Orlan Belokhvost is one of four large representatives of birds of prey. His body is 70 to 90 centimeters long, and the wing wing reaches 230 centimeters. The weight of this predatory bird about adulthood reaches 6 7 kilograms. The whitetailed eagle was nicknamed for his short white tail, which has a wedgeshaped shape. The body of an adult bird has a brown-brown color, and the flyer feathers are dark brown. Orlan’s beak, compared to other large birds of prey, is more, but very powerful. The eyes of the eagle is yellow-oxed.
Between themselves, females and males are practically not distinguishable, but, like that of a large number of predators, a female is a little larger than a male.
The nests of the eagle of Belokhvost is quite impressive sizes two meters in diameter and up to a meter in depth. From February to March, the construction of nests begins. They are located on tall coniferous trees near the barrel or in the adherent of the barrel. The main building material for the nest is thick branches, which fit tightly. The nest is filled with dry branches mixed with the bark. The female lays from one to three eggs and hatches them for about 30 38 days. Chicks mainly hatch in the middle of the end of April, and the first confident flights begin in July.
Habitat
Estonia is considered the homeland of Orlan. But at the moment, a fairly common bird and is found almost throughout Eurasia, the exceptions are the Arctic tundra and deserts.
Sit Orlan in the forests of reservoirs that abound in fish and as far as possible from the habitat of a person. Orlan can also be found in coastal zones.
Orlan-whitewater
What eats
The main diet of the eagle consists of fish (freshwater and marine). During the hunting period, Belokhtosh slowly flies around the reservoir, looking out for the prey. As soon as prey comes into view, Orlan flies down with a stone, exposing powerful paws with sharp paws as a razor with claws. Orlan does not dive into the water for prey, but rather a little immerse (since spray is scattered in different directions).
It happens that Orlan prefers fresh fish to fresh fish. In particular, in the winter, Belokhchast can eat waste of fish processing plants and fishermen.
In addition to the fish, the eagle power system includes small birds such as seagulls, ducks, herons (mostly Orlan hunts in the period of their molting, since they cannot fly). Small and medium mammals. In winter, most of the diet is occupied by hares. It is not rarely Orlan during this period does not disdain to eat carrion.
Natural enemies in nature
Possessing such large sizes, a powerful beak and claws of Orlan Belokhtost, has practically no natural enemies in nature. But this is true only for adult birds. Chicks and eggs are very often attacked by predators that can climb into the nest. For example, in the north-eastern part of Sakhalin, such a predator is a brown bear.
Another enemy for the number of Orlan became a man. In the middle of the 20th century, a man decided that Orlan consumes too much fish and destroys a valuable ondatra. After which it was decided to shoot both adults, as well as the ruin of nests, and the destruction of the chicks. Which led to a very large reduction in the population of this species.
Interesting Facts
- Another name of the eagle of Belokhvosta Sweeter.
- Couples that form white taads are constant.
- Having made a pair of whitetailed eagles, can use it for several years in a row.
- The white-tailed screaming in the wild lives for more than 20 years, and in captivity they can live up to 42 years.
- Due to the sharp extermination in the middle of the 20th century, Orlan Belokhvost is currently entered in the Red Book of Eurasia and the International Red Book with the status “Vulnerable View”.
- Orlan is quite alarming bird. A shortterm stay of a person near the place of nesting makes a couple to leave the nest and no longer return there.
