, on the contrary, birds typical of cities and villages, not being associated with tree and shrub vegetation, but building nests on buildings and under the roofs of houses, did not suffer from changes in the “look of the city.”

The fact of a new rise in the number of birds by 1946-1948 fully confirms our conclusions. Concern for the “green” economy of the city was one of the highest priority concerns of the Soviet urban economy. Thanks to this, the amount of green space in Ordzhonikidze was not only restored, but also exceeded the amount of the pre-revolutionary period. “The trees that grew over two nine years again made it possible for songbirds to settle in the city, which we see from the figures for 1946-1948.

The species that did not return to the city after the forced “departure” from it include three: lentil, wood accentor and wren. These birds usually build their nests in thorny and other bushes, i.e. in precisely this kind of plantings that have not been restored in Ordzhonikidze. Compared to 1917-1920, in 1929-1932 and in 1946-1948, the appearance of one “new” species was also noted - mountain wagtails.

The destruction of tree and shrub vegetation was not the only reason for the decrease in birds in the city of Ordzhonikidze, but, we think, it was one of the main ones.

The dynamic state of populations of birds of the same species and the set of species inhabiting the landscape can be observed in any other conditions, but observations in the city, where this dynamics is more clearly expressed, are especially convenient.

The importance of songbirds in nature and in human agriculture.

Songbirds, which, as can be seen from the previous presentation, occupy a significant place in both natural and cultural landscapes, are not only “witnesses” (it is impossible to say “mute” about birds!) of ongoing processes, but actively participate in them.

The importance of birds in nature, and, consequently, in forestry and agriculture, connected by inextricable ties with nature, has been and is being given a lot of attention. At present, especially as a result of a number of experimental works by Soviet ornithologists from Michurinsk, the significance of birds can be discussed not only on the basis of speculative conclusions, but on the basis of strictly verified experimental, digital, and factual material.

In this matter, as in any phenomenon arising from the activity of organisms, one must always proceed from certain specific data relating not only to a certain species of bird, but also to the conditions of existence of this species in which it is located in a certain place and at a certain time. time. One and the same type of songbird can be extremely useful in certain conditions, but relatively harmful in others.

A. B. Kistyakovsky, who examined many stomachs of great tits and blue tits, writes: “Blue tits and great tits are undoubtedly very useful birds. Their main food is beetles and bedbugs, which include a number of pests. No remains of cultivated plants were found in the stomachs at all."

K. N. Blagoeklonov gives a long series of examples of the colossal work that insectivorous birds, feeding mainly on agricultural and forestry pests, do “for humans.” For example, one yellow-headed kinglet destroys 8 to 10 million small insects per year. One swallow catches from 500 thousand to 1 million flies, mosquitoes and aphids over the summer.

1 Kistyakovsky A. B., Birds of gardens of the lower Kuban. Works on plant protection. Series IV, no. 2, L., 1932.

In the ravine oak groves of the Rostov region (Kalitvinsky forestry enterprise), attracted birds completely eliminated sawfly outbreaks. As a result of attracting birds on the Podcherkovsky collective farm (Dmitrovsky district of the Moscow region), in the garden of the collective farm “there was no need to specially remove the nests of hawthorns or lacewings, or fight with copperheads and silkworms, since all this was done by birds”1.

V.I. Osmolovskaya and A.N. Formozov 2, who give the most complete summary of the importance of birds as exterminators of forest pests, report a number of verified facts characterizing this importance. The main food of finches, for example (not exclusively insectivorous birds), from May to August are small beetles (80% of all insects they eat), of which 66% are harmful species.

According to observations of the feeding of oriole chicks in the Kamyshinsky forest nursery in June 1949, it turned out that 97.5% of the food eaten by birds falls on the share of harmful insects (butterfly caterpillars, small beetles, adult orthoptera) and only 2.5% of the food consists of berries (cherries ).

Limiting ourselves to indicating these data given in the literature devoted to the question of the significance of birds (for more details, see the above reports by K.N. Blagosklonov, A.N. Formozov and others), we will present some materials from our observations.

