spring bird

Bird breeding

the birds

Birds are vertebrate animals that inhabit natural environments and all geographical areas on the surface of the earth, and their bodies are covered with feathers, and they have a structure that prepares them to be able to fly in the sky. There are more than ten thousand bird species in the world. They are distributed into nearly twenty-nine groups, and one of them is called a rank, and each has specific characteristics that are unique to it, including body shape, or anatomical and evolutionary characteristics, and the largest of these ranks is the Passerine rank, which alone includes more than half of the bird species in the whole world.

The most important thing that distinguishes the types of birds from their differences from other animals is that their bodies are covered with feathers. Which keeps their bodies warm, protects their skin, gives them the ability to fly, and direct their bodies in the air. Birds share a common method of reproduction. Where they all reproduce by placing hard-shelled eggs, to incubate them after laying, and many of them take care of their chicks until they grow up and become able to support themselves.

how birds breeding

When birds reach one year of age, they reach sexual maturity, are ready to mate and reproduce, and are able to search for a partner and take care of the chicks. Birds begin to search for a mate to mate with the onset of the spring season. Where the weather is warm and the food is plentiful, and each male chooses an area to defend it from other males, and tries to attract a female to it, and he often uses show and courtship movements to lure the female into his acceptance, and the forms and nature of these performances differ for each type of bird; The two peacocks and paradise birds spread their tails of dazzling bright colors, and some birds may perform very complex dances or movements, and usually the male and the female are linked only one season, But in some types of birds, the bond may last for years or for life, such as the case of penguins, crow, tern, and storks.

Nest building

Most birds tend to build nests after mating. Preparing to take care of eggs and chicks, but not all of them do. The goshawk birds throw their eggs in the open, and some of their species tend to search for abandoned nests for others to exploit, and the starlings may expel other birds from their nests and seize them for themselves, and the European cuckoo infiltrates the nests of others, and deliberately lays their eggs in them. In order for others to incubate them, and this type of bird is called brood parasites, however, most birds build nests on their own, and have built them in very complex ways.

Usually the nest takes the form of a funnel or plate, and is built from tree branches, dry branches, weeds, and leaves, and it may be erected on a tree trunk, or on a rock, or on a cliff, as for woodpeckers and shrew birds dig holes inside the trunks of dead trees. To nest in it, while weaver birds make nests that are only suspended from the ends of a branch.

The type and shape of the nest is one of the adaptations in which the bird coexists with its environment; Where birds' nests differ according to the environment they inhabit and their lifestyle in them. There are types of birds that are content with digging a small depression in the dirt, and make a nest from it, and some of them may have nests in high places that are difficult to reach, and in all cases; The primary function of the nest is to provide protection for the bird's chicks; To be able to fly, and to support herself.

Take care of eggs

All birds lay eggs, and their shape may be oval, spherical, or like a pear seed, and the egg is surrounded by a hard shell. To protect the embryo inside, and the egg shell is not completely insulated, as it is filled with very fine pores, which allow air to enter and exit the egg; The fetus breathes oxygen from the outside and gets rid of carbon dioxide, while it feeds on a substance called yolk, which is the yolk of an egg, while the white takes moisture and food from it as well.

A farm hen's egg weighs a few tens of grams, while an ostrich egg weighs one and a half kilograms, and eggs of all kinds need constant care from laying until they hatch; Where it must be kept warm during the development of the fetus, otherwise its life will be in danger, and this is why birds incubate their eggs for periods ranging from ten days to about three months.

Take care of chicks

Bird chicks have a special hard protrusion above their beak called the hatching tooth, and when the chick becomes fully developed and ready to exit the egg, it strikes its shell with this hard tooth. To crack and break it, then he will be able to leave it. [1] In most cases, the chicks of young birds hatch while they are blind, and their bodies are bare of feathers, have weak legs, and are completely incapable of taking care of themselves or obtaining food, and they are like this: Pelicans, And woodpeckers, all sparrows, and songbirds.

Most of the birds that hatch are helpless and weak. The parents usually take care of them together, taking turns to go out to hunt, bring insects and other types of food that contain a lot of water, and then feed them to the chicks until they grow up, and with time the fluff of the chick grows, then the feathers, and it becomes able to stand And walking outside the nest, spreading its wings, then the parents teach him how to fly, and it may take months to master the appropriate method.

Not all birds hatch as before; Ducklings hatch covered with a layer of soft fluff, and they have legs capable of carrying them, thus they can walk directly outside the nest, and start searching for food a few hours after they hatch, and these chicks receive the care of their mother for a period of time, despite their ability to walk and feed. This is the case for several birds, the most important of which are: chickens, pheasants, turkeys, and geese.

Written by Mohamed Jawarneh

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