Common seagull. Birds in the garden. From the series Useful inhabitants of the garden Why a seagull cannot live in the garden
The Lazarev family temporarily lives in a modest one-room apartment in the Oktyabrsky district of Murmansk. As they say, in cramped conditions, but not in offence. A whole zoo coexists perfectly with two people: a lop-eared rabbit, a Chilean squirrel, a mixed-breed Central Asian shepherd dog (Alabai) and... three seagulls. Compassionate Murmansk residents do not keep winged pets to show off to their friends. If it weren’t for the Lazarevs, the seabirds would have died.
Come on, fly!
We found Kostya this spring with a broken wing. Senya - he is still a chick - was found around the same time near the monument to the 6th Komsomol Battery on General Zhurba Street. His wing was also broken. And my sister recently brought me Rose. Someone shot a seagull with a pneumatic rifle, the bullet got stuck in the bone, it fell and severely tore its legs, says Elena Lazareva about her feathered pets with human names.
And they, in turn, look at her from behind the glass as if they understand - they are talking about them. Senya and Kostya live on the balcony. And at night they sleep in cardboard boxes in the kitchen. Senya is alone, but Kostya and Rosa are together. The girl, by the way, is separated from them during the day - her wing still hurts after the operation. But, despite the pain, she looks at us, unexpected guests, with curiosity.
At first, the Lazarevs did not plan to keep seagulls in the apartment.
When we brought the birds to veterinary clinics, there they just looked at us askance, saying, why did you come to us with the seagulls? And the answer was the same everywhere: “We don’t have an ornithologist, we can’t help.” We are still looking for a bird specialist in Murmansk, but you won’t believe how difficult it is to find one. They wanted to get the birds out and set them free. But, alas, there is almost no chance that they will fly. We took Kostya to the stadium, forced him to run, pushed him so that he could fly. But he couldn't. The rose will definitely not fly. We place our bets on Senya. I want to appeal to northerners through your newspaper: don’t be cruel, don’t shoot animals. They haven’t done anything bad to you, and you are dooming them to torment! - says Elena.
There is no doctor for such a patient
Providing medical care to sick birds in Murmansk was not easy. But patience and care took their toll. The seagulls eat excellently and are no longer afraid of people. They never became tame - they don’t like to be petted or picked up, they immediately try to break free. But they take people’s care very well. And, I must say, caring for them is not easy.
I give them a bath twice a day. After all, they are seabirds,” the housewife smiles. - They also eat twice. We buy them fresh capelin - the best a budget option. Each bird eats about 8 fish per day. But they can also eat what we cook for ourselves, pasta, for example.
All birds are completely different in character. Rose is shy and quiet, her owners don’t hear a sound from her. Kostya, like a real old-timer, sits confidently and proudly on the balcony. It was only at first that he cried a lot when he saw his relatives outside the window, but he kept trying to fly out to them. But now I’ve gotten used to it and understood the beauty of home life. But Senya is a bully and a bully.
Of course it bites, but it can bite hard. He commands other birds and fights with Kostya. Maybe it will molt and settle down,” Elena thinks. But such a daring Senya still loves to sit by the window and look at the blue sky.
Elena and her husband are not afraid that they can become infected with something from birds. They say that they often pick up animals on the street and nurse them. And, fortunately, they did not catch any infection from them. The birds don't have long to live in Murmansk - soon they will be taken to a private house in the south of the country so that they can run freely on the green grass.
EXPERT COMMENT
It is better to keep decorative birds at home
While the Lazarev family keeps seagulls out of compassion for animals, some northerners make them pets out of an incomprehensible desire to stand out. This is comparable to rich people who keep crocodiles, wild boars or skunks as pets in their apartments.
How correct is this, we asked Deputy Director for Science of the Kandalaksha Nature Reserve Alexander Koryakin.
A bird's level of aggression depends on how long it has lived in the city. By the way, seagulls are smart, although many people think otherwise. No, you can’t teach them to speak, but they can teach commands. And living with a person, birds study his habits and predict his behavior.
In addition, it is better not to tame wild birds, because, having become accustomed to constant feeding from humans, they lose the skills of obtaining food in nature. But chicks simply do not develop such skills. If a person keeps a seagull at home, especially from chick age, and then releases it into the wild, then most likely it will die, our expert notes. - If you find a chick on the street, you don’t need to pick it up! Only if the bird is injured. But even then it is better to take it to ornithologist specialists, and not keep it in the apartment. If the bird is too seriously wounded, then it is more humane to finish it off. I repeat, it is better to keep ornamental birds in an apartment, not wild ones.
