Common finch. Finch bird. Lifestyle and habitat of the finch. Finch behavior and nutrition

As you know, you won’t be able to move around Moscow without a passport. They will stop you at any moment, even if you are not a young man of military age. To enter any administrative building or business center, you will almost certainly need documents. Every day we deal with issuing passes to the territory of our business center, we see how people treat the cover of their passport. Usually they are either proud and show it, tell where they bought it, or make slight excuses - “it’s time to change it”, but indifference is extremely rare.

Leather passport covers are a truly necessary gift. Even if a person already has a cover for a Russian passport, a new leather cover will be useful either for a foreign passport, or relatives will be happy with it: after all, some of whom still have the “rare” cover of a passport of a citizen of the Soviet Union.

Making custom passport covers

A leather passport cover is usually sewn from three parts, but there can be several options for making even such a simple product >. at different

• Pockets can be leather or plastic
• Pocket width - from narrow to the width of the cover
• The cover can be with or without lining

More complex models with additional functions can be made. You can add to covers

• card slots
• patch pockets for plastic files
• compartments for bills, passes, documents

Are you looking for a gift? Order a cover made of genuine leather with an individual design! In the YouCase designer you can easily design your own cover by adding a bright print, drawing, or photograph. The leather case will have three compartments for business cards. Use stickers and ready-made design options, choose your skin color and order!

Passport cover with original design

Give the best gift to a loved one, beloved man, son or daughter, girlfriend. Order a handmade leather cover with a unique design. Create a layout in the YouCase online designer - add a drawing or photo, select a ready-made background, place stickers - and place an order. You will have the product in a few days.

Using the constructor and the YouCase service is easy. We create original things at the lowest price. This is possible thanks to high-quality full-color printing and automation of some operations.

When should you order a cover from YouCase?

YouCase offers a completely unique product. You won’t find covers for 1000 rubles, made of genuine leather, with an individual design anywhere. Stores sell exclusively standard products, while craftsmen sell their work at much higher prices. Covers created by YouCase are the perfect combination of price, quality, and design.

Use the service if:

Is the old cover worn out? Your child turns 14 and you are looking for a reliable case? Are you looking for a successful and inexpensive gift for a birthday, name day, September 1st or other holiday? Order from YouCase.

Cover design ideas

Creating a cover is easy! If you don't have your own ideas, use ours:

• Create a personalized case. Place your first and last name on the cover - the passport in such a case will definitely not be lost in government agencies.
• For a teenage girl’s fourteenth birthday, you can give her a cover with cats, her favorite cartoon character, or an avatar from a social network. We will print any picture!
• Photography is a great choice! Download the most successful photo from social networks, place it in the working field and save the layout.
• Use your child's drawing. The case will forever preserve your baby's first creative impulses.
• Is your friend a convinced Stalinist? Download an image of Stalin, the coat of arms of the Soviet Union, the hammer and sickle.
• Making a corporate gift? Don't forget to place your company logo on the cover.
• Take help from a professional designer. He will suggest excellent options and develop a sketch on his own.

YouCase works like a regular online store: we have delivery throughout the Russian Federation, and orders are completed within a few days. We will deliver your purchase to Moscow and St. Petersburg 1-2 days after placing the order. You can buy gift products from the service at retail and wholesale.

Find out how much wholesale manufacturing of covers costs and contact us!

Sometimes not only your appearance, but also some everyday things can boast of bright little things. A cover for a passport, military service or student ID can highlight your uniqueness and make using the document a little more pleasant.
This cover will not only please you, but if you choose the right print, the cover will be suitable as a stylish, cool gift for a loved one.

Custom-made passport cover with your own design or inscription.

We guarantee excellent quality at a fairly low price. All covers are made of eco-leather, which will ensure long-term use of the cover.
Cover printing is ensured by modern technologies that help achieve first-class results. The print comes out clear and resistant to external mechanical damage.

