Song cricket - description, habitat, interesting facts

Song cricket - the bird is very cautious, but nevertheless, with its unusual singing, iridescent trills, it betrays itself.

How to recognize a cricket singer

This bird belongs to the order of Passeriformes, a subclass of newborn. Both females and males have a color with brown, brown and olive tones. Such plumage helps them to safely hide from enemies in the thicket.

During the mating season, birds have colors with the advantages of brownish and gray in various tones. Only the head is distinguished by the fact that it is indicated by darker colors, and the nuft is brownish. There are spots on the head and neck. They then move to the front of the back to disappear in the area of ​​the suprahypostasis. The chest and back are distinguished by streaks, there are traces of transverse striping along all feathers. In the lower part of the body the color is light buffy, a slight brownish coating is noticeable on the sides.

Young birds on the underside of the body are decorated with a yellowish coating, and on the chest and throat are distinguished by longitudinal mottling.

The nape is grayish, and the male can be distinguished by a darker tone. The bib of the cricket is dark, and the bib of the yellow is yellow. At the base of the beak, in most cases, no setae are observed. The beak itself is wide, its shape resembles an awl. The eyebrow is ocher-bright.

The parameters of the bird are as follows:

• body length is small - from 12 to 16 cm;
• weight - from 15 to 20 gr.

Habitat

Nests in Europe and Asia, can be found at an altitude of 800 - 2100 above sea level, mainly in forest zones, river floodplains, having fallen in love with bushes overgrown with fresh water or reeds, tall grass, forest edge, especially if the place is different increased dampness.

In winter, sent to the African continent. Usually this flight takes a lot of time, up to 5 months, since the birds do not really like to fly. But still in mid-April, the birds returned back.

Secretive life among thickets

Usually singing crickets nest from each other in pairs. For nests, birds use dry grass, they build it in thickets on the ground or at 5-20 cm above the ground. But the nest may appear on the sedge hummock.

By the end of June, masonry appears. The eggs may be white, but in most cases pinkish, dark specks are more often visible on them. Clutch can consist of 4 eggs, less often 6. Both parents feed the chicks. Toddlers are fully fledged already in July or August. A breeding site is left at the end of August or at the beginning of September.

These birds are very secretive. They are so cautious and small that it is difficult for scientists to observe them, especially since crickets prefer to relax during the day, and stay awake and sing at night.

He knows how to sing a cricket. Its iridescent trills with a diverse set of whistles, to which sharp crack is added, always attract attention. Before the male begins to withdraw his roulades, he finds an open place and sits on the very top of the stem. But it can also fly up while singing and, having described the arc, fly down again. His brother - the taiga cricket - sings always far from the place where the nest is located.

These birds are extremely brisk. But although they are very mobile, they have a feature: they do not like to fly into the sky, and try to avoid flying. But on the ground they move very willingly, resembling a small mouse.They are very deftly adapted to run through plants, trees are no exception.

Nutrition

Song cricket, when it is time to have lunch, in search of food, makes its way through dense vegetation on the soil, finding various midges, insects, their larvae and various invertebrates in the thickets of grass. But the best treat for them are spiders. These birds are insectivores.

Other species

There are other types of crickets. First of all, it is:

1. Ordinary. His singing is like the chirping of cricket insects. The mass of his body is up to 20 gr. It has an olive-brown back with stripes and a light yellow tummy.
2. Spotted. The maximum weight does not exceed 15 gr. It differs by the short neck and tail sizes. The plumage is brown, there are black spots on the back, and dark specks on the tummy.
3. River. It is considered a large species. The chest and throat are marked with black longitudinal streaks. Light rings are marked around the eyes. Its tail at the end is round and wide. The male’s song is essentially an intermittent chirp, similar to the sounds made by the locusts. Having performed a melody, he throws a stone at the bushes.
4. Nightingale. The plumage is brown with no patterns. A white eyebrow is barely noticeable. His melody is the most complex, rich in a variety of overflows.
5. Taiga. The biggest. His body is elongated with a stepped and rounded tail. The beak is distinguished by its narrow and straight line.

Usually, experts do not recommend keeping these birds in captivity, as they feel very anxious and die quickly.