The white partridge is a beautiful bird that inhabitsregion of the Northern Hemisphere, the climatic zone of which is known for its harsh living conditions. Its meat is tasty and nutritious, which is why it is often hunted at certain times of the year. Photos and descriptions of the white partridge are further presented in this article.
Традиционно куропатка с белым оперением является a bird of cold latitudes characterized by a large amount of precipitation and long, severe winters. For her home are considered the zone of taiga, tundra and forest-tundra. She prefers to settle in the swamps, where there is a lot of peat and moss.
The white partridge dwells in North America,Eurasia and Greenland. It can also be found in the marshes of Scotland and England. As for the territory of Russia, here she lives on Sakhalin and Kamchatka.
White partridge - a small bird, body lengthvaries from 33 to 40 cm, weight - no more than 700 g. The male is always slightly larger than the female. Belongs to the grouse family and belongs to the chicken order. The neck of the partridge is short, and the head is small. The beak is small, strong, bent downwards. The bird has short paws, covered with thick down, which well protects it from extreme cold.
The claws are very sharp. They partridge can break even ice crusts to get food, as well as dig holes. Her wings are small and rounded, so she flies only in rare cases.
Эта птица меняет свой окрас по нескольку раз в year, but in any case, it looks great. In winter, the partridge's plumage is snow-white, but very often the outer tail feathers remain black. Her legs also attract attention. They are shaggy and thickly dotted with a short white feather. This color contributes to the merger with the environment, which helps the bird not only to mask, but also to survive in such harsh natural conditions.
With the onset of spring on the partridge plumageblotches of yellow and brown begin to appear, and their eyebrows turn red. So by the beginning of summer the bird gets a motley color, although the lower part of the body remains all the same snow-white. With the onset of heat, it will become completely brown or brown. Only the primary feathers, legs and abdomen remain brighter. The female begins to change her winter decoration before the male. Its plumage is much lighter, therefore it is possible to determine the sex of a bird from afar.
Partridges gather in small flocks of 10-15individuals and form pairs only during the breeding season. These birds lead a terrestrial lifestyle. Due to its color easily masked. They are awake during the day, and at night they hide in dense vegetation. Partridges fly very rarely, and only for short distances. The main way of its movement is fast running.
This bird is very careful.Looking for food, she moves carefully and almost silently, occasionally looking around. Sensing danger, first freezes, letting his opponent closer, and then suddenly takes off abruptly. Before the flight, birds gather in large flocks, which can consist of 200-300 individuals.
The white partridge flies quite rarely, namelytherefore, he is seeking food for himself on earth. The basis of its diet is various shrub vegetation. For their nesting, birds most often choose hummock tundra areas, where mostly willow trees, dwarf birch trees and berries grow. Settled, these birds live only in the southern regions, partridges from the northern regions also fly to winter there.
In winter, they live in the thick of snow, makingThere are special chambers filled with air. In order to feed themselves, the birds have to lay their moves. In winter, they eat buds and shoots of trees and shrubs. They especially like willow growing near lakes, as well as shoots of dwarf birch trees. In the summer, they feed on leaves, berries, seeds and insects. The latter make up no more than 3% of the total amount of food. From berries prefer blueberries, cranberries, hawthorn and blueberries.
The poultry diet is mainly low-calorie, so it eats a lot, filling a huge goiter. For better digestion of tough food, birds have to swallow small pebbles.
When spring comes, the male is transformed:his head and neck change color and become red-brown. During the mating season, the bird can be recognized by the ringing, sharp sounds it makes. They are accompanied by a kind of "dance", which are complemented by flapping and loud flapping of the wings. The male partridge becomes aggressive and often throws into a fight on their own relatives, who dared to violate its territory.
The behavior of the female is also changing.If earlier the representatives of the opposite sex were of little interest to her, now she is trying to find a mate herself. Mating, the female alone begins to build a nest. The place usually chooses somewhere under a hummock hiding in bushes or among other tall plants. There she digs a hole, and then lines it with her feathers, branches, leaves and stems of plants nearby.
The white partridge starts laying eggs notearlier than at the end of May. Usually they are painted in pale yellow with mottled specks on them. One female is able to lay about 8-10 eggs. The process of incubation is quite long and lasts at least 20 days. Only the female is engaged in this, without departing from the nest for a minute. The male also protects his girlfriend and future chicks.
Although partridges are considered herbivorousbirds, but in the first days of the appearance of offspring to the world they feed it exclusively on bugs, worms, spiders and flies, since newborn chicks need animal protein. To protect your brood from possible dangers, it is taken to a more reliable place. When the slightest threat arises, the kids hide in thick greenery and freeze.
Both parents take care of the chicks until they reach two months of age. Sexual maturity in partridges comes a year after birth.
The life span of a bird with white plumage is small and is only from four to seven years.
Белая куропатка, фото которой можно увидеть в This article is listed in the Red Book. The population of these birds, living in the forests of the European part of Russia, due to unauthorized hunting, as well as too long winters that do not allow females to begin nesting, began to gradually decrease.
In addition, naturalthe enemies of the partridge, which are foxes and white owls. They begin to actively hunt the bird only when the number of lemmings, which are the main food of predators, is rapidly falling. This happens about once every 4-5 years.
