Field signs. Small tern, with starlings. In marriage Attire is incomplete hat, not calling on his forehead. Yellow beak with black tip, orange legs. Mantle light sizaya, the front edge of the wing of the winglet to the ends of Makhov taupe . The well is different from all other terns. Autumn coloring is the same, but the white stain is not only the forehead, and crown, beak dark with yellowish ground (beak is beginning to darken in July). During this time the surest sign of becoming a dark front edge of the wing. Young color head like autumn adults, but a dark stripe on the leading edge of the wing unclear, went to the ground wing feathers on the back and upper body wings predvershinnye dark stripes and bright kaemki, creating a flaky image, legs yellowish gray. Apart from the characteristics of feathers, small terns has a disproportionately large head and more straightforward, not so easy and graceful as those of other terns, flight. Weight 40-65 g, 22-24 cm in length, wing 16,3-19, 8 cm, the magnitude of 48-55 cm (Ryabitsev, 2001).
The voice - very pleasant, not crackling. The most conventional pozyvki - short "quits" or "kivit, kvet, kvut", a short quick trelki like pirititit, whale-kit-kit ...". Often trelki similar to gurgle or babble (Ryabitsev, 2001).  Distribution. Kind of moderate and southern latitudes of the Northern Hemisphere. As Russia expanded eastward to Ob. Until the late 1970's. Central Siberia is not observed (Rogacheva, 1988). In 1977, in the northern taiga eniseyskoy Angutihi have twice met little tern : August 14 - young birds, going over Angutinskoy protocols, and Aug. 17 here - adult birds. Perhaps it was poslegnezdovye kochevki (Rogacheva, Vakhrushev, 1983). It may occur at the lake. Ubsu-Nur in Tuva (Stepanyan, 1990, 2003).
Habitats. Jacks on sand or galechnyh coasts kosah, flat, lacking vegetation, water bodies with clear water and a sufficient amount of small fish (Rogacheva, 1988). Reproduction. Gnezdyatsya colonies, usually small, up to several dozen pairs. Gladly live next to the Common Tern and colonial kulikami. There are, and separate couples. Nest - fossa in the shoals, often do without lining, or vylozhennaya stones, shells, sticks. Distances between the nests in a colony of 0.3 to several meters. In laying 1-3 eggs, usually 3, is 4. Coloring eggs is very bright, from white to cream-colored sand, with rare small spots of light gray to almost black. The size of eggs 27-39 x 22-26 mm. Nasizhivanie 18-22 days. The young are starting to fly through 15-21 days after hatching, and even through 1-1,5 weeks usually leave their flat and start kochevki (Ryabitsev, 2001). Nutrition. Kormyatsya fry and aquatic invertebrates, which are looking for, flying over the water at a height of several meters, often long tremble at the scene. Catch prey, pikiruya into the water, often hiding in the water completely (Ryabitsev, 2001). Number. In Central Siberia Unit (Rogacheva, 1988). References. |
