Rook – well all the familiar black bird with purple-blue tint of the plumage and a whitish base of the beak (old birds). The size of a rook, almost with a crow, but slightly slimmer and lighter. Its body length is 45-48 cm, weight 376-434 Is the only migratory species of corvids, living in Russia.
In the spring the rook comes back to us earlier than all other migratory birds advanced birds appear already in the first days of March, and by mid-month at the nesting grounds is the bulk of the rooks. It should be noted that in recent decades has increased the number of birds that remain to winter in our area.
The traces of the rook and the imprint of his right paw
Spend severe time rooks near human habitation where birds are easier to find food. Not surprisingly, the paw prints of rooks across our eyes very often. You can see them and muddy from the rains the soil and in the snow.
But if earlier in the winter we easily distinguished traces of Raven from the larger footprints of a crow, and now, when some of the birds do not leave the borders of our country and in the winter, in the determination of traces of corvids should be more careful not to confuse the footprints of crows and rooks. (About the differences mentioned above.)
Birds of the family Corvidae it is highly plastic and adapt quickly with changing environmental conditions. It is characteristic of the rooks. In treeless areas of the South of Russia these birds usually nest in trees, have adapted, for example, build their nests on Telegraph poles and high-voltage masts. But sometimes, trying to adapt to the new food, the rook looks very awkward compared to a crow. Raven easily catches small fish in shallow water, eats a drowning fish, beaten by the waves to the shore.
Rooks are also trying sometimes to get the fish or, like the crow, to get to the flesh of river mussels. But sometimes it ends tragically for them. I have repeatedly found dead of rooks, floating near the shore. Once pulled out the bird (it was a rook) I. having examined, found in her throat stuck perch. Apparently, she choked on a fish trying to swallow it whole. It is not always possible for the rook to open the shell of bezzubki, and the ravens can easily cope with this task. Or here’s another.
Once in a young oak forest, where they feed jays, easily beating acorns, rook also tried to rasclaat fell to the ground acorns. But to no avail podolev smooth shell with its beak, flew away, that is, empty-handed. At times, the rooks remind me of the townspeople, trapped in the countryside and have difficulty coping with unusual cases. But everything else is quite nimble and agile bird.
Food of rooks
Feed the birds a variety of food. With the arrival of wandering along roads and along the inlets, choose the seeds of cultural and wild plants, looking for garbage. During plowing, following the tractor, choose from the heaps of soil earthworms and various insects and their larvae. By chance can catch the vole, but do not do so promptly, as the crow, and caught animal this is taking too long, eating small pieces of his.
In the period of summer beetles rooks in flocks going in young groves and Rob from the young leaves of these insects. Since the second half of the summer in large flocks with jackdaws and crows roam the harvested fields and mown meadows, pick up the fallen grain and catch crickets and grasshoppers.
Nesting of rooks
Nests of rooks is very similar to crows, but rooks nest colonial, sometimes arranging on the same tree more than 10 nests. If the birds were not alarming, the rooks colony can exist for many decades.
An interesting phenomenon in the life of the rooks I watched twice. Long over the breeding period, and young grachonkov wandered alongside adults in the fields. And so, one day I noticed that began to build through joint efforts a common nest. Worked and old and young birds. The construction ended quickly, almost in one day. But when the nest was finished, the birds flew away and didn’t come back again.
In the masonry of rooks can be from 2 to 6 eggs weighing in average of 16.5 g.
From time to time dropping pellets of rooks. They are similar to the pellets of the Raven, but smaller – (3-3,5) x (1,5-1,7), see Frequently consist of chaff of cereals.
