Sviyaz

Appearance

Flying male

A medium-sized stocky duck with a relatively short neck, a high forehead, a relatively short beak and a long, pointed tail ^[9] . It is inferior in size to mallard and pintail ; length 45–51 cm, wingspan 75–86 cm, males weight 600–1100 g, females weight 500–1000 g ^[10] .

Like most ducks, sviyazi has well-developed sexual dimorphism . In spring and in the first half of summer, the male is painted in bright contrasting tones: the head and neck are saturated chestnut in color with black speck; the neck, shoulders, back, lower back and sides are gray with a dark transverse streaky pattern; goiter is reddish gray; the belly is white, the underbone and the sides of the underbone are black, the tail is gray. From the beak to the back of the head, a wide light strip stretches through the crown, which can have various shades from white to golden yellow. On grayish-brown wings, broad white fields stand out along the shoulder, clearly visible both in flying and in birds sitting on the water. A green spot with a purple tint is developed along the hind margin of the wing - the so-called mirror . The beak is bluish with a black marigold, the legs are lead-gray, the rainbow is brown ^{[11] [10] [8]} .

The female on top is most often reddish-brown with numerous dark streaks, which differs little from the females of other ducks in the northern hemisphere. In addition to the main form, there is another kind of color, or morph , in which grayish-brown feathers predominate on the head and upper body instead of red ones. The main defining features of the bird are the characteristic shape of the head, a short and high beak of bluish-gray color with a black marigold, darker and plain in comparison with other ducks plumage of the back and a clean white belly ^[9] . The mirror is gray-green. It is usually difficult to distinguish a female of the described species from a female of a closely related American swill , which has a similar structure of the head and trunk. It is believed that an ordinary tail has more red feathers on its head and neck, although in the case of a grayish-brown morph, this difference is leveled ^[12] .

After the end of summer molting, the drake becomes more like a female, while retaining the iconic white fields on the wings. Young birds of both sexes are almost indistinguishable from an adult female, they are distinguished by black streaks on a white belly and a dimmer color of the mirror ^[9] .

Voice

A very talkative duck with a characteristic, long memorable repertoire ^[13] . The most common scream of a male is a smooth two-syllable whistle- glissando , which is compared with a squeak of rubber toys and transmitted as “whi-y ...”, “vviu ...” or “piu ...” ^{[9] [11] [14]} . During the mating season he emits an energetic buzzing whistle, transmitted as “svvIirru ...” or “frrIirru”. The female responds with a gruff, low quack “krrrr ... krrrr”, similar to the quack of female blacks ^[10] . Males very strongly stand out among the whole family with their mating song.

... Among the many duck breeds there is a wig. In the drake of this duck, the respiratory throat is especially arranged. And, flying in the spring, the drake-sibling makes exclusively its characteristic sound, from two knees a cheerful whistle, hearing which, the soul jumps with joy. It is impossible to believe that this is a duck screaming. This is something amazing. This is the floody jubilant flute of spring itself, luxuriously whistling from somewhere under the clouds . Hurry to listen to this marvelous flute, this whole concert, the townspeople! Hurry, while the dry earth is still shaking with a spring shiver, and the newlyweds are dressed in soft green fluff. ^[15]

- Evgeny Dubrovsky , Forest Noise

Nutrition

The short and relatively wide beak of the sviyazi testifies to her commitment to vegetarianism ^[16] . The duck feeds mainly on the green parts and rhizomes of aquatic and near-water plants, while it manifests plasticity in the choice of feed. In the academic collection “Birds of the Soviet Union” by G. P. Dementyev and N. A. Gladkov, special emphasis is placed on aquatic and semi-aquatic herbs: wallisneria , marsh flower ( Nymphoides ), umbrella grouse , small duckweed , elodea , rdest , polevole , and birch bark ^[17] . The famous American ornithologist Paul Johnsgard ( English Johnsgard ) indicates that with an abundance of rupiah (one of the names of which in the English language can literally be translated as "grass suziyazi"), along with the child, the duck willingly switches to eating it ^{[ 16]} . Seeds in the diet are of secondary importance, but their share may increase in individual seasons ^[18] . According to experts, animal food enters the stomachs of birds only by chance along with plant feed ^[2] . In wintertime, shoots of a seaside and algae (in particular, char shoots , enteromorphs ) are of great importance ^[16] . It was noted that in the years of a decrease in the population of algae due to illness, ducks switched to inland water bodies rich in grass seeds or grain crops ^[19] . The ability to dive in wilderness is less pronounced than other ducks. Moreover, she often keeps close to swans and diving ducks , and picks up food floating on the surface, obtained by specializing in this bird at the bottom ^[16] .