You can order the following documents with your print:

• passport cover - 600 rub.
• cover for student - 450 rub.
• cover for car documents - 700 rub.
• cover for a military ID - 600 rubles.

We work as follows:

- We will calculate the total cost of the goods including delivery
- We will develop (if necessary) and approve the layout. Development of an individual layout from 50 rubles
- You pay for the order, we take it into production

Finch– one of the most common forest birds in Europe. This is a rather unpretentious creature that can be found not only in forests. City parks and gardens are also their home.

Features and habitat of the finch

finch bird represents the finch family. By finch description- a small bird about the size of a bird, sometimes reaches up to 20 cm in length, and weighs only about 30 g. However, it differs significantly from other birds in that it has very bright plumage.

Males, especially during the mating season, look very defiant. Their neck and head are blue or dark blue. The chest, cheeks and throat are dark red or burgundy, the forehead and tail are black.

Two brightly colored stripes on each wing, and a green tail make the owner’s appearance unforgettable. After molting in the autumn, the color scheme of the bird's plumage becomes much more faded and brown tones begin to predominate.

The female finch has a more muted color, with gray-green shades predominating in its color. The juvenile chicks are larger in color than the females. There are many subspecies of finches; they differ among themselves in size, beak, color and other features. In some areas they occupy a leading place in number among other small birds.

Finches are considered migratory birds, although some representatives adapt and remain for the winter in their favorite territory. The European part of Russia, Siberia, and the Caucasus are their summer residence.

In September and October, birds gather in groups of approximately 50 to 100 individuals and go to winter in Central Europe, North Africa, Asia Minor, Kazakhstan and Crimea.

The photo shows a female finch

Overwinter the finch maybe in neighboring regions located further south. Birds fly to the South quickly, about 55 km/hour. Along the way, the flock may stop in regions rich in food for several days.

It can be said with firm confidence that, depending on the region, finches are sedentary, nomadic and migratory birds. In winter, finches form flocks and live mainly in open areas. As a rule, these are meadows and fields. Finches and sparrows are often members of their flock.

When the finches arrive spring is just beginning and they can be observed in forests, groves, forest plantations and city parks. Favorite habitats are sparse spruce forests, mixed forests and light forests. In most cases they do not nest, since they usually look for food on the surface of the ground. Mostly they fly to the places where they were last summer.

The origin of the name of the bird is from the word freeze, chill. After all, they arrive at the very beginning of spring and fly away at the beginning of cold weather. There is one old Russian saying that if you hear the song of a finch, it means frost and cold, but it means warmth. It is noteworthy that the Latin name of the bird has the same root as the word cold. Our ancestors also believed that the finch is the herald of spring.

Character and lifestyle of the finch

Common finch flies very quickly, and prefers to jump rather than walk on the surface of the earth. Songs of the finch ringing, loud and highly variable individually, very similar to the trills of a lark, but have their own characteristics.

The duration of the chant is no more than three seconds, after a short pause it is repeated. Young animals perform simpler melodies, learn from adults and acquire skill and virtuosity with age.

By the way, each region has its own individual “dialect”, sounds made by a finch vary depending on where you live. The bird's repertoire can include up to 10 songs, which she performs in turn.

Before the rain, birds sing a peculiar trill “ryu-ryu-ryu”, so these birds can predict the weather. If the finch sings finch voice can be heard from the moment of arrival until mid-summer. In autumn, finches sing less often and “in a low voice.” At home chaffinch singing starts in January.

Nowadays to hear finch voice, many strive to achieve it at home. However, this is not the best solution. The finch does not really like to sing in a cage, it is constantly nervous, tries to free itself, and it may develop eye problems and obesity. In addition, choosing a diet for this bird is quite difficult.

Finch nutrition

The finch feeds on plant foods or insects. The bird's palate, strong beak and strong facial muscles make it easy to break both beetle shells and hard seeds.

