Forest Accentor

Appearance

A small and inconspicuous bird the size of a sparrow , 13-14.5 cm long ^[2] and weighing 19-20 g ^[3] . The plumage is dominated by gray-brown tones. The head, throat, neck and chest are ash gray, with dark brown spots on the crown of the head and neck. Ear-coverts are gray-brown with thin light streaks. Beak in comparison with sparrows and mountain finches ( Leucosticte ) is thinner, blackish-brown, at the base of the beak somewhat widened and flattened. The iris is reddish-brown. The mantle, back and coverts are rusty brown with black blurry spots. The wings are dark brown, with rusty-brown rims on the secondary wing and coverts. The belly is whitish, the undertail is grayish-buff. The legs are reddish brown ^[4] . Females are similar to males, but have a slightly less mottled color. The plumage of young birds is more reddish, with numerous streaks on the head and lower body. Depending on the saturation of gray and brown tones, there are 8 subspecies of forest accent that live in different parts of the range (see the section “ Subspecies ”).

Movement

A very mobile bird, quickly and deftly moving on the ground among a dense shrub and windbreak like a wren . The usual position of the body is horizontal, with a raised tail and bent forearms . Often raises the front of the body, stretches the neck, and lowers the tail. Body movements are fast, and tail movements are so frequent that they seem elusive to the eye. If you scare the zavirushka from the ground, then it takes off on a branch, looks around and leaves the place only when it is convinced that the danger is close. The flight is fast, straightforward. Usually it keeps imperceptibly, low above the ground, but sometimes it flaunts on a tall tree branch ^[5] . Unlike a sparrow, it moves on the ground in steps, rather than jumping.

Voice

During the breeding season, the male often emits melodic high trills lasting 2-4 seconds and repeated at short intervals, climbing to the top of a tree (rarely in the air). As a rule, in the male’s repertoire there are 10-15 melodies that he repeats in random order ^[3] . The female’s singing is a combination of various trills or complex phrases like “wiit-tirli-viit-tirli-viit-tirli-wiit”. At other times of the year, the birds are quite silent, having nothing in common with the quiet monosyllabic chirping of “zip” or short trills. The danger signal is the same sounds, but sharper ^[6] .

Range

Breeds in most of continental Europe (with the exception of some southern regions of the Iberian , Apennine, and Balkan Peninsulas and Scandinavia north of 70 ° N), on the eastern coast of the Mediterranean Sea , in Asia Minor , Iran, and in the west of Western Siberia . Outside the mainland, it is found in the British and in Corsica . It rises to the mountains up to 2200 m above sea level in the Swiss Alps , up to 2600 m in the Caucasus and up to 1600 m in the Pyrenees . Introduced in New Zealand , where it is found up to 1600 m above sea level ^[3] .

In the Russian Federation it is found west of the Ural Mountains . The southern border of the range passes through the valley of the Belaya , Tambov , Kaluga , Nizhny Novgorod regions, Tatarstan , the Ural mountain ranges Iremel and Yamantau , the vicinity of Nizhny Tagil , the upper reaches of the Vishera River, Mount Basseg and the village of Ust-Ilych on Pechora ^[4] .

Habitats

Biotopes are very diverse, but in any case include a dense undergrowth. In the northern part of the range inhabits a variety of forests with a windbreak, bushes or overgrowths, often along rivers and streams. In the flat regions of Western Europe, it often lives on cultivated landscapes: farms, gardens and parks with hedges and dense vegetation. In the tundra and in the highlands, undersized forests and shrubs inhabit.

Migration

Depending on the area of ​​habitat, a migratory, partially-migratory or sedentary species. In Western Europe, he lives mainly settled, or disperses over a distance of 30 km. Populations of the north of Germany , Poland , Finland , the countries of Scandinavia and the republics of the former USSR migrate fully or partially, and the percentage of migration increases from west to east. The wintering areas of these birds include the Mediterranean east of the Iberian Peninsula, Turkey , southern Ukraine , the North Caucasus , the lower Volga , Israel and Northern Iran . Individual individuals reach North Africa . In the highlands of the Caucasus, migration is of a vertical type — birds descend to the shores of the Black Sea ^[3] . Avoids open spaces on the span, keeps large-stemmed forests and shrubs, and in its absence thickets of reeds, reeds, coogs or heaps of brushwood ^[4] . To breeding sites arrives in February - April, in Russia in April. Autumn departure in August-November.

