Yellowheaded Queen (lat. Regulus regulus) is the most miniature inhabitant of Europe. This is a light, active and brisk bird with an interesting appearance and lifestyle. Belongs to the bird to the Korolkov family. Singing bird is common in the forest zone of Eurasia.
External characteristics
The queen is characterized by an individual appearance: it has small sizes, reaching 7-10 cm in length; Its weight is only 5-7 g. The bird has a very interesting color design and body shape. We can safely say that the Queen is 2.5 times less than the house sparrow.
The Queen is considered a mobile and fussy bird with a crown on the head. It attracts attention with high notes published during his singing. Males and females are the same in size and do not differ in anatomical structure, but have a different color of the plumage.
The males see bright yellow-red stripes in a dark edging. When the male tries to show his “greatness”, yellow feathers are puffing on his head, visually reminiscent of a comb. The plumage on the back and shoulders of olive color, feathers of the lower head, chest and abdomen-a weak gray-green shade. On the middle part of the wings, transverse stripes stretch white and black.
In females, the parietal feathers have a dull color, in the marriage period they become brighter.
The cowls have a spherical shape of the body, the wingspan reaches 14-17 cm. Visually it seems that birds do not have a neck at all. The beak is small with a sharp tip, round eyes are emphasized by a charm of white feathers. The nostrils of the bird are shifted to the base of the beak, each covered with a feather.
It is also possible to distinguish the Korolka by elongated limbs and not a very long tail, which has a weak medium excavation: extreme feathers are longer than medium. The fingers of birds are strong, developed. There is a hollow on the soles it improves the crossbar of the branch. For the same purpose, the rear finger will be extended, a long claw is present on it.
Behavior and lifestyle
Little birds cannot be alone, because they are more related to collective feathered. Birds prefer to equip nests in spruce forests. Kings are masters of disguise. In such conditions, they become invisible. Have an unusual voice, on high notes you can often hear the trills of these birds.
Among the cowls there are sedentary and migratory birds.
Often during the flights, birds stop in the line of human settlements, here they gain strength and feed on. People are not afraid of tiny birds, they are quite loyal to them.
Where it meets
The yellow-headed kings are found throughout Eurasia, isolated populations live in Altai, the Mediterranean Islands, the Far East, the North-West of the Gimalayas, the Sayani and in Japan. During the winter flight, individual individuals find themselves in the cities of Egypt, China and Taiwan.
Kings are found in the mountains at an altitude of about 1.5 km above sea level, and in the Himalayas and above 3 km.
What eats
This bird prefers a rather diverse nutrition: animal and plant foods. When it becomes difficult to find small living creatures, birds switch to food of plant origin.
The kings are happy to eat aphids, caterpillars, spiders, novels, small bugs, hayeaters, bark beetles, cycades. Also feed on curses, mosquitoes, long-winged and freckles. Kings and seeds of coniferous trees are very fond of, as well as berries and other fruits.
The Queen swallows its prey whole. Birds are able to find food not only in spruce trees, but also to catch a winged insect in flight. Very rarely kings go down to the ground to search for food. More often they hide in wood bark and look out for bugs, caterpillars and other living creatures.
Little birds are thirsty with dew and drops of rain.
The queen has tiny dimensions and, accordingly, a small ventricle. Therefore, he does not eat up with food and has a rapid metabolism. Because of this, the bird has to constantly eat to make up for energy and vitality.
Feemans can eat 10-15 g of food per day. Watch starvation can cause the death of a bird.
Reproduction
In the spring, the Queen sings his trills, which indicate the approach of the marriage period. The male declares his rights in the territory and calls the female, fulfilling the trill. Kings Monogamous Birds. Males do not arrange fights together, usually enough to show a disheveled and flush comb to show their importance.
The couple equips shelter for chicks. Korolka nest is a suspended cupshaped structure on a branch. Kings can place their nest at a very height from 1 to 20 m. In May, the female lays about 12 eggs with a diameter of 1 cm. Stugting lasts 2-3 weeks. Both parents feed chicks.
Even when the chicks do not stand on the wing, the male begins to equip the second nest. After the first chicks become independent, the process is repeated with the second masonry.
The survival of the chicks is low, is not more than 20%. In the best case, only two out of 10 for next year will be able to bring their offspring.
Enemies in nature
Little kings can become prey for many predators. For these birds, the hawk-renegade, derbilik, eared owl, gray owl is terrible. The most dangerous hawk is a fever, which can attack inexperienced young individuals and chicks.
Kings can often escape from danger only thanks to their dexterity and mobility, they are also perfectly disguised in dense branches. An ordinary courtyard cat can also attack a small bird if the Queen stops to rest during the flight in a human settlement.
Often birds suffer from severe frosts and bad weather. Often, a person causes the death of birds, interfering in natural biotips, thereby violating the life cycle of the cowls.
Interesting Facts
You can learn a lot of interesting and unusual yellowheaded cows. For example, during the current, the male can attack his own reflection.
A little more interesting facts:
The yellowheaded Queen is a unique bird that has an unusual appearance and very small sizes. This type of bird does not like loneliness. They are friendly and do not harm either the other birds or the person.