Main diet: weed seeds and cones, buds and leaves, flowers, berries and all kinds of insects. Despite the fact that agricultural workers complain that birds destroy the seeds of sown plants, about the chaffinch it is safe to say that it brings significant benefits to fields and forests.

Reproduction and lifespan of the finch

From warm lands male and female finches in spring They arrive in separate flocks. Males arrive earlier and stay away from their future mates. Then the males begin to sing loudly, these sounds resemble the chirping of chicks. These sounds lure females into their territory.

The mating season for finches begins in March. Before finding a mate, males occupy nesting areas, which have their own boundaries and different areas.

Often these are places where they nested last year. Competitors of the same species are immediately expelled from this territory. Fights between first-year males and older males over the outskirts of the old men’s territories are especially frequent.

During the mating season, males finch look like real bullies. They fuss a lot, fight among themselves and sing, often interrupting the song. At this moment he pulls himself up and the feathers on his head are pressed.

A nearby female flies up to the male, sits down next to him, bends her legs, raises her wings and tail a little, throws her head up and begins to quietly squeak “zi-zi-zi.” Such acquaintance can occur both on the ground and in tree branches.

A month later, the finches begin building their home. This task is entrusted to the female, the male’s concern is help. It has been estimated that when building a nest, the female descends to the ground at least 1,300 times in search of suitable materials. finch nest can be found on almost any tree and at any height. Most often - about 4 m and in the forks of branches.

Within a week, a unique architectural structure is obtained - a bowl with a diameter of up to one meter. It contains thin twigs, moss, branches, grass and roots. All this is held together using a web.

Its walls are thick and durable and can reach 25mm. The outer walls are moss, lichen and birch bark. The inside of the nest is lined with various feathers; down and wool are also used. The result is a house that is perfectly camouflaged and hardly noticeable.

Pictured is a chick finch

The clutch contains 3-6 eggs, greenish in color with red dots. While the female hatches the chicks, the male brings her food and carefully looks after her. After about two weeks, babies are born with red skin and dark down on the back and head.

They are completely helpless and both parents lovingly feed them directly into their beaks, putting them in. During this period, it is absolutely forbidden to disturb. If a person approaches the nest, children or eggs, adult birds may leave it.

In mid-June, the chicks fly out of the nest, but their parents help them for another half a month. The second brood of finches appears in mid-late summer. There are fewer eggs in the second clutch. The finch lives not for long, although in captivity its lifespan can reach up to 12 years.

They die mostly carelessly, since they often look for food on the ground and can be trampled by people or caught by predators. The finch feather is popularly considered a symbol of family happiness and prosperity.

, birds, their nests, eggs and voices, and mammals (animals) and traces of their activity,
20 colored laminated definition tables, including: aquatic invertebrates, diurnal butterflies, fish, amphibians and reptiles, wintering birds, migratory birds, mammals and their tracks,
4 pocket field determinant, including: inhabitants of reservoirs, birds of the middle zone and animals and their traces, as well as
65 methodological benefits And 40 educational and methodological films By methods carrying out research work in nature (in the field).

Appearance. In spring, the male has a bluish-gray top of the head, a chestnut back, reddish-brown cheeks and belly, and a greenish rump; in autumn the top of the head is brownish. The female and young birds are gray with a greenish rump. The white stripes on the wings are clearly visible. Usually feeds on the ground, sings in the crowns. In autumn and winter it is sometimes found in huge flocks.
The song is a loud trill with a sharp ending: “fit-fiit-la-la-vi-chiu-kick.” Scream - a ringing “pink-pink”, often heard on the fly, and a loud “rryu”; birds from the Caucasus and Karelia have a short whistle. The cry “ryuyu” serves as an alarm signal. In many books you can read that, according to popular belief, finches “drink” to bring rain. Indeed, they scream like that before it rains, but only when the clouds cover the sky and it becomes dark in the forest, so that even without them it is clear: it is better not to leave the house.
Habitat. One of the most numerous birds in forests, gardens and parks.
Nutrition. Feeds on insects and plant foods, primarily oily seeds.
Nesting sites. The finch is not very picky when choosing nesting sites. Found in various forests, gardens and parks. It gives clear preference to sparse spruce forests and areas of mixed forest, as well as dry light pine forests, especially if there are groups of deciduous trees and shrubs nearby. Avoids dense overgrown places, as it often descends to the ground to feed.
Nest location. The nest is made on trees of various species at different heights from the ground: from 1.5 to 15 m, but more often at a height of 2-4 m. On deciduous trees (birch or aspen) the nest is placed at the base of a side branch extending from the main trunk; on spruce or pine trees - usually on a horizontal branch among the needles at a distance from the trunk, less often near the main trunk.

