What do a raven and a sparrow have in common? In addition to the fact that both are birds, they are also representatives of the same order - Passeriformes. It is this order that includes swallows, larks, wagtails, shrikes, blackbirds, tits, magpies, buntings and many other birds. From this lesson you will learn about the common and distinctive features of many common and unusual birds, find out why the sparrow and swallow became brownies, who the waxwings and corncrakes are, what the titmouse sings about, is it true that crows live for three hundred years. In addition, you will learn many interesting details about long-legged birds: herons, storks and bitterns. You will learn that storks, like swans, remain faithful to each other all their lives, that in addition to white storks, there are also black storks in nature, that man and stork are long-time friends and associates. Additional lesson material will open you up to the world of nightjars, kingfishers and swifts.

The order Passeriformes includes over 5 thousand species, which is more than 60% of all birds of the world fauna. Among this huge diversity, there are relatively large birds: ravens weighing up to one and a half kilograms, and small ones: wrens weighing 5-8 grams (Fig. 1-3).

Rice. 1. Raven

Rice. 2. King

Rice. 3. Waxwing

Passeriformes are distributed throughout the globe, with the exception of Antarctica and some islands. Their head is small, the shape of the beak can be varied (depending on what the bird feeds), the paws have four toes that end in sharp claws, the first toe faces backwards.

Rice. 4. Great tit

The plumage is rigid, the wings can be long and sharp, such as those of swallows (Fig. 5) or short and blunt (sparrows). The brain of Passeriformes reaches extremely high development. Most species live on trees and shrubs; there are few terrestrial species; some species spend most of their lives in the air.

Rice. 5. Swallow

Passerines living in temperate zones are often migratory species; tropical and subtropical passerines are sedentary or nomadic. There is often sexual dimorphism, which is expressed in differences in size, voice and coloring of males and females.

In magpies, jays, pipits, goldfinches, warblers and some other bird species, males and females are almost identically colored. During the breeding season, passerines form pairs that can occupy certain nesting territories or nest in colonies (Fig. 6, 7).

Rice. 6. Male and female jay

Rice. 7. Male and female bullfinch

Passeriformes are characterized by the construction of nests of a relatively complex structure; the nests of cutters, weavers and troupials are especially interesting.

Rooks and crows build nests in the crowns of tall trees. Starlings and tits often settle in hollows, and starlings willingly occupy houses built for them by humans. Barn swallows build their nests from clay under the roofs of buildings (Fig. 8, 9).

Rice. 8. Weaver nest

Rice. 9. Birdhouse

The number of eggs in a clutch can vary: from 4-6 in rooks, jays, and bullfinch to 11-13 in small passerines (Fig. 10). As a rule, both parents incubate the eggs and care for the chicks. Incubation begins after all eggs have been laid. Chicks in the nest are the same age. In small species, incubation lasts from 11 to 13 days; in large species, incubation lasts from 17 to 21 days.

Rice. 10. Rowan thrush nest

Passeriformes are monogamous nestling birds. Their chicks appear naked and helpless. At first they are fed small insects and worms; later, larger insects and seeds can serve as food for the already grown chicks (Fig. 11).

Rice. 11. Grown-up finch chicks

On the 8th-9th day, the chicks of white-eyes, buntings, and larks are able to leave the nest, but they begin to fly only after two weeks. In crows, chicks leave the nest around the 28th day, but begin to fly only on the 34th-35th day.

Small Passeriformes feed mainly on insects; for example, the kinglet can eat up to 4 million forest insects per year. Passerines are able to eat pests, saving the harvest; some granivorous birds feed on the seeds of cultivated plants, causing damage to human economies.

There are also omnivorous birds in the order, for example, raven, crow, rook, magpie jay are capable of eating amphibians, mouse-like rodents and even chicks, eggs of other birds.

According to various ideas, the order Passeriformes includes from 60 to 72 families. This order includes swallows, larks, wagtails, waxwings, shrikes, blackbirds, tits, corvids and many other birds (Fig. 12, 13).

Rice. 12. Fieldfare

Rice. 13. Indigo oatmeal

The chicks begin feeding on their own around the 70th day. They feed on large insects, mollusks, amphibians, small lizards and rodents. Prey is caught mainly on the ground.

Storks enjoy human protection, but in some places their numbers are falling. The main reasons for this are not the destruction of nests or persecution by enemies, but a sharp reduction in the food supply caused by the drainage of swamps and waterlogged meadows. The black stork is included in the Red Book.

