Pika ordinary. Common pika bird: description with photo where it lives

The pika is an animal, very charming, lives mainly in the mountainous regions of Asia. At first glance at pika photo it may seem that in front of you is a large field or.

However, close relatives pika mice are and . It was with their long-eared relatives that the pikas were placed in a separate detachment - the hare-like ones.

The genus pika itself is divided into three subgenera and has about thirty species. We note the most common of them. Northern pikas: Altai, Mongolian, Khentei, northern; pikas of artisanal steppes: Daurian, Tibetan, steppe; mountain pikas: ili, Chinese, big-eared, red pika.

Why are these cute animals so nicknamed? The “culprit” was the piercing whistle that pikas emit when alerting the colony of an approaching danger. Communication between members of the settlement also takes place with the help of short whistling sounds.

Pictured is a northern pika

Characteristic features of the pika

Externally mouse pika little than similar to typical representatives of lagomorphs. If only a small tail, practically invisible from the outside. The front and hind legs are short, and do not differ in size, as in hares. The ears are rounded, usually not exceeding half the length of the head of the animal.

What can not be said about the impressive size of the pika's whiskers, which help her navigate the terrain and feel changes in the weather. The body size is larger than that of field mice - an average of 15-20 cm.

The pads of the fingers are mostly bare, but there are also species in which they are covered with bristly hairs. The color of the fur coat changes color depending on the season: in summer period it is brown or sandy-red, in winter - plain gray.

Pictured is a red pika

Moreover, the skin of the pika is thin and unsightly, excluding interest for the industry.

pika habitat

Mostly pikas live on mountain plains, as the vast majority of species prefer rocky terrain. The mountains of Central and Central Asia, rocky expanses of China, India, Afghanistan.

There are colonies of animals in the Far East and in some regions of Siberia. In Europe, it is extremely difficult to see a pika, with the exception of the eastern outskirts, which have chosen only one species of rodents. Two species have found a home in North America. As can be seen from the geography of the settlement of pikas, the animals prefer places with a cold climate.

In the photo, the Ili pika

steppe pikas dig numerous holes, similar to intricate labyrinths. Such dwellings can have many entrances and reach up to ten meters in length. The burrow usually contains pantries for storing food supplies, and cozy "nests" for raising offspring.

Those species of pikas that have settled in mountainous areas feel great, arranging shelters in rock crevices, under stone canopies or among a web of tree roots and large shrubs.

In snow-covered areas, pikas build their home directly in the snow, skillfully digging a hole in the shape of a ball, and carefully covering the new dwelling with dried grass and small plant roots.

On the photo steppe pika

Pika nutrition and lifestyle

Almost all types of pikas live in colonies. The number of the settlement ranges from hundreds to thousands of individuals, depending on the species and geographical habitat. Not being a predatory mammal, pikas eat all the terrestrial vegetation that they can find within their habitat.

These are green stalks of flowers and various herbs, plant seeds, berries. With pleasure, pikas also feast on cap mushrooms, lichens and mosses. An unfavorable weather period is easily endured in their dwellings, eating hay, carefully collected and dried on sunny days. Haymaking is a special ritual for which a small animal is often called industrious pika.

The living conditions of these rodents dictate their own rules: in the places of settlement of pikas, there are much more cold days of the year than sunny ones. Therefore, the process of preparing stocks begins in early spring, during the budding period. flora, and ends only in the middle of autumn.

It is during this period that you can see and hear usually secretive animals. With sharp teeth, the pika cuts the stems of plants and lays them out in a thin layer on heated stones, carefully mixing the dried grass to prevent the process of decay, and this also helps to save the hay from drying out.

Winds often rise in the steppe regions, but even this does not frighten the thoughtful animal. Pikas prepare small pebbles in advance, with which they subsequently cover the laid out hay. finished grass folded in specially selected places - in the crevices of collapsing rocks or dug pantries, protected from winds and rains.

Everything that does not fit in the minks, the pika folds into small stacks, resembling real haystacks in shape. Due to this feature, the pika is often called a haystack among the people. It is from the numerous hills of dry grass that one can easily calculate the settlement pika.

ordinary a pyramid of hay does not exceed a few centimeters in height, but there is reliable evidence that alpine pikas can lay out “stacks” up to two meters high and weighing more than 20 kg.

Incredible, because the body weight of the animal itself barely exceeds 300 grams. Well, how can such fragrant mounds of other animals that are not averse to taking advantage of the fruits of someone else's labor not attract attention?

But pikas would not be pikas if they did not harvest hay for future use - both for food and for warming their homes. Some northern species of pikas do not dry the grass, but put it fresh in shelters.

In the tundra regions, pikas build stacks right on the shores of lakes and rivers, or in fin deposits. It is not uncommon for animals to steal cooked hay from each other. Most species do not hibernate in winter period.

Pictured is an alpine pika

A sufficient supply of prepared provisions allows you to easily survive cold winter without going outside in search of food. On warm days pikas take sunbathing, basking on the heated stones and cheerfully whistling with the "settlers".

But, unlike hares and other rodents, pika never stands up on its hind legs, and does not assume a vertical body position. In case of danger, the animal emits a piercing whistle, and the colony freezes. The main threat to pikas comes from predators.

The most dangerous pursuers are stoats. Due to the small size and flexibility of the body, it is able to penetrate even into holes. Do not mind filling your stomach with animals and pikas who accidentally wandered into the place of settlement. The population size is also influenced by various epidemics, which are not uncommon among rodents.

The mating season and reproduction of the pika

Pikas are mammals animals. Most of the animals live in family groups, in which there is a clear distribution of responsibilities for collecting grass and protecting the settlement from danger.

In the photo pika cubs

Northern species of pika breed once a year, while their southern relatives can produce offspring two or three times a year. Pregnancy of the female lasts 30 days. After a month, from two to seven cubs are born into the world. Heat-loving species are born naked babies.

In those species that live in colder places, the offspring are usually covered with a thin layer of fur. It should be noted that, unlike hares, pikas are monogamous creatures.

Hearing in the forest a vibrating thin whistle "tsrrriiii ..." with a melodic trill at the end, a bird lover will readily grab a camera in the hope of capturing an ordinary pika - the most interesting representative of the passerine order. However, the photographer will have to try and run around the tree, because these tiny birds do not like to pose, but quickly go around the trunk in a spiral, climbing higher and higher.

The common pika is the most common species of the pika genus and pika family. The bird most likely received this name for its thin voice, reminiscent of a squeak. To be fair, there is another beast in the animal world called the pika. This is a small mammal of the hare-like order, similar to a hamster, to which such a name suits much more.

A pika on a branch.

It is very easy to recognize a pika, but watching birds and studying their life is quite interesting. They are not afraid of people and do not pay attention to the presence of a person.

What does an ordinary pika look like

The size of the pika is even smaller than that of a sparrow, the growth of an adult bird barely reaches 12 cm, and the weight is from 7 to 10 g.

The pika has a longer, very stiff tail, on which the bird leans during its long exercise along the tree trunks. Due to this increased cushioning, specimens are often found with a noticeably disheveled tail, which takes on a natural shape only after molting.

Another distinguishing feature of the pika is a long thin beak, sickle-shaped downwards, which serves as a reliable tool for extracting various insects from under the bark of trees.

A pika on a tree trunk.

A pika on a tree trunk.

A pika on a tree trunk near the snow-covered ground.

Plumage color of common pika

It will not work to distinguish the female from the male, they are of the same size and are colored the same. The common pika has a classic motley-spotted camouflage plumage color. Top part brownish-brown with a reddish tinge of the back, the belly is white. On a general dark background, distinct light streaks are scattered in a certain sequence, small on the head, like dots, rather large on the back.

The wedge-shaped tail is reddish-brown. The wings of the pika are covered with intricate patterns of black, white, red and brown.

The beak of birds is brown above, yellowish below, the iris is dark. Light “eyebrows” are indicated above the eyes, which go from the base of the beak and stretch back almost to the neck.

Describing the common pika, one cannot fail to mention its closest relative and almost double - the short-toed pika. Both birds are colored the same and you can tell them apart if you pick it up and carefully examine or have professional photos of both species of pikas.

The main difference is the eyebrows. In the common pika, they are almost white, wide and well defined. As for the anatomical differences, the beak of the short-toed pika is longer, and the claws on the fingers, on the contrary, are shorter.

To date, scientists are considering from 9 to 12 subspecies of the common pika, whose representatives differ in habitat and minor variations in plumage color.

A pika on a tree trunk.

A pika and a woodpecker on a tree trunk.

A pika on a tree trunk.

A bird in the snow.

Where does the common pika live?

The range of these small birds is extremely extensive, runs through the entire forest zone of Eurasia and covers an area of ​​about 10 million km 2.

The nominative subspecies of Certhia familiaris familiaris with all the color features inherent in the species is found from the countries of Scandinavia to the Siberian taiga.

The Daurian subspecies of the common pika lives in Eastern Siberia and in the northern regions of Mongolia. These birds are darker than the typical subspecies and have a gray plumage. In Japan, even darker pikas are common, the color of which is more red.

The eastern subspecies lives in the northeast of China and Korea and in the Amur River basin. Distinctive feature birds - clear light streaks on the back.

Also of interest is the Persian subspecies, these are the most dull-colored pikas that can be found in the Crimea, Turkey and northern regions Iran.

The inhabitants of India, Kashmir and the western slopes of the Himalayas are distinguished by a number of scientists into a separate species - Hodgson's pika. "Neighbors" from the Eastern Himalayas, as well as China and Sihuan, are considered by the same ornithologists to be subspecies of Hodgson's pika.

Depending on the distribution area, pikas choose different biotopes, but with a prerequisite for a normal existence - the presence of trees. Therefore, the best photos of pikas are usually against the backdrop of tree bark.

A pika on a tree.

The pika is looking for something to eat.

A pika on a tree.

The lifestyle of the common pika

In the north-west of the range, the common pika settles in old tall forests, Asian populations rise to mountain forests over 2 thousand meters above sea level.

These birds live sedentary, only the inhabitants of the extreme northern regions of the range migrate south for the winter, and the inhabitants of the mountain forests descend into the valleys.

Outside the nesting period, adult pikas live alone, only in winter they are noticed in small flocks or in the company of tits. Pikas fly little and extremely reluctantly, the flight of these birds is jerky and uneven with alternating short strokes like a butterfly, sliding and diving.

Many closely related species of birds at the intersection of their ranges become competitors and one species gradually replaces the other. The common and short-toed pikas share the territory in a brotherly way, only the former prefer coniferous forests, with a predominance of fir and spruce, while the latter live in deciduous and mixed forests. In areas where ordinary pikas are the only species of the genus, birds inhabit any forest.

The close connection of pikas with trees was noticed first by Aristotle, then by Carl Linnaeus, who described the species as "a small bird living in trees." Such a connection is not accidental: trees for pikas are not only a habitat, but also the main source of food.

A pika on a tree.

A pika on a tree.

What does the common pika eat?

The basis of the diet of these birds is made up of various sedentary insects, lovers of hiding under the bark of trees.

Pikas begin their journey to the top from the very foot of the tree, quickly jumping along the trunk, clinging to the bark with sharp claws and leaning on hard tail feathers. Each crack barely visible to the human eye is carefully examined with a long sharp beak, deftly removing insects, arachnids, their eggs, larvae and pupae from under the bark.

They always go around the trunk in a spiral and what is interesting: females usually look for food in the upper part of the trunk, and males in the lower one. By their feeding behavior, pikas resemble their distant relative, the nuthatch, but unlike it, they never go down the trunk upside down. Having finished exploring the tree, the pika flies to the foot of the next one.

Occasionally, pikas feed on the walls of wooden buildings, looking for bark beetles. Closer to autumn, birds can be found busily digging in the forest floor, and in harsh winters, conifer seeds appear in the diet of pikas.

In early spring pikas climb tree trunks not only in search of food, but in the hope of finding a suitable place for a nest.

Pika ordinary.

A pika on a tree.

Reproduction features

Pikas reach reproductive maturity at the age of 1 year. These birds are monogamous and pair for life. If an acclimatized giant sequoia grows in nesting places, pikas choose emptiness under the bark of this particular tree to build a nest.

In the absence of a sequoiadendron, birds are content with old aspens, lindens or birches, where they build a nest in crevices of the bark or a hollow. Sometimes the nests of common pikas are found in the cracks of buildings and even in birdhouses. Interestingly, nests are often located 50 cm from the ground, but in the bulk at a height of 1 to 4 m.

The base and walls of the nest are built by both partners, using thin twigs, blades of grass, moss and pieces of bark. The tray is lined only by the female, the material is lichens, cobwebs, wood dust, feathers and wool. Construction takes about 2 weeks, and the finished building looks somewhat flattened.

Depending on the range, eggs are laid from March