Nest building material. In one case, blades of grass and twigs form only the basis of the walls and bottom, and the entire thickness is made of moss; in another case, there is as much moss as there are blades of grass and twigs; in the third case, blades of grass and twigs predominate. The outside walls of the nest are lined with lichens, birch bark, pieces of bark and lumps of plant fluff. The lining of some nests is dominated by pieces of lichen, others by birch bark, and in others there may be equal amounts of both. Plant fluff is also present to varying degrees, but it is always less than birch bark and lichens. All building material is firmly held together by spider web threads, due to which the walls acquire greater density. The litter in the nest is made of feathers, wool, and sometimes from the golden threads of the stalks of cuckoo flax. The lining perfectly camouflages the nest, and it is not easy to spot it against the background of tree bark or among pine needles.
Shape and dimensions of the nest. The finch's nest is a very skillful structure, representing a dense deep cup, woven mainly from dry blades of grass, thin twigs and moss. Socket diameter 90-105 mm, socket height 50-80 mm, tray diameter 50-70 mm, tray depth 30-50 mm.
Features of masonry. A clutch of 4-7 eggs, colored pale bluish-green or reddish-green with pinkish-purple spots. Egg dimensions: (17-23) x (13-15) mm.
Nesting dates. The arrival of finches begins quite early, in early April. They begin building nests and laying eggs within a month, i.e. in the first half of May. Incubation lasts 13-14 days and the chicks are fed in the nest for approximately the same amount of time. The emergence of young birds is observed in mid-June. Finches make two clutches per season, and the number of eggs in the second clutch is smaller. The second brood hatches from June to August. Departure takes place from September to mid-October.
Spreading. Distributed throughout the European part of Russia, the Caucasus and southern Siberia east to the Baikal region. In some places in the spring you can hear several dozen birds singing.
Wintering. Some birds (especially old males) winter in Central Europe, the rest fly south (mainly to the Mediterranean). Also common in winter in the foothill forests of the Caucasus.