BY THE WAY
I feel sorry for the bird
If you find a sick bird and your conscience does not allow you to abandon it, seek help from specialists from the following institutions:
Dear readers!
Do you have an unusual pet at home or does your pet know how to do something unique? Then do not hesitate and write to us at: [email protected]. And we will make sure that the entire region and even the country knows about your artist.
The lop-eared rabbit and the Alabai mestizo get along calmly with seabirds. Photo: Elena KOVALENKO
The seagull, contrary to the prevailing opinion about it, is not such a harmless bird. We are accustomed to considering seagulls almost like sea pigeons, feeding them and resting, but meanwhile the seagull is a very strong bird. At the same time, sea gulls, black sea gulls, mostly herring gulls, are very pugnacious and aggressive birds.
There are even cases of avian cannibalism among seagulls. And although gulls live in colonies, gull chicks gather in so-called “kindergartens”, where adult birds feed everyone, while offspring of seagulls often dies from pirate raids of his fellows.
When you feed seagulls, they can harm our young children in their pursuit of food. Especially if the seagull decides that something threatens their older chicks, and they are with their parents for up to three years. In this case, seagulls are capable of cruelly taking revenge and causing a lot of harm to a person.
Therefore, you should not feed seagulls at your vacation spot, especially when trying to train the seagulls, and even more so if there are small children nearby. The seagull may well mistake them for a competitor, and attack a child, just as it drives away dogs and food.
Black Sea Herring Gull - photo
In my practice, thank God, there were no such cases, but things left unattended after such complementary feeding were ruined, especially the point-and-shoot camera and the porous cork bedding, the latter was torn to shreds by seagulls.
Program content:
Clarify and expand children's knowledge about seagulls ( appearance, habitat, nutrition, habits, lifestyle).
Vocabulary: flock, nest, waterfowl, omnivores. Develop the ability to give a reasoned answer to a question.
Strengthen the ability to work with scissors and a needle.
Develop thinking, observation, fine motor skills.
To cultivate an ecological worldview and interest in the nature of the native land.
Equipment:
An audio recording of the sea surf with the cries of seagulls, a silhouette of a seagull made of 66 cm paper, pictures of seagulls and various nests, paper blanks for design, scissors, colored pencils, a needle and thread.
Herring gull
Black-headed Laughing Gull
Progress of the lesson:
Today we have to take a closer look at the birds that live in our area. But I won't name this bird. You yourself will recognize her by her voice. Close your eyes and imagine yourself on the deck of a pleasure boat. (Audio recording starts). A fresh sea breeze blows over you, and the wave gently splashes over the side of the boat with a quiet rustle. And they fly above the waves... Do you recognize? What birds? These are seagulls.
Here are the largest of our gulls (showing pictures) - the herring gull or laughing gull and the black-headed gull. And these seagulls are really very large - their length can be as large as this. (Showing the silhouette of a seagull with a bird span of 66 cm).
Why do you think seagulls have such strange nicknames - “laughing”, “laughing”? For a loud laughing voice.
Now think about why this gull is called herring gull, and this one is called black-headed? The herring gull has silver feathers, while the black-headed gull has black feathers on its head. The plumage of seagulls is very thick, with abundant soft down, and the outside is covered with waterproof lubricant. Almost all gulls have black wing tips. But the tail is usually short, rounded in most species, with tail feathers that help the gulls steer - turn during flight. Seagulls have well-developed swimming membranes on their legs. Why do you think seagulls need swimming membranes on their feet? Swimming membranes on the feet of birds help them swim and row with their feet like oars.
Can you remember other birds, like seagulls, that have webbed feet?
(You can offer children pictures depicting various birds, from which they need to choose waterfowl that have webbed feet). Geese, ducks, penguins, cormorants. All these birds can be called waterfowl. Why? Because they float in water.
Seagulls live in flocks. What does this mean? Seagulls are birds that love to live together in large groups. A flock is a group of birds or animals.
Seagulls nest once a year. Try to guess what “nesting” means? When they say that birds “nes”, they mean that birds build nests, lay eggs in them and hatch chicks. Remember this word. Seagulls also nest in flocks, next to each other, and sometimes together with other water birds. A male gull chooses a place for a nest and builds it right on the coastal cliffs, among stones or on the sea beach. The female seagull lays eggs in the finished nest and incubates the chicks. Do you know why birds sit on nests with eggs? To warm the eggs with your warmth and protect them from the cold and enemies.
Didactic exercise “Find the seagulls’ nest”
Children are offered pictures depicting various nests (in a tree, among the grass, in a hollow, under a roof, on rocks), from which children must choose a seagull's nest. The teacher asks to explain the choice, why the remaining nests cannot belong to seagulls.