Among the Passeriformes in the Olyapkov family, birds swim well, dive and even run along the bottom of a reservoir (Fig. 14). Spruce and pine crossbills are able to build nests and reproduce in winter, when there is an abundance of their food of spruce and pine seeds (Fig. 15).

Rice. 14. Diving Dipper

Rice. 15. Crossbills

Small passerines can nest several times a year. Sometimes two clutches are so close to each other that the female begins to build a second nest and lay eggs even before the chicks in the first become independent, when the chicks are raised by the male.

The order Swiftiformes is a large order of birds, including more than 400 species of small or even tiny birds. Swifts are virtuoso flyers; they spend almost their entire lives in flight; Swifts cannot walk, much less run or swim. The order is divided into two suborders - the Swifts themselves and the Hummingbirds.

Swifts are small birds with a dense build, a flattened head, a short beak, and a very wide mouth opening. Swifts feed, mate, collect material for the nest, drink and even swim in flight. They look a bit like swallows, but are easily distinguished by their longer, crescent-shaped wings. In terms of flight speed, swifts are record holders; they are capable of reaching speeds of up to 160 km/h (Fig. 16).

Rice. 16. Swift

The Hummingbird suborder includes the smallest birds, sometimes weighing only about 2 grams. Imagine: this is almost three times smaller than that of our tiny wren. The largest hummingbirds sometimes reach the size of a swallow. The hummingbird's beak is thin and long, sometimes its length exceeds the length of the body. Hummingbirds feed mainly on the nectar of flowers and sometimes on insects; they feed on the fly (Fig. 17).

Rice. 17. Hummingbird

The order Nightjars is a large group of birds, including about 100 species. They are distributed mostly in the tropics and subtropics. In some ways, Nightjars are very similar to owls; for example, they have loose, soft plumage and large, very sensitive eyes. One of the most characteristic features is a short, very wide beak with bristles along the edges of the mouth. This is a kind of net used to catch insects on the fly at night (Fig. 18).

Rice. 18. Nightjars

All Nightjars are excellent flyers. Nightjars are monogamous birds. It is remarkable that their chicks emerge sighted and pubescent, like those of brood birds, but their parents feed them like chicks.

Nightjars living in deep caves have an amazing feature: they are capable of echolocation. No less remarkable is the ability of some Nightjars to hibernate with a rather strong decrease in body temperature.

Order Anciformes or Storks.

Representatives of the order are distributed throughout the world with the exception of the polar regions. Storks are mainly heat-loving birds, which explains their greater diversity in tropical and subtropical areas, although some representatives of the order Storks appear even in the tundra in the summer (Fig. 19).

Rice. 19. Storks

With the onset of cold weather, the Angiformes migrate to warm countries; areas with a cold or temperate climate are used by the Storks for breeding and feeding their chicks. All Storks are characterized by long legs, an elongated mobile neck, a small head, an elongated beak, sharp, sometimes widened at the end. The legs are four-toed, the toes are usually long.

The feather cover is loose with a small amount of down feathers. The wings are relatively large, the tail is wide and short. The coloring of males and females, with rare exceptions, is the same.

Storks are monogamous. Long-legged nests on trees, bushes, near water, using thickets of vegetation behind frequent huge colonies. Storks like to make their nests on human buildings. There are from 2 to 6 eggs in a clutch. As a rule, both parents incubate. The incubation period is from 17 to 32 days. The chicks appear naked, helpless, they require a long period of heating and feeding (Fig. 20, 21).

Rice. 20. Nesting of storks

Rice. 21. Black stork chick

Storks feed on fish and insects, but some species eat amphibians, small mouse-like rodents, lizards and even the chicks of other birds. The African marabou often feeds on carrion.

Rice. 22. Fishing for storkfish

The order Ankleidae includes about 120 species in 6 families. The most famous families are Heron and Stork. The Heron family includes more than 60 species of relatively large (Great White Heron), medium-sized (Egyptian Heron) and relatively small birds (Little Bittern, Fig. 23). Representatives of the order are armed with a sharp long beak, pressed from the sides, the edges of the beak are covered with small teeth.

Rice. 23. Little bittern

Herons are usually colonial birds, feeding on fish, aquatic insects, crustaceans, amphibians and sometimes small snakes. They catch their prey mainly in water. The gray heron inhabits the middle and northern parts of European Russia (Fig. 24).

