Sultanka - description, habitat, interesting facts

You can often hear that the Sultan is called the Sultan's Chicken. This is a large bird, you can compare it with a black grouse.

Description of the Sultan

The body is 45-55 cm long, and can weigh from 0.5 to one kilogram. In relation to the body, the head is large, but the neck is small, short. The wide beak, slightly swollen, is bent at the end. In size, it is small but sharp.

Legs are strong, middle is long. The fingers are quite thin and long, sharp claws. Both females and males have a speck of red color on their heads. Wings in scope can reach 30 centimeters. Feathers are densely arranged, plumage is dense.

Bright colors almost do not predominate in the sultanka’s color, but, despite this, they are in perfect harmony. Above, the bird is all black, and the abdomen, neck and chest are dark blue. On some sultans you can still see the light green color. The bird is divided into several subspecies, some of them have a white undertail. Sultanas are distinguished by a bright red color on the head and in the area of ​​the beak. With the advent of colds, red dims. The legs are pink.

Sultan's habitats

The bird lives secretly, it is not visible to people, of course, you can meet it, but not often. In the wild, it is very rare. But this is someone as lucky.

Sultan's food

Most of all in the diet of the bird, leaves, flowers, seeds, and, of course, many other vegetation predominate. Animal food is no exception, they like beetles, mosquitoes, butterflies, flies, grasshoppers, etc. In small quantities they can eat frogs and mollusks.

If it is difficult to get food and it is very small, then the sultan can climb into someone else's nest and take eggs from there. It happens that it feeds on carrion. Most food is obtained in grass or in shallow water.

Reproduction of the sultan

Sultan chicken is a monogamous bird. When the breeding season begins, they do not always form in pairs, often join in groups. A group can consist not only of pairs, but also of lonely birds. Birds begin to breed as soon as it starts to warm or it rains. Nesting occurs very close to the water or even on the water. For the construction of nests choose grass or reed. Nests are usually well hidden in vegetation. Both partners are involved in housing construction. The male, as a getter, brings building material, and the female creates a nest from it.

For one breeding period, the female can have from 2 to 6 eggs, they are laid in turn, in a day. Hatch eggs together, from 3 to 5 weeks, just the male during this period produces food. Newborn chicks hatch almost all the same, at one time. Kids are covered with a thick black fluff. During the first week of their life, they are in the nest under the supervision of parents and assistants who feed and warm them. In two weeks, the chick is already able to get food for itself, and in two months it starts to fly.

Sultanka lifestyle

The sultan feeds more on food of plant origin, but this is in the summer, and with the advent of cold weather carrion prevails in its diet. Nesting occurs not only in separate pairs, but in whole groups.They become a large family, together participate in the breeding of chicks.

They build nests on stagnant water, if there is a current, then they select the nearest bump. During nesting by a large group in one nest several females can lay eggs. Sultans prefer to run and move on the earth more than fly. It can take off if it is disturbed or frightens something, but usually this flight does not exceed ten meters, after which the birds look for a place of landing that is secluded for themselves, most often choosing dense thickets.

The Sultanka does not often like to change its habitat, which is why her way of life is settled, most often they settle near the shores of reservoirs, rivers, lakes and seas. Sometimes it can be thick and tall grass thickets, a place where a lot of reed or cane grows. So it is easier and more convenient for them to get their own food.

Waterbird from the shepherd's family is a rare species that is located on the periphery of the range. Sultanka is a southern bird, and it is not adapted to cold, harsh winters. With the advent of cold weather, the place on the water where the bird nests, freezes, the bird must move to the shore, where it becomes difficult to get food, and the conditions for normal existence are not the most favorable. So they turn into prey for predatory animals and poachers. A fox, a wolf, a wild boar and crows are the most terrible enemy for the Sultan.

Interesting facts from the life of the Sultanka

1. Sultanka is often called the Sultan's Chicken. The color of this bird changes very often, it can be dark blue, then change to green tint, or to tar black.
2. Some birds have a light pink chest with an ashy shade, and streaks appear on the rest of the plumage.
3. The bird of the sultan, according to scientists, is divided into 24 subspecies. Not in all cases the sultanka is a bird. With this name, there is still commercial fish from the perch detachment.
4. The bird is sociable and talkative, they often conduct dialogues with each other. From the side, these shouts are like a whistle or screech, but very loud.

Video: Sultan (Porphyrio porphyrio)