Kozodoy - description, habitat, interesting facts

Kozodoy - this interesting name belongs to birds of a large genus. These birds are remarkable in that they lead an exclusively nocturnal lifestyle, and eat only insects. Kozodoi live in forests, this area is best suited for them, because they like to disguise themselves. It is almost impossible to see such birds in the forest, as they hide well, but you can hear their singing. The only place where you can see the goats is not far from the location of cattle and small cattle.

Appearance

Kozodoi are small birds that are active only in twilight. They have rather long, but narrow wings and a long tail. The feet of these birds are short and weak. The beak is small, but there is a rather large mouth around which the bristles are located. The middle finger stands out on each paw, as it is much longer than the others in size. This finger serves as a claw and is used to cling or grab something. The feathers of the goats are quite soft and loose in structure. The color of the plumage is predominantly brown or gray, which allows the birds to hide in the forests and go unnoticed. The appearance of males and females practically does not differ, the only difference is the presence of a pronounced white spot on the wings and tail feathers of males.

If you see these birds in the air, you might think that these are swifts or falcons, since their flight is very similar to the flight of the goats, as quiet and fast, as well as combined with rather sharp stops and turns.

What do they eat?

The active period for the goats starts as soon as dusk falls. This hunt continues until morning, until the day comes. These birds can search for insects, both on their own territory, and go to strangers. Most often, a goat grabs its prey during the flight, in rare cases lies in wait for them and sets up an ambush. They can also peck food directly from branches or from the surface of the earth. In the daytime, birds sleep, as a rule, on branches or in fallen leaves. Unlike owls, goats do not hide during sleep. Their appearance - motley gray-brown plumage and narrowed eyes - give them the opportunity to go unnoticed.

Habitats in nature

Kozodoi are very common birds that can be found in almost all territories in the world. The exception is New Zealand and the distant islands in the ocean. In Australia, you can only find goats in the northern part of the continent.

In European countries, two varieties of goats are common - common breed and red-necked. In the southeastern European areas, you can also find the Bulan and Nubian goats. In the vastness of our country, a large number of individuals of the common goat dwell. Large east goats are common in eastern Asia.It should be noted that most of the species fly away to other territories for wintering, so you can meet them in different territories.

Most common species

The most common types of goats are the following:

1. Common goats - small and neat birds, whose body length reaches a maximum of 28 centimeters. Their wingspan is a maximum of 59 centimeters, and the body weight is 101 grams. Females are slightly smaller than males, their weight is not more than 95 grams. The beak of this species is rather small and weak. The plumage of these birds is quite loose. The back of the goats is presented in brown-gray, it also has stripes of reddish and dark shades. The abdomen is more likely to have ocher color and transverse stripes of a dark shade. White streaks can also be seen under the eyes. On the neck, on the sides, there are whitish inclusions, and the females have similar inserts, but of a red color. Representatives of the male half also show white spots on the tips of the wings. The rainbow in birds is black-brown, the beak is traditionally black. You can meet these individuals in zones with a warm and temperate climate, distributed mainly in northwestern Africa and Eurasia, from the Atlantic to Transbaikalia.
2. Bulanic goat. These birds in their external characteristics resemble the breed of ordinary goats, the difference is only in the color of the plumage, in the representatives of the Bulan variety, the feathers are golden red. The body length of these birds reaches a maximum of 25 centimeters, and the wingspan is 55. You can meet this species of goats in the territories of Central and Front of Asia, as well as in North Africa.
3. Red-necked Goat. In appearance, this species of birds is also similar to the common goat-douse, however, it is large in size. The length of such individuals reaches 32 centimeters, and the wingspan reaches 64. These birds have rather large eyes, and wings are long. Quite an interesting color in red-necked goats. At the top, their feathers are traditionally gray with various mottles of black, white and brown-orange. The chest and stomach of the birds are covered with dirty white feathers with the inclusion of thin dark stripes. When the bird is in flight, white spots can also be seen at the tips of its feathers. Eyebrows are light gray. On the throat you can distinguish a white spot, and also between the neck and back you can see a bright red band, due to which the view got such a nickname. The plumage of females and males of this breed is exactly the same. These birds live in northwestern Africa, in Europe and on the Iberian Peninsula.
4. A magnificent goat. This breed of birds also has not too large sizes, the length reaches a maximum of 25 centimeters. The main difference between the magnificent and ordinary goat is color. The grandeur of the breed gives a reddish-ocher plumage and small dark brown spots. These birds look just fine. Males and females have the same color, there are no differences. These birds are widespread in southern Sahara and in Africa.

How do goat breeders breed?

The goats are completely ready for breeding by the age of 12 months. Males, as a rule, fly to the places of arrangement of nests first, after which females keep up with them. Males begin to talk and sing for quite some time, sitting on tree branches. As soon as the male notices the female, he abruptly and loudly finishes his singing and begins to flap his wings in order to attract the attention of the lady he likes. The process of caring for the female resembles the flutter of a butterfly, as the male circles around the female, keeps his body upright and opens his wings as much as possible to demonstrate his white spots.

The female lays eggs in late spring or early summer. For one clutch, only 2 shiny grayish eggs appear. Hatching eggs takes only 18 days. Basically, next to the future offspring is a female, sometimes a male replaces her.

After birth, the chicks are usually covered with a brownish fluff. Chicks grow very quickly and begin active life. During the first 4 days, the female is raising the offspring, after which the father of the offspring begins to help a little. During one night, birds fly 10 times on a hunt and bring their pets about one and a half hundred insects. 21 days after hatching, the chicks can already fly on their own, and after another 14 days they become independent birds.

Video: gigantic goat (Nyctibius grandis)