Rice. 24. Gray Heron

She builds nests near water, in trees, sometimes just above water in reed thickets. There are from 4 to 6 greenish-blue eggs in a clutch. Incubation begins immediately after the first egg is laid, so the chicks in the nest are of different ages. The incubation period itself lasts 26-27 days. The chicks hatch naked, helpless, but sighted. They fledge on 7-9 days. For the winter, the gray heron migrates to South-West Africa. Gray herons feed on fish, often destroying sick fish, while performing the role of orderlies in reservoirs.

The most widespread is the Great White Heron (Fig. 25); it is found in the southern zone of European Russia in the Caucasus, near water bodies of Central Asia in South-Western Siberia, in the Far East and Japan.

Rice. 25. Great White Heron

These are migratory birds; they make nests near water in hard-to-reach places, in thickets and reed creases, sometimes in trees. There are from 3 to 5 eggs in the clutch. The incubation period lasts from 25 to 26 days.

The Stork family includes 17-18 species; these are large birds. The wingspan of the African marabou (Fig. 26) can be up to 3 meters. The vocal cords of storks are reduced, so adult birds are almost voiceless. They make sounds by clicking their beaks, and the sound is amplified by the throat pouch.

Rice. 26. African Marabou

Storks are distributed mainly in the tropics. White, black and black-billed storks are found in Russia. All storks prefer dry habitats; they settle in the steppes and mountains. The white stork can occupy both natural areas and human buildings. There are from 3 to 5 eggs in the clutch. The incubation period lasts just over a month. The birds stay in the nest for about 55 days.

The order Coraciiformes is represented mainly by brightly colored birds of a clearly tropical appearance. Sizes are medium and small. In our fauna, the smallest representative is the common kingfisher (Fig. 27) weighing about 30 grams. The largest representative is the roller (Fig. 28) weighing up to 200 grams.

Rice. 27. Kingfisher

Rice. 28. Fork-tailed roller

The plumage is rigid, tightly fitting to the body. Males and females do not differ in color; the beak is long, strong, and straight. The legs are four-toed, and some kingfishers even have three-toed legs. Coraciiformes are monogamous birds; they do not build real nests. They nest in hollows, burrows, and rock crevices. The chicks hatch naked and blind. The order includes 5 families and about 150 species. The most famous are the families of Kingfishers, Bee-eaters (Fig. 29) and Rollers.

Rice. 29. Rainbow bee-eater

Lesson summary

Thus, Passeriformes are the most numerous order of birds. The order includes predominantly small and medium-sized birds, differing significantly in appearance, lifestyle, living conditions and methods of obtaining food. Distributed throughout the world. These birds have a beak of various shapes, never covered at the base with a wax, their legs are feathered to the calcaneal joint and covered in front with several plates. There are four fingers, three of them are directed forward, and one is directed back. Other birds discussed in the lesson belong to the orders Angioed, Nightjars, Swifts.

Bibliography

1. Latyushin V.V., Shapkin V.A. Biology. Animals. 7th grade. - M.: Bustard, 2011.
2. N.I. Sonin, V.B. Zakharov. Biology. Diversity of living organisms. Animals. 8th grade. - M.: Bustard, 2009.

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Slide captions:

Completed by: geography teacher, A.V. Yakusheva PASSERINES, ACIDES

›5 thousand species; Habitat: everywhere except Antarctica they live in forests, trees and shrubs; Appearance: Small size, small head, hard plumage, moderately long wings; During the breeding season they form pairs; Chicks are nesters; Diet: insects, seeds of cultivated plants, some omnivores (raven, crow, rook, magpie) - eat rodents, frogs, eggs and chicks of small birds. PASSERIANS

Great bird of paradise

Appearance: large, elongated beak and legs, flexible neck, small head, loose feather cover, large and wide wings, short tail; 118 species; Habitat: everywhere except Antarctica and the Arctic; Clutch: 2-6 eggs, incubation period - 17 to 32 days, chicks - nesting; Diet: fish, amphibians, crustaceans, aquatic insects, small snakes. Ankle

60 species; Heron family Great White Heron

Egyptian heron

Red-haired heron

17-18 species; Distribution: mainly tropics. White, black, and Far Eastern storks are found in the European part of the Russian Federation, in the Far East. Clutch: from 3 to 5 eggs, incubation period - 34 days; Stork family

African marabou

Black stork

White stork

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Order Cioriformes
The storks, or ankles, are a group of birds that includes six families. Storks are long-legged birds. They nest both in individual pairs and in colonies. They form permanent pairs. Type of development - nestling.