Reproduction

At least some of the females begin breeding at the end of the first year of life ^[20] . Departure from wintering grounds located in northwestern Europe and in the Caspian-Black Sea region, as a rule, occurs very early, when only the first streaks appear - from the second half of March to the first of April ^[21] . According to data from Indochina , sviyazi also do not stay there later than March ^[22] . Despite such an early departure, the appearance on nesting sites in the southern part of the range was noted only in mid-April, and in the north starting in the second half of May ^[21] . The formation of pairs, which partially takes place last fall, ends at the span ^[23] .

Mating parties are not as diverse as most other ducks. Males do not pursue other people's females, but constantly circle around their own with ruffled feathers on their heads and shoulder blades. The most striking moment of currenting is a loud and sharp whistle, which is emitted by a male with a beak raised to the sky ^[24] .

The nest is a hole 5–7 cm deep; it settles in a dry place near water ^[23] . Usually it is well sheltered under the shade of a bush among last year's grass, less often it can just be in thick grass ^[20] . Sometimes masonry is found in a forest with dominance of conifers ^[24] . The plant lining is weak, but it is supplemented by a thick layer of fluff, which forms a high roller along the perimeter of the nest ^[10] . Observations in Iceland showed a weakly pronounced tendency to arrange a nest on an island in the middle of a reservoir ^[20] . Egg-laying from the end of May to the first decade of June ^[23] . Full masonry contains 6-12, usually 6-10 eggs of cream or creamy-white color. Egg sizes: (43–61) x (32–42) mm ^[10] . Hatching lasts 22–25 days ^[10] , while, like in European species of river ducks, the spleen is removed for molting at an early stage of incubation ^[20] . Large linear clusters do not form swine ^[23] . Traditionally, drakes (and partly females) molt on the lakes of Western Siberia, in the upper Pechora , in the deltas of the Volga and the Urals , in the lower reaches of the Ob . Clusters to the west of Russia are usually associated with coastal plains, such as in Estonia , southern Sweden , Denmark and Iceland ^{[10] [21]} . The chicks rise to the wing at the age of 40–45 days, after which the broods break up ^[20] .

Autumn departure is late - usually in the second half of September, when frost occurs in the nesting places and snow falls ^{[10] [21]} .

Nesting Range

It nests in the forest and forest-tundra zones of the Palaearctic from Iceland in the west to Anadyr , Kamchatka and the coast of the Sea of ​​Okhotsk in the east (in the same latitudes of North America it is replaced by a closely related American elk ) ^[25] . It is considered mainly a taiga bird. The total number in the UK is estimated at no more than 300 breeding pairs, most of which are concentrated in Scotland and northern England ( Pennine Mountains ). Single nesting sites were recorded in the Netherlands and adjacent areas of Germany ^[26] .

The main area of ​​the range is located in Russia , as well as in Scandinavia , Finland and northern Kazakhstan . In the middle lane of the European part of Russia it nests irregularly and sporadically; Russian ornithologists G. P. Dementiev and N. A. Gladkov point to rare or single bird settlements in the Pskov , Smolensk , Novgorod , Moscow , Ivanovo and Nizhny Novgorod regions, as well as Tatarstan and the Ulyanovsk region ^[27] . The same applies to the Leningrad region ^[28] , however, to the north-east of it it is already an ordinary, sometimes numerous bird. Sviyaz willingly settles in the Arkhangelsk region , on the Kanin Peninsula, in the forest plantations of the Malozemelskaya and Bolshezemelskaya tundra ^{[29] [30]} . In Siberia, a duck nests north to the border of woody vegetation; in the northern part of the taiga, it is one of the most common birds among all river ducks . On the contrary, on the southern periphery of the taiga zone, spineweed is rare or does not occur at all ^{[14] [31]}

In western Kazakhstan, the southern boundary of the range passes in the Uralsk region, along the lower reaches of Ilek and the Khobda valley, eastward through the regions of Karaganda and Pavlodar , Lake Markakol ^{[25] [32]} . Perhaps it nests in the Naurzum Reserve ^[32] . It occurs south to the southern spurs of the Altai Mountains , Lake Ubsu-Nur ( Mongolia ), the southern tip of Lake Baikal . To the east, the nesting border approximately coincides with the southern borders of Russia ^[25] .

Winter Range

Almost universally a migratory bird. The exception is only a small population of the British Isles, leading a sedentary lifestyle. Most of the birds winter in the south of the temperate zone from Spain to Japan , the other moves further south - to the Arabian Peninsula , to North and East Africa . Iceland's winter camps are located in Scotland and Ireland . From Scandinavia, Finland and Russia west of the lower reaches of the Ob, birds move to the north-west of Europe. Sviyazi nesting in Western and Central Siberia, as well as Kazakhstan, winter on the southern coasts of the Black and Caspian Seas, as well as in Southern Europe and North Africa (on the Iberian Peninsula there is an area where wintering migratory European and Asian ducks intersect) ^{[33] [ 34]} . Finally, the most eastern populations fly mostly to the Middle East and northeast Africa. On the black continent, large concentrations of birds are recorded in Eritrea , Ethiopia and northern Sudan , to a lesser extent in Kenya . Individual individuals can reach Tanzania ^[34] .