The chicks hatched from the eggs are covered with thick, pale gray fluff with motley spots, because if the chicks were silver-white, like their mothers and fathers, they would be very noticeable and would become easy prey, and the motley color helps the chicks to be invisible among rocks and hide from predators. For two weeks, the chicks remain in the nest, where they are cared for by both parents.
Dynamic pause “Seagulls are circling above the waves”
Seagulls circle above the waves,
Let's fly after them together.
Splashes of foam, sound of the surf.
And above the sea - you and I.
(Children wave their arms, imitating the flight of seagulls, and I run scattered across the carpet)
We are now sailing on the sea
And we frolic in the open space.
Have fun raking
And catch up with the dolphins.
(Children sit on their knees, join their hands behind their backs, alternately lift their feet off the floor at a fast pace)
Seagulls obtain food for themselves both on water and on land - in the sea, in the coastal zone, in meadows and sown fields, even in garbage dumps.
The herring gull is an omnivorous bird. How do you understand the meaning of the word “omnivore”? Omnivores are those who eat everything, a wide variety of foods: both plant and animal.
In fields and meadows, seagulls readily eat insects and mice. This is of great benefit to fields and meadows. Can you guess which one? Insects and mice destroy the crops in the fields, and seagulls, by eating these insects and mice, help preserve the crops.
Seagulls float well on the water, but dive extremely rarely. They hunt fish, shellfish, crustaceans, flying and aquatic insects. They destroy the nests of other birds, feeding on their eggs. Mollusks covered with a thick shell are thrown from the height of a five-story building, thereby breaking the shell. In addition, many seagulls willingly eat carrion or look for food among food waste in landfills and near fishing boats. Some seagulls can fly tens of kilometers from water bodies to feed. In addition to animal food, they also eat seeds and berries.
In the morning and evening, seagulls visit the sea and beaches in flocks, where they willingly consume crustaceans, dead fish, algae thrown out by the waves and edible garbage left by people. And again we can say that seagulls are our helpers. Why? They, like orderlies, clean the beach and the sea.
And now I offer you a funny counting rhyme.
Counting book "Seagulls"
The seagull warmed up the kettle,
She invited eight seagulls.
Everyone came for tea!
How many seagulls - answer?
Let's stretch our fingers and make a paper craft.
Finger gymnastics “Seagull”
Fingers - head,
Wings - palms.
(Palms are turned towards you, the thumbs are straightened away from you and intertwined, clinging to each other, the remaining fingers are closed)
The seagull flies up
Flashes above the water.
(Without separating your fingers, imitate the flight of a bird)
I sat down on the wave.
(Connect your thumb and index fingers (head), form the remaining fingers into a fist (torso). Lower your hand onto the table and shake)
She immediately ate the fish.
(The thumb and index fingers are separated and reconnected.)
Construction of the “Flying Seagull”
Children are asked to cut out a seagull according to the drawn outline from a sheet of paper folded in half. Then fill in the details with colored pencils (eyes, beak, webbed legs, ends of wings). Then a thread is pulled through the center of the craft with a needle and a knot is tied. You can hold a seagull by a thread. Children play with the craft by moving their hand and blowing on it.
Questions:
What are the names of the largest of the Crimean gulls?
Why did they get such names?
Why do seagulls have webbed feet?
How do seagulls live - alone, in pairs or in flocks?
How do seagulls nest?
Why are seagulls called omnivorous birds?
Why are seagulls called orderlies?
Additional material for the lesson:
"Seagulls"
We sat in a small cafe on the seashore, drank narzan and watched as people walking along the embankment fed the seagulls. They threw them pieces of buns. The seagulls deftly picked them up in flight and at the same time uttered sharp, piercing screams.
“And why do people feed such slackers,” my friend, student Shura, grumbled displeasedly.
- What kind of slackers are they? – I stood up for the seagulls. – How long do they have to fly to catch some unfortunate fish?
- That's right, a fish. How many fish do they destroy?
At this time the cook came out of the kitchen. He went to the railing at the end of the terrace and threw out a whole basin of fish entrails and various kitchen scraps.
- Ugh, what a disgrace! – one of their visitors was indignant. – And how is it possible to create such unsanitary conditions!
- Listen to me, citizen! – Shura called out to the cook, who, without paying any attention to the remarks, headed back to the kitchen with an empty basin. - Come here.
The cook came up.
- Why are you breeding flies? – Shura said reproachfully. - Yes, and you fatten the slackers!
