Tundra and Arctic birds: name, photo, brief description

A variety of birds of the tundra. Read all about their habits and appearance in this article.

Content

Only a few birds of the tundra do not leave this endless snowy plain in winter. In the winter months, there are about 50 degrees in the tundra, and a purge can rage for a week, from which the trees do not protect. The trees in the tundra simply cannot grow high, due to the fact that the soil layer is very thin (15-25 centimeters) and it lies on the eternal permafrost.

Tundra birds, which people can see in winter in these parts only three, this:

Polar owl, with beautiful white plumage.
Ordinary raven.
White partridge.

Interestingly, in cruel conditions Sahars live similar birds: Raven, eagle owl and birds from the kind of partridge. They are completely different, they have brown feathers, and less size. The north the bird lives, the larger it is.

Wintering birds tundra

Tundra birds live in a vast territory. On the map below the tundra is indicated by lilac. This is a whole climatic belt. The tundra is located between the taiga and the Arctic. It is believed that before, when mammoths have not yet died out, there was another climatic belt between the tundra and the Arctic Ocean - the Arctic steppe. Then, for some reason, the water level rose, and now in these territories a sea of \u200b\u200bLaptev and other northern seas. It happened 10,000 years ago.

Lilac color The tundra is indicated on the map.
Blue colour - This is the zone of the Arctic deserts. Some birds of tundra and forest -tundra also winter in it. We will talk about what birds of the Arctic are below.
Pink on the map indicated high -altitude zones. These are mountain ranges with their ecosystems.
Gray strip Between the tundra and the taiga is a forest -tundra. The transitional zone between the forests of the taiga with their ship trees and the tundra zone, where only shrubs are growing permafrost and grow 30 centimeters high. Tundra and forest -tundra birds are very diverse, there are more than 150 species.

It is believed that many birds of the tundra and Arctic with the onset of winter simply fly to the Taiga zone. Although there are exceptions, for example, a polar tone - a migratory bird that reaches North Africa. And only the most persistent birds remain to winter.

White partridge

The white partridge is the wintering bird of the tundra, and its favorite food grows on dwarf trees and shrubs. In winter, she feeds on the kidneys and young shoots of dwarf birches and willow, in the summer - berries and seeds. Animal products are only 2% of its diet.

Interestingly, the white partridge in the warm season changes the color to brown. And in some areas with a warmer climate, for example, in the UK, white partridges are brown all year round.

In winter, the white partridge grows beautiful white feathers. Her paws are growing with long feathers. They act as snowshoes, helping a bird to stay on the edge of the snow. And thanks to the feathers on the body, a white partridge can, as if on a sleigh, slide through the snowdrifts. On harsh days, these birds tundra digs the moves under the snow. They need them to look for food and hide from predators. Among the natural enemies of partridges are a arctic fox and a polar owl. And people are hunting for them, the meat of partridges is tasty, but the conditions of hunting in the winter tundra are very complex. Therefore, this is a land of non -frighted birds.

Polar owl

The polar owl has a special place among the birds of the Arctic and the tundra. This predatory bird never hunts near its nest. But she successfully drives out predators from her home. The polar owl is aggressively and actively protected from lemmings, and even from arctic foxes. The owl is able to turn them into its lunch. This feature of the polar owl is used in their interests by many birds of tundra and forest -tundra: ducks, geese, waders. They willingly settle near the nest of the owl, and then their eggs also remain intact.

The polar owl is considered a nomadic bird. When in September-October cold occurs and food becomes little, the owls wander south. Only a few owls remain wintering on the coasts of the northern seas. The life of predators in the tundra directly depends on the amount of game. In particular lemmings. Indigenous residents can tell that if there are a lot of lemmings, this means that there will be many predators. And for most birds, the tundra is bad, because the arctic foxes ruin their nests.

Tundra and forest -tundra birds, list:

Raven in the tundra

On the map of the world, it is difficult to find a place where there are no ravens. They avoid only human settlements - villages and cities. The raven is considered the wintering bird tundra, because you can meet it with fierce winter.

An important place in the Vorona diet is carrier. Crows can eat a fish thrown ashore and ruin bird nests. In general, they are omnivorous, and adapted to irregular and meager feeding. In winter, in the north, crows are often lost in packs and migrated to the south. But some birds still remain.