In the summer of 1921, during the mass reproduction of mouse-like rodents, which covered a huge area of ​​almost the entire southeast of the RSFSR, social voles and other small rodents were the main food of rooks feeding their chicks in June-July. Birds flew in flocks from their nesting places to the nearest colonies of rodents and actively hunted for the animals, lying in wait and grabbing voles running out of their holes. We simultaneously found four half-adult voles in the crop and esophagus of one rook. When the grain beetle multiplies in grain crops in the Stavropol Territory, the same rooks, larks, black-fronted shrikes and shrikes switch to almost exclusive feeding on this pest.

1 Blagosklonov K.N., Protection and attraction of birds useful in agriculture. Uchpedgiz, M., 1949. 2 Formozov A.N., Osmolovskaya V.I., Blagoslonov K.N., Birds and forest pests. ATOIP, M., 1950.

During outbreaks of mass reproduction of locusts, especially migratory locusts and prusik (Italian locusts), birds living in areas covered by locusts completely switch to feeding on them and feeding their chicks with locusts. Of the song passerines that ate locusts, larks (of all types), field pipits, house and field sparrows, stonechat, yellow pliski and a number of others were recorded.

However, undoubtedly, the first place as the main enemy and destroyer of locusts belongs to the pink starling. From the above, one should not conclude that song passerine birds are always and everywhere only useful.

Not at all. In a number of cases, their activities can take on a negative character for the human economy.

For example, starlings, thrushes, grosbeaks and other songbirds can harm berry fields and orchards by eating berries and fruits. Warblers, warblers and other small, mainly insectivorous birds at stopovers during the autumn migration willingly peck ripening, sweet pears and grapes in the orchards of our south, causing them to rot and spoil.

Let us summarize what has been said about the benefits and harms of songbirds.

Professor G.P. Dementyev quite rightly notes that in the question of the economic importance of birds one must always proceed from certain conditions of place and time. This issue should be considered on the basis of a thorough study of the life, behavior and feeding regime of birds in certain conditions. The protection and attraction of birds must be built on a strictly scientific basis and go hand in hand with the study of their biology. Based on the numerous data available in our Soviet ornithological literature on the benefits and harms of birds, we must draw the conclusion that in the conditions of the European part of the USSR, songbirds, almost without exception, are useful for forestry and agriculture. The benefits of songbirds are especially noticeable and tangible in forest plantations, and hence our task is to protect and protect them in every possible way. The minor harm caused by songbirds in some cases and in rare periods of their lives (the indicated cases of spoilage of berries, fruits and grapes, destruction of seeds of cultivated plants) is more than compensated - in our conditions - by the benefits brought by the same species in other periods of their lives. Even predominantly herbivorous birds that feed on grains and plant seeds always bring more benefit than harm, which is easily established by analyzing the stomach contents of these birds. In the vast majority of cases, granivorous birds eat the seeds of weeds and wild cereals; Much less often, birds feed on the seeds of cultivated plants.

The undoubted benefits brought primarily by insectivorous birds to forests and agricultural crops are obvious. Analyzes of stomach contents show that, especially in cases of mass reproduction of any pests (usually forest ones), insectivorous birds completely (approaching 100%) switch to feeding on them. This is quite understandable: the huge number of insects appearing in breeding areas does not require birds spend time and labor on obtaining and searching for food, and the birds manage to collect in a short period of time quite a sufficient number of insects to get enough. We observed how, with a large number of caterpillars of hawthorn butterflies, damaging wild cherry plum trees and thorn bushes in the mountain stony steppe area near the village of Chmi (Georgian Military Road, North Ossetia), they fed on mottled rock thrushes, redstarts, blacklings and wheatears.Here, in a small area, we met up to three dozen rock thrushes - birds that under normal conditions stay far apart in pairs or broods.

To what has been said, it must be added that birds are a necessary element in the animal population of natural and cultural landscapes.

The rare absence of birds anywhere in the conditions in which they usually occur must necessarily entail a change in the landscape and affect its other components, in particular plants.

We noted a similar exceptional case - the absence of birds - for artificial forest plantings in the Karaganda region.