Order Cioriformes
The Heron family are shallow-water birds that inhabit marshy or slow-moving bodies of water. As a rule, they are long-legged, with a long and narrow, laterally flattened beak and through nostrils.
Gray Heron

Order Cioriformes
Great White Heron.

Order Cioriformes
Family Black-billed. The black-billed (Far Eastern, Chinese) stork (lat. Ciconia boyciana) is a bird from the stork family, a species related to the white stork. Rare, listed in the Red Book of Russia: today the population of the Far Eastern stork numbers about 3,000 individuals.

Order Cioriformes
The hammerhead, or shadow bird (lat. Scopus umbretta) is a bird from the order of storks, classified as a separate family

Order Cioriformes
Storks (lat. Ciconiidae) are a family of birds from the order wading, covering six genera and nineteen species. The stork family is widespread not only in the tropics and subtropics, but also in temperate zones. Only two species nest in Europe - the white stork and the black stork.

Order Cioriformes
Black stork

Order Cioriformes
White stork

Order Cioriformes
The shoebill, or royal heron, is a bird from the order Storkidae, the only representative of the shoebill family. A very large bird, its average height is 1.2 m, its wingspan is 2.3 m, and its weight is 4-7 kg. Lives in tropical swamps of East Africa

Order Cioriformes
Ibises include 14 genera and 35 species. Moluccan ibis

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Order Passeriformes In terms of the number of species, this order is the most numerous. Today there are over 5 thousand species, which is more than 60% of all birds of the world fauna. This large group contains both relatively large birds, such as ravens, weighing up to 1.5 kg, and small ones, such as wrens, weighing 5–8 g. Passerines are distributed throughout the globe, with the exception of Antarctica and some individual oceanic islands.

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Representatives of passerines are usually small in size. The head is small. The shape of the beak is varied, the lower limbs are four-fingered. The fingers end in sharp claws. They live in the forest, on trees and shrubs, and are found in open spaces - in the steppe, near human settlements. Males are usually larger than females. Birds living in temperate zones are migratory. In the tropics they are sedentary, sometimes nomadic. The plumage is rigid, the wings are of moderate length. The coloring of males is usually brighter than that of females. But among goldfinches, jays, magpies, pipits, warblers and a number of other birds, males and females are almost identical in color. During the breeding season, they form pairs, for example, starlings, tits, warblers, flycatchers, wagtails, occupying certain nesting territories. Rosy starlings, shore and city swallows, rooks, sparrows, and field thrushes nest in colonies.

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All passerines make nests, constructing them in a variety of places. Rooks and crows make nests in the crowns of tall trees. Tits and starlings settle in tree hollows, while starlings willingly occupy artificial houses made by man. Barn swallows make nests under the roofs of human buildings. Swifts and bee-eaters settle in burrows on steep river banks, nightjars simply on the ground. The number of eggs in a clutch varies. Usually 4–6 for rook, jay, bullfinch. In small passerines - up to 14. In the common starling, both parents incubate the eggs. In the common oriole, the male actively takes part in incubation, but not for long. Small passerines incubate eggs for 11–13 days. Large ones, for example raven, crow, rook, - 17–21 days. Passerine chicks appear naked, blind, and helpless. In the first days, parents warm the chicks and take care of the cleanliness of the nest. The chicks are first fed small insects, their larvae, worms, and later large beetles and seeds of various grain crops can serve as food. The chicks grow quickly. On the 8th–9th day of bunting, white-eyes are able to leave the nest, but begin to fly independently after 2–3 weeks. Crow chicks leave the nest on the 28th day, but begin to fly on the 34th–35th day.

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Significance Small passerines feed mainly on insects. Thus, the wren consumes up to 4 million forest insects, their larvae and eggs per year. Starlings, larks, and pipits eat insect pests. Wagtails and mints save vegetable crops. Tits, warblers, and kinglets benefit forests and gardens. Some granivorous birds feed on the seeds of cultivated plants and thereby cause minor damage to the human economy. There are also omnivorous birds in the order. Thus, raven, crow, rook, magpie eat mouse-like rodents, frogs, even eggs and chicks of various small birds.