Waterfowl birds tundra

In April, the tundra comes to life. Snow melts, ice bursts on the rivers, many small lakes and swamps appear. Entire flocks of midges rise into the air. And in rivers and seas, teeming with fish - large and small. Such an abundance of food and makes the tundra birds fly to these edges. Tundra birds, photos and names that you will find below are waterfowl and large enough. They need good mass and good feathers to feed in cold water.

Gaga-Grebenushka

Gaga-Grebenushka is a duck that stands out with its bright appearance. A red-orange beak with a crest, white-green spots on the cheeks, a white neck and sticking feathers of the “sails” on the wings-all this is a “wedding costume” of the Selezny Gagi-Grebenushki. The female duck has a completely different plumage, and in the male in the winter, too.

Gaga-Grebenushka eats in the surf zone. It is found among the birds of the tundra and Antarctic in the northern Arctic Ocean and on the coasts of the northern seas. In Russia, Gagi-Great Genes can fly a considerable distance south of the edge of the sea (50-100 km), settle on the banks of fresh reservoirs and eat mosquitoes, midges and other insects there.

Swan-click

In early spring, a whole flock of click swan can be seen among the birds of the tundra. There may be about a hundred of them. Swans-clicons are majestic and large birds, their weight can reach 10 kg. But if the swan is pursued, then he runs away so quickly that he cannot even be caught up with a motor boat. Swans are more birds of forest -tundra and taiga, they often choose for nesting lakes hidden from human eyes. But there are many of them in the tundra on the sea coasts.

In the fall, swans fly out of the northern latitudes. They fly to Kazakhstan and Mongolia for wintering. They arrive at the Caspian and Scandinavia. It is interesting that young swans remain gray up to three years of age, and only then they have an elegant white plumage.

Duck of the sea

Moryanka ducks are the migratory birds of the tundra, which in the spring fly to the northern coasts in huge quantities. The number of their populations is more than 4 million individuals.

Moryanka ducks are the most numerous representatives of duck in the Russian tundra.
The second largest Gaga-Genukens.
Even in the tundra there are often chirks, black barracks and awlly.

Sailors nest on the banks of fresh rivers and lakes. In the spring, there are a lot of such lakes and swamps in the tundra. They are not deep and they can hardly drown in them. Below, small reservoirs are limited by permafrost, which no water can melt.

For wintering, the sea of \u200b\u200bsea sets off in the warmer waters of the Baltic Sea. They fly to the shores of Kamchatka, where also a more moderate climate. And on the Lake Issyk-Kul in Kyrgyzstan. Sailinks winter right on the sea or on the lake, where they feed on small fish and plankton. In the spring, the sea of \u200b\u200bsea fly half of Eurasia in order to bring off offspring near the wealthy foods and the seas of the tundra.

Birds of forest -tundra and tundra:

White geese

White geese are tundra birds, which are also migratory. In spring and autumn, you can see large flocks of white geese, which fly to their homeland or to warm edges. Wild geese overcome huge distances, they winter near the Black or Mediterranean Seas and on warm reservoirs of Asia. But on the habits, white geese are similar to home. They run perfectly on land, and they get their food there. Geese are rarely approached by the water, they mainly go there on a watering water and only to swim a little.

Loon

Gagars belong to waterfowl. The size of adults is similar to the size of a goose or a large duck. They have relatively small wings. When flying, the Gagars seem to be stooped. The plumage of males and females Gagar is the same. These birds have not hollow, but hard and heavy bones of the skeleton. This helps the Gagars well dive and get food in water.

Most of the time of the Gagars is spent in water. It is often said that Gagara is a downy bird from the tundra. She has a very warm plumage and a good layer of subcutaneous fat. Gagars sleep in water, and go to land for nesting. These birds got their name thanks to the scream that they publish during the nesting period. Both the male and the female in a pair, shout loudly "Ga-ha-ha-rra." Gagars take off from the water. They scatter against the wind for a long time. Their flight is fast, with frequent waves of wings.

Small birds of the tundra

In the tundra, small birds are forced to constantly move and get their food. Birds solve this problem differently. For example, seagulls constantly eat in water. There are birds that fly to the tundra specifically to enjoy insects.

Pink Seagull

A pink gull is a tundra bird listed in the Red Book. Pink seagulls are special, they differ from ordinary gulls in a more melodic and soft voice. They are very graceful in flight. And pink seagulls are really one of a kind, in terms of biology.