The mating system of forest accent is very rare among birds - it can include monogamy , polygyny , polyandry , and even a combination of polygyny and polyandry (when 2-3 males create a stable relationship with 2-3 females). Thus, as a result of observation by British ornithologists over 254 birds, 42% of the cases of monogamy, 30% of polyandry, 4% of polygyny and 24% of the case of polygyandry were revealed among them ^[7] . In season, there are usually two clutches of eggs, in some cases three. In the case of migration in the spring, males are the first to fly to the nesting sites, who select a tall tree and sing intensely, attracting females.

The nest - a wide and shallow bowl with thick and dense walls - is built by one female, and the male (or a group of males in the case of polyandry) guards the territory. The nest is located low above the ground, at an altitude of 0.5-3.5 m (usually 1-2 m) above the ground, often on a small Christmas tree or bushes of juniper or other shrubs. As a building material, dry branches and roots of spruce are used, from which the base is woven, pieces of moss , and scraps of wool and feathers as a lining. On the outside, the nest is lined with thin dry spruce branches, often with an admixture of cereal stems ^[8] . The diameter of the finished nest is 80–140 mm, the height is 60–75 mm, the diameter of the tray is 50–65 mm, and the depth of the tray is 35–50 mm ^[9] .

In Russia, the first egg laying usually occurs in the second half of May, and consists of 3–6 eggs of greenish-blue color, without a pattern. The female incubates independently and very densely for 12–13 days ^[3] . In the case of approaching the nest of a person flies away silently and only almost from under his hands ^[10] . As a rule, a female and a male or a female and two males are engaged in feeding the chicks (in rare cases, the female feeds alone), belching them directly into the beak. Already at the age of about 12 days, the chicks begin to fly on their own, and the female proceeds to re-laying ^[4] .

Forest accentor is one of the main types of educators of common cuckoo chicks. Moreover, the bird, unlike many others, does not pay attention to the excellent color of the eggs planted by the parasite ^[11] .

During the breeding season, the basis of nutrition is a variety of invertebrates , mainly insects and arachnids . It eats beetles ( weevils , ground beetles , lamellar , leaf beetles , staphylinids , etc.), spiders , flies , bugs , earwigs , springtails , springflies , orthopterans , etc. In case of catch snails and earthworms . In autumn, during the ripening period of fruits and seeds, the nature of nutrition changes towards plant foods. It feeds on seeds of sorrel , blueberries , water crowns , forest geranium , nettle , poppy , sedge , pine , birch , etc. It eats some raspberries and elderberries . In winter, he eagerly visits feeding troughs, eating bread crumbs and pieces of lard. Food is almost always looking on the ground, exploring the bushes or tedding the fallen leaves. Rarely catches insects on the fly.

List of subspecies according to the Handbook of Birds of the World catalog ^[3] :

• Prunella modularis hebridium Meinertzhagen, 1934 - Hebrides , Ireland
• Prunella modularis occidentalis (Hartert, 1910) - British Isles (except Ireland), Western France
• Prunella modularis modularis (Linnaeus, 1758) - Northern , Central and Eastern Europe south to the Alps , Romania , Western Siberia
• Prunella modularis mabbotti Harper, 1919 - Iberian Peninsula , Southern and Central France, Italy and Greece
• Prunella modularis meinertzhageni Harrison & Pateff 1937 - South of the former Yugoslavia , Bulgaria
• Prunella modularis fuscata Mauersberger, 1971 - Crimean mountains
• Prunella modularis euxina Watson, 1961 - North and North-West Turkey
• Prunella modularis obscura (Hablizi, 1783) - Caucasus, Transcaucasia, Northern Iran , Northeast Turkey

• Vertebrates of Russia: Forest Accentor