– Are these seagulls slackers? – the cook was surprised. - What do you! These are my assistants! And regarding unsanitary conditions, you are wrong. Look how they cleaned everything up.
And indeed, not even five minutes had passed before a cloud of seagulls swooped in and cleaned up all the garbage.
“You go,” the cook advised, “out of town to the fishing piers.” It's always full of fish waste. And if not for the seagulls, the shore would have turned into a landfill. And they pick everything.
“That’s true,” responded the citizen sitting at the last table. – Seagulls are sea orderlies. Of course, they are not without sin: they also destroy live fish. And how many dead ones are removed! Who would collect her, dead, from the sea? But if it decomposed, it would also infect living things. Can you imagine what danger the fish population would face if it weren’t for the seagulls!
Shura was confused.
“But I always considered these long-winged beauties to be pests,” he admitted.
From that time on, he stopped looking at the seagulls so angrily, and one day he even said:
- It would be interesting to see their nesting sites. I've heard about bird markets, but I don't have a clear idea of them.
One day this same summer we had the opportunity to visit the rocks, where seagulls settled in large numbers. There was a time when the chicks had already left the nests, and there were no birds on the stones. We walked along the ledges; broken shells lay in the holes, feathers and fluff lay scattered, and tufts of dry grass stuck out.
And suddenly, almost at our very feet, a seagull screamed and began to hover. She fluttered and tore, but for some reason did not take off. We leaned towards her.
- Yes, she is tied! – Shura exclaimed.
- Can't be!
It turned out that the seagull was not tied, but pinned by the wing.
Having examined it carefully, we realized that the bird, apparently, ran into a sharp stalk of dry cattail with its wing while it was hatching chicks from eggs. She was unable to free herself. She remained chained to the nest. The male had to feed both the hatched children and their mother. Now near her lay half-dead grasshoppers and two small fish. We freed the captive by carefully cutting the twig that held her by the wing. The seagull took off and got lost among other birds, which flew over our heads with desperate cries while we freed their friend.
(According to M. Zverev)
Say a word:
“Sea, rock it!” -
asked... (SEAGULL)
The sea turns blue before us,
Flying... (SEAGULS) over the waves.
Having eaten your fill of fish,
At sea... (SEAGULL) was resting.
Most gulls live along sea coasts, and only a few species are characteristic of fresh waters, rivers, and lakes located inland. Gulls feed on fish, which they catch mainly from the surface, since only a few species of gulls, characterized by a very light body, can dive. They also eat other sea animals and, in addition, all kinds of carrion washed up on the shore by the sea.
Sea gulls are extremely social birds, often nesting in huge colonies of many thousands. There are especially many seagulls in Norway. The seagull always builds its nest on the ground and usually there are 3-4 eggs in the nest. Seagull eggs are used as food, which is why there is a special industry for collecting eggs, and all the eggs are not selected, but a certain part is left for further reproduction of the colonies. The coloring of males and females is the same, with young ones having brownish plumage, while older ones are predominantly white.
Our most common seagull, or common fisher, is an inhabitant of only fresh waters, and if by chance you happen to end up on the sea coast or at sea, it does not happen for long and, for the most part, during a migration. This gull loves lakes, ponds, and rivers overgrown with reeds, reeds and sedges. It arrives here in the spring, at the end of March - in April, and relatively soon, at the end of July, or rather, in August, it flies away from us. It happens that some of these gulls remain and spend the winter in warmer areas, where they stay on non-freezing waters, especially at the mouths of large rivers.
The seagull makes its flights to the south in small flocks, and the birds fly in the form of an oblique line or in a triangle open at the back. Our gull also nests in colonies, making nests on tufts of sedge and reeds, surrounded by water and swamp. Usually there are 2-3 eggs in a nest and they are also collected and eaten, like the eggs of sea gulls, leaving only the clutches. When their nests are robbed, seagulls are very hostile towards the thieves, violently rushing at both dogs and people, almost touching them, and they put other predators to flight, making an unbearable noise with their scream.
This seagull swims with a slightly raised tail and with wings crossed over them, runs quickly along the ground, and flies, although not very fast, but beautifully and easily. It feeds on small fish, which it catches on the fly or from the surface of the water when swimming, mainly on worms and insects, which it collects both from the water and on the ground.
The length of the common gull is 42 centimeters. In summer her head is dark brown, in winter it is white and black, her back and wings are gray, the feathers on her wings are partly white, partly gray, both with black edges, the beak and legs are red.
To conclude the description of our river gull, we can say that this bird brings triple benefits. She cleans the populated coastal strip from harmful insects and worms, eating carrion thrown out by the waves, she acts as an orderly.