Pink seagulls with the onset of cold weather do not fly deep into the mainland. On the contrary, they rush north to the not frozen waters of the Arctic Ocean. These birds tundra winter on the water, and eat fish and mollusks there.

Pink seagulls nest in Russia, in Canada, and off the northern shores of Greenland. They choose a swampy tundra. And in the summer they feed mainly with insects. The species is considered disappearing. The masonry of eggs attack the foxes, in the years when there are few lemmings in the tundra (and their number from year to year may change sharply). People also hunt for pink seagulls, from these beautiful birds they used to make stuffed animals that were sold. Now pink gulls have the status of a type protected by law.

Tundra birds list of the most common species:

Punochka

Puna is a bird that returns to the coast of the Arctic Ocean in the earliest spring. She is the first of all birds to fly to his native lands and tells her sonorous song about the arrival of spring. This bird has become a folklore character for many peoples of the North. Bullets are small and weigh only 25-40 grams. In summer, they feed on insects, and in winter only dry grains.

Puna is a bird like oatmeal, but it is not considered her close relative. There is something in common with a punochka with a sparrow. She belongs to the detachment of sparrows and her voice is a little like the stir of sparrow, although the song of the binder is more melodic.

Birds of tundra and forest -tundra List:

Flatfrower swimming

In the spring in the tundra you can see funny flocks of flat baking floats. These little birds of the tundra are forced to get food for themselves all the time, just so as not to freeze. Flat -baked floodplains according to the old classification were attributed to waders. They are predators for insects and crustaceans, and almost their entire diet is animal feed. There are berries or vegetables these birds will only if there is no protein food at all. Wintered flat -consumed floods on the water in the tropical seas.

Kulik-Vorobey

Kulik Sparrow is a migratory bird of tundra with complex "family relationships." Kuliki-Vorobi Bighamn. This means that one female is simultaneously in relations with two individuals of the opposite sex. She organizes two nests. In one nest of chicks, their father hatches, in the second - mother.

Culson-Vorobey is a small bird, and in appearance and in size, it looks like a sparrow. In the tundra, this Kulik runs very quickly, makes noise and fuss a lot, he feeds on day and night. The basis of the diet is insects.

In the tundra, an interesting neighborhood of walruses and birds can be observed. Mornets eat in the sea, and tundra birds are not included in their main diet. On land, the walruses are too clumsy to catch birds. Therefore, near the walruses you can see freely walking birds.

Birds of the Arctic

What birds live in the Arctic? There are birds that live on the coldest rocky islands of the Arctic Ocean, for example, Kaira. But to say how the birds of the Arctic from the birds of the tundra are different is difficult. The fact is that the tundra is part of the Arctic.

Many sources say that the Arctic is only the coast of the Arctic Ocean, along with the islands and the northern seas. But even then it turns out that the birds that live in the Arctic are tundra birds.
Many eminent authors with the word “Arctic” call everything that enters the polar circle and is limited to 66 parallels. Then you need to include the entire tundra, forest -tundra, and even part of the taiga zone of Russia in the Arctic. The birds of the Arctic then include the birds of the Canadian archipelago and most of the New Zealand.

In this part of the article, we will consider only those birds that live on the coldest islands of the Arctic Ocean.

Arctic birds photo with names:

Guillemot

These birds have chosen the rocky ledges of the islands for life. Kaira spends most of the day on the water. It feeds on small fish, in particular, saika. Only if there are no fish, then they feed on plankton.

For the life of Kaire, rocky ledges are needed, from which you can jump into the water. Poultry eggs have a pear -shaped shape. If such an egg is pushed, then it does not roll far, but rides in a circle.

When Kaira's chicks are very hungry, they jump from a cliff into the water. They do this yet, without being able to fly, and without good plumage. There, parents continue to feed them on the water. The fact is that Kaira is an Arctic bird that flies poorly. It is difficult for parents to bring a lot of food to grown chicks, and on the water they are much easier to feed.

Table of birds of the Arctic and Tundra:

Lurik

This is a small bird with black and white. Luriks love to settle on the rocky ledges of the Arctic Ocean. There in the water they find their favorite food. In cold waters, crustaceans are much larger in size than in the south.

Lurik Sets groups and arranges noisy bird bazaars. In winter, he can migrate into the warm waters of the Atlantic. The population of these birds is reduced. They suffer greatly from oil spills that deprive their feed. Among the natural enemies of this bird Arctic, a white bear was seen. He sometimes encroaches on their nests.

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