Ducks in town
Many like to feed the ducks in the city's ponds, and during the period of self-isolation they are very worried that they will remain hungry. But you shouldn't worry about it. In fact, in warm seasons, birds don't need feeding.
In spring and summer, wild animals in the natural environment are able to find their own food, including in the food chain of ecosystems of natural areas. Feeding birds can lead to rapid reproduction, leading to the risk of epidemics among animals (epizootics) and humans. In addition, birds may misjudge the area in terms of future nesting because of feeding. Because of the overfeeding, it may initially appear suitable for nest construction, but the invertebrates needed to feed their offspring may not be sufficient.
During the feeding period, chicks need a natural and varied diet. This is also bad for weeds - chicks who fly out of the nest and learn to feed themselves. By getting used to the available food in the feeder and not acquiring the skills of feeding it in nature, such birds are likely to die in the future.
Moreover, feeding can lead to birds abandoning natural food or consuming less. In a 'natural dining room', food is more balanced and nutritious than what people usually eat. Excessive consumption of such food will have an impact on bird health.
And while the Muscovites are at home, the birds dared and began to develop a new environment for them, and more and more often they can be seen on the empty streets of the capital. According to Mospriroda specialists, the appearance of ducks in spring in the city streets is associated not only with the fact that the anxiety factor in the metropolis has decreased, but also with the brooding and nesting period.
Bird population sometimes finds it difficult to raise chicks because of the active holiday townspeople with their pets, with whom they walk, as well as a relatively small number of secluded nest places - thick and prickly bushes, hollow trees, wastelands with uncut grass. All this causes ducks to appear every year in unusual places during the nesting period - in attics and roofs of houses, in garages, etc. The appearance of ducks in spring on city streets is common, but this year it is simply more pronounced.
Because of the introduction of self-insulation, the anxiety factor in the metropolis has decreased, and the spread of bird couples in urban development has increased. If the self-isolation period is prolonged, ducks in both parks and residential areas may be able to raise their chicks several times in summer. The animals do not expect much stress from the quarantine.
Large populations of ducks were able to settle in the capital relatively recently - only in the middle of XX century. At that time the food of the townspeople improved, they stopped perceiving birds as hunting prey, and even began to feed them. Large natural areas with water bodies were added to the city; some of the city's water bodies stopped completely freezing in winter due to man-made activity. Some ducks stopped flying south in autumn, forming a sedentary population, which was becoming very large, and made up, for example, in 2016, more than 29 thousand birds. Of course, not all of these birds can nest in the metropolis, and in spring many of them fly around the region in search of nesting places.
The first one adapted to living next to a human mallard duck. The unpretentiousness and plasticity of this species allowed humans in ancient times to domesticate it. And now the mallard has an absolute numerical advantage, it is about 96% of the total population of urban waterfowl (according to records in 2015). Mallard mallard spleens are distinguished by a bright green head and a purple stripe ("mirror") on the wing, females are motley, brownish-beige. Records of summer 2015 indicate 950 broods of mallards, and the total number of chicks in them is 4500.
Ducks nesting on the ground are endangered by humans, dogs, ravens and birds of prey. That's why, if a duck finds a cleft in a tree, it will try to settle in this hiding place. Born ducks height is not a hindrance - just dried up, they, like lightweight fluff, will plan down and goose after mama duck will rush to the reservoir, where they will be more or less vulnerable.
The city's second largest duck is a non-native species. Their natural habitat is the southern steppes, where they settle, making nests in burrows of animals, in clefts of rocks, in hollows or on the ground. They are much larger than mallards, bright redheads with black feathers (both males and females). Ogaries have long adapted to life in the city, living in the ponds of the Moscow Zoo, and since the 40-ies of XX century began to settle on other water bodies. Birds have adapted to nest, including in the attics of houses, and on many ponds aggressively pursue other ducks during the nesting period. These birds do not fly south, wintering mainly in the zoo, and few in pairs or alone in other frozen ponds. In recent years, there have been over 1100 cigarettes. They have more than 50 broods and 350 ducks.
Eggs were brought from the Darwin Reserve, and they were artificially raised in the zoo, laying them under the mallard and musk ducks. Gogol nests in the hollows of old trees, and in parks on the banks of ponds Mospriroda employees constantly hang out artificial houses-gogolatniki. In 2009, 58 broods of Gogol were counted in summer. But in winter 2010/2011 as a result of icy rains with wet snow, many hollow trees were broken and only 6 broods were recorded, of which 3 broods were recorded in the Terletsky Park ponds. These ducks were also seen flying northwards in spring and southwards in autumn.