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Order Ankle-shaped, or Leaf-shaped Representatives of the order are distributed over all continents, with the exception of the Arctic and Antarctic. These are predominantly heat-loving birds, which explains the diversity of species composition in hot countries, although some of them appear in the tundra in the summer. With the onset of cold weather, the long-legged ones migrate to warm countries. Territories with temperate and cold climates are used by birds for breeding and feeding their chicks. Birds that do not leave areas with hot climates are sedentary. All anklets are characterized by large size, long legs, a flexible long neck and a small head. The beak is predominantly elongated, pointed, and in some it is widened at the end. The lower limbs end in four elongated fingers

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The feather cover is loose, with a small amount of down feathers. The wings are relatively large and wide. The tail is short. The color of the plumage of males and females, with few exceptions, is the same. Pairs form for a long time. The exception is the great bittern, whose family breaks up after feeding its chicks. Wafers nest in trees, bushes, near water, in reservoirs, using thickets of reeds and reeds. Some make nests on human buildings. A rare bird, the black stork, which lives from Spain to the Far East, settles and makes nests in tall trees and hard-to-reach rocks. The clutch of ankles contains from 2 to 6 eggs. Both parents incubate. The incubation period for eggs lasts from 17 to 32 days. The chicks hatch naked, helpless, and require long-term feeding and care. Their parents bring them insects and fish. As they grow, the chicks are fed frogs and tadpoles, lizards, and, less often, small rodents.

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The stork family has 17–18 species. Birds of this family are large. The wingspan of the African marabou is about 3.5 m. Most storks are voiceless. They make sounds by clicking their beaks, amplifying the sound with their throat pouch. Distributed mainly in the tropics. White, black, Far Eastern, or black-billed storks are found in the European part of Russia, in the Far East (in the Amur region, Primorye). All storks adhere to dry habitats, settling in the steppes and mountains. The white stork occupies both natural areas and artificial human structures. There are 3–5 eggs in a clutch, the incubation period is 33–34 days. The chicks stay in the nest for about 54–55 days. Self-feeding begins on days 68–73. Prey is caught mainly on the ground; they feed on large insects, mollusks, frogs, lizards, snakes, and small rodents. Storks are useful because they destroy harmful insects and rodents.

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The most widespread is the gray heron, found in the middle and northern parts of European Russia. Nests are made near water, on the tops of large trees or just above the water, in reed thickets. The clutch usually contains 4–6 greenish-blue eggs. Incubation begins with the first egg laid, so the chicks in the nest are of different ages. Incubation lasts 26–27 days. The chicks appear naked, helpless, but sighted. The chicks fledge on the 7th–9th day. For the winter, both young and old birds fly to South-West Africa. Herons are useful. In reservoirs they destroy mainly weedy and low-value, mostly diseased fish, which are of little importance to humans.

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The red heron is smaller than the gray heron. It makes nests mainly in dense thickets of reeds and reeds. The number of eggs laid is 6–8. Both parents incubate for 24–28 days. Growing chicks do not leave the nests, and their parents take care of them for about 6 weeks. The most widespread is the great white heron, so named for its pure white plumage. It is found in the southern zone of the European part of Russia, in the Caucasus, in Southwestern Siberia, near reservoirs in Central Asia, the Far East and Japan. Migratory birds. Nests are made in hard-to-reach places, in crooked thickets of reeds and reeds, and rarely in trees. There are 3–5 eggs in a clutch. Incubation lasts 25–26 days. In addition to the above species, in Russia, from the heron family, there are small bittern and common bittern. Red-haired heron

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The marabou bird feeds on decaying animal carcasses. The order includes about 118 species. The most common are Herons, Shoebills, Hammerheads, and Storks. The heron family includes more than 60 species. Quite large birds - great white heron; of the medium-sized ones - the Egyptian heron; of the small ones - the small bittern. Representatives of the family have a long, pointed beak, laterally compressed, the edges of which are lined with small teeth. The fatty lubricant for feathers is produced by the coccygeal gland (in some it is underdeveloped). Birds carefully monitor the condition of their plumage. Herons are primarily colonial birds. They feed on fish, amphibians (adults and tadpoles), crustaceans, aquatic insects, and small snakes. They catch prey mainly in water.

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The African marabou looks more graceful in the sky, despite the fact that it does not stretch its neck during flight, like a stork, but keeps it curved, like a vulture - perhaps this is easier to hold its massive beak. On earth, the throat sac, a long and bare growth on the neck, serves this purpose. For its strict black and white color and chased gait, the African marabou received another name - adjutant. This bird is related to storks by its long thin legs and love for frogs, lizards and snakes, with which marabou sometimes try to diversify their diet. In addition to reptiles, its menu includes insects, rodents, chicks and eggs of other birds, and even small crocodiles. Very rarely, these birds also eat plant roots.