Description of Buturlin. Who doesn't know the finch! This is the first name that comes to mind when you think of small songbirds. In its own way fame and only one siskin can compete with the finch in popularity (not counting sparrows). But the siskin is better known as a house bird; in the wild it is not very noticeable, and the finch lives in almost every garden in the summer.
Arrival finches - one of the first dates of spring after the return of rooks, starlings and larks. There is slush outside, a brown mixture of melted snow and mud. A warm and humid breeze, full of spring scents, is blowing. In the gardens, great tits loudly repeat their ringing chant: “chi-chi-fi... chi-chi-fi...” In the villages, near the barns and straw sweepers, the buntings are already singing their ringing “zin-zin-zin...” “It is at this time that we hear the first, advanced finches. Their sharp “ping-ping-ping”, similar to the cry of tits, is heard loudly from the tops of bare trees. The singing has not yet been heard. The birds are obviously tired and silent. If you come closer and look through binoculars, you can see that these are only males.
They have a brownish chest and cheeks, a noticeably dark top, a bluish-gray head, and distinct white stripes on the wings - the most characteristic feature in coloring finch. There are no females (grayish-brown, almost monochromatic) yet. They arrive a few days later. That’s why Linnaeus, two hundred years ago, called the chaffinch (in Latin) a “single” finch.
In the spring, flocks of finches quickly move to summer places, usually returning to their homeland, and sometimes even to the same gardens and groves where they nested last year. By the end of April, the birds have already filled their entire nesting area- in the European part of Russia from Crimea and the Caucasus to the White Sea, and in Asia almost the entire Western Siberia - from Kazakhstan to Tobolsk and east to the Krasnoyarsk Territory. Outside Russia, the finch lives in summer throughout Europe and northwestern Africa, as well as in the mountains of Asia Minor, Palestine and Iran. In the Caucasus, Crimea, Trans-Caspian region and Western Europe, several subspecies of finch have been identified, differing in shades of color on the back and abdomen.
Overwinter our finches are in Transcaucasia, and West Siberian finches are in Kazakhstan. To the south, wintering grounds reach Egypt, but in warm winters some birds linger on the southern coast of Crimea, and sometimes in Ukraine and even further north, almost to the middle zone of the European part of Russia.
A day or two after arrival, if the weather is not too severe, you can hear the first song finch - a cheerful, distinct trill, sounding like “few-few-few-di-di-di-la-la-la-vi-chiu.” This last sharp cry of “wi-chiu” (“stroke”) is very characteristic of the chaffinch’s song. You can recognize a finch by it even among a polyphonic forest choir. It is worth dwelling in more detail on the song of the finch. It usually consists of several knees. The song is not continuous, as, for example, that of a lark or a goldfinch, but is completely complete, has its own definite beginning, middle and end. Having sung once, the finch starts again, but sometimes changes some syllables (most often the end). There are singers who have two or three different tunes, performed in turn. Each male's song is structured and sounds unique (preserving the general finch type), so that with a certain skill one can distinguish several singers by their voices. One finch has a short song, as if “chopped”, another has a noticeably longer, “scattered” song, a third has a double song, etc., with endless variations. Sometimes the finch constructs its song from borrowed parts of songs and from the calls of other birds (the so-called “copying”). The sounds of others are especially often borrowed for the first part of a song. Sometimes a finch starts out just like a tree pipit, a bunting, or even imitating a river warbler, and then continues “like a finch” and always ends with its usual “stroke.” Often the finch at the end of the song, after the last sharp sound, “stroke”, makes a “push”: it ends with “whi-chiu”, and then - “kick”. Some individuals even make two pushes. Among amateurs, this shock is considered a defect in the song.
In addition to song, the finch has several urges associated with various moments of life. Either he emits a sharp “kick” in alarm, or a low trill cry (“ryu-ryu...”), or chirps almost like a sparrow (this chirping is more often heard during nesting - with chicks).
The finch is not very picky when choosing nesting sites. He settles in both in coniferous forest (pine forest) and in deciduous forest, old and young, but definitely avoids remote (especially coniferous), overgrown places, since it often goes down to the ground to feed and likes to wander under the trees. It is not uncommon to find a pair of nesting finches even in a small garden with only a few trees. In the Caucasus, the finch climbs to the upper limit of woody vegetation, but prefers beech forests. For the winter, he descends into the valleys.
But no matter how favorable the nesting sites are, you will never find several pairs of finches nesting together. In spring, males are irreconcilable with their rivals and neighbors. The couple takes over site meters 100 in diameter and expels other finches from there. The population density of these birds in summer is determined not by food resources, but solely by the temperament of the nesting males. Only after the chicks hatch do the finches begin to unite into large flocks.
Finches in spring feed mixed beggar. They often wander the ground, picking up fallen small seeds, plucking out sprouts, but they also eat small insects - caterpillars of cutworms and moths, weevils, flies, etc.
Nests finches are as distinctive as their spring song. They usually settle quite high (rarely below 2-3 meters) and look like a dense deep cup, lined on the outside with lichen, birch bark or pieces of bark from the trunk of the tree on which the nest is located. If the nest is located at the base of a side branch extending from the main trunk, then it is very difficult to notice - it is just like a mushroom growth or a bunch of lichens. Thus, most nests are located on deciduous trees - birch or aspen. On spruce or pine trees, the nest is rarely made near the main trunk, but is usually fixed on a horizontal branch among the needles. But even here the nest is placed quite inconspicuously. The first material placed at the base of the nest is dry blades of grass, twigs and moss stalks. For strength, the bird entangles them with a web, and the nest itself is lined inside with a small amount of fluff and hair. The female builds very carefully and will turn around in the nest many times, adjusting its edges with her beak and pressing its edges with her tail, before it takes on a finished form. During the construction of the nest, the male relentlessly follows the female everywhere, carries building material in her beak, but does not take part in the construction. His excited singing and passionate attacks on the female, perhaps, even interfere with her work.
The nest takes six to seven days to build, and as soon as it is ready, the first bird appears in it. egg; then one is added daily. When 5-6 eggs are laid, the clutch ends and incubation begins. The eggs are plump (about 18-19 millimeters long), with a slightly bluish general background, which is covered with sparsely scattered and sharply defined dark red or brown round spots and dots.
By the end of incubation, which lasts thirteen to fourteen days, the female sits on the nest very firmly and flies off it only when a person approaches almost closely. The male feeds her with various small insects, which he collects near the nest. Hatching happens quickly: often all the chicks are born on the same day. Their appearance at birth is common for most finches. Covered with long dark down on the head and back, they are red-skinned, with a reddish, wide-opening throat and thick bellies, they whistle softly. In the first two or three days, this abrupt whistle is barely audible near the nest. If you watch the nest for a while, you will be surprised how often the parents carry food.
At least every 3-5 minutes, the female or male brings soft insects (naked caterpillars, small flies and bugs) to the nest. To this animal food herb seeds and herbs softened in the crop are mixed in. Feeding is always accompanied by squeaking and fussing in the nest. Every day the squeak becomes more audible. Looking into the nest ten days after hatching, you can find in it already almost fledged, bare-bellied gray-brown chicks with remnants of fine fluff on their heads. The coloring of the chicks, in general, is similar to the coloring of the female, only they have a lighter spot on the back of the head.
Are flying out The chicks usually leave the nest within thirteen to fourteen days, and at first the brood stays close to the nest. The chicks chirp like sparrows and persistently ask for food, fluttering awkwardly after the old people. Parents feed the brood for three weeks. Gradually it breaks down, as the chicks, having learned to get food on their own, ask for food less. The parents, not hearing their cry, which arouses the feeding instinct, finally abandon the brood completely. The impetus for this is the beginning of the second nesting, which occurs in central Russia and in more southern regions. But in each individual case it is difficult to decide whether the eggs found in the nests back in July are the second clutch or belong to the belated first hatch. The timing of nesting of individual pairs of finches varies greatly.
From August You can already see flocks of finches in the forest. Young birds predominate in them, since the old ones molt at this time and stay more apart. After molting, the color of the males becomes duller than in the spring. The young molt later. The flocks grow and before leaving, in September-October, they reach large sizes - many hundreds of individuals. They are often joined by buntings, linnets, greenfinches, as well as northern finches (bramblings) flying south. Flocks roam along forest edges and fields. Young males begin to learn to sing, and the polyphonic chirping of the resting flock can be heard from afar.
Finches in autumn and early spring eat exclusively plant food - mainly seeds of herbaceous plants, which are collected on the ground. They attack flax and hemp crops, but are especially fond of cruciferous seeds, as well as nettles, zebra grass, poultry grass and others.
Destroying many weed seeds in fields and vegetable gardens, the finch brings some benefit. A permanent inhabitant of gardens and parks, it is still not nearly as useful as its neighbors - flycatchers, tits or redstarts, which destroy thousands of insects a day.