Habitats

Biotopes are similar to those of other river ducks. In summer, these are usually shallow freshwater reservoirs with silty sediments, in which areas covered by aquatic vegetation alternate with open reaches. In such reservoirs, which include small forest lakes, swamps and backwaters of lowland rivers, the flow is either completely absent or weakly expressed. The peculiarity of Sviyazi is that most often it settles in places where the gentle shores are covered with floodplain meadow vegetation, or near cereal plantings. A favorable factor is also the presence of nearby sparse forest or detached trees. The duck avoids small shady reservoirs, completely open spaces of the tundra, as well as hilly terrain ^{[16] [35] [2]} . During the winter migration, ducks accumulate in sea bays closed from the wind, swampy coastal lowlands, estuaries , estuaries , and in the flooded lowlands inland. The salt composition of water in winter camps does not matter much ^{[35] [21] [2]} .

• Buturlin S. A., Dementiev G. P. Complete identifier of birds of the USSR. - M. — L.: All-Union Cooperative United Publishing House, 1935. - T. 2. Looners, Copepods, Herons, Lamellae, Chicken, Cowgirls, and Quail. - 279 p.
• Gavrilov E.I. Fauna and distribution of birds of Kazakhstan. - Almaty: Nauka, 1999 .-- 198 p.
• Dementiev G.P., Gladkov N.A. Birds of the Soviet Union. - Soviet science, 1953. - T. 4. - 635 p.
• Ivanov A.I., Kozlova E.V., Portenko L.A., Tugarinov A.Ya. Birds of the USSR. - M. — L.: Publishing House of the USSR Academy of Sciences, 1951. - T. I. - 280 p.
• Koblik E. A. Variety of birds (based on materials from the exposition of the Zoological Museum of Moscow State University). - M .: MSU Publishing House, 2001. - Part 1. - 358 p. - 400 copies. - ISBN 5-211-04072-4 .
• Lysenko V.I. Volume 5 - Birds. Vol. 3 - Anseriformes // Fauna of Ukraine. - Kiev: Naukova Dumka, 1991. - ISBN 5-12-001367-8 .
• Pavlov D.S. (ed. Series); Bianchi V.V. (ed.); Dobrynina I.N. (Ed.). Lamellar-billed // Bird Migrations of Eastern Europe and North Asia. - M .: Nauka, 1997 .-- 318 p. - ISBN 5-02-004193-9 .
• Potapov R.L. (Ed.). Part 1. Non-passerine // Fauna of the European North-East of Russia: Birds. - SPb. : Science, 1995. - T. Volume 1. - ISBN 5-02-025946-2 .
• Ryabitsev V.K. Birds of the Urals, Cisurals and Western Siberia: A guide-determinant. - Ekaterinburg: Publishing House of the Ural University, 2001. - 608 p. - ISBN 5-7525-0825-8 .
• Stepanyan L. S. Synopsis of the ornithological fauna of Russia and adjacent territories. - M .: Academic book, 2003 .-- 808 p. - ISBN 5-94628-093-7 .
• Carboneras, Carles. Family Anatidae (Ducks, Geese and Swans) // Handbook of Birds of the World / del Hoyo, Josep; Elliott, Andrew & Sargatal, Jordi (Editors). - Barcelona: Lynx Edicions, 1992. - T. 1. Ostrich to Ducks. - ISBN 84-87334-10-5 .
• Gooders, John; Boyer, Trevor. Ducks of Britain and the Northern Hemisphere. - London: Collins & Brown, 1997 .-- ISBN 1855855704 . (eng.)
• Johnsgard, Paul A. Ducks, Geese and Swans of the World. - University of Nebraska Press, 2010 .-- P. 195—198. - ISBN 978-0-8032-0953-4 . (eng.)
• Mullarney, Killian; Svensson, Lars; Zetterström, Dan; Grant, Peter J. Birds of Europe. - United States: Princeton University Press, 2000 .-- 400 p. - ISBN 978-0-691-05054-6 .
• Rutschke, Erich. Die Wildenten Europas - Biologie, Ökologie, Verhalten. - Wiesbaden: Aula Verlag, 1988 .-- ISBN 3-89104-449-6 . (German)
• Scott, Derek A., Rose, Paul M. Atlas of Anatidae populations in Africa and Western Eurasia. - Wetlands International, 1996 .-- 336 p. - ISBN 1900442094 .

• Vertebrate animals of Russia: Sviyaz .
• Squire on the Altai Birds website .
• RSPB A to Z of UK Birds .
• Eurasian Wigeon videos on the Internet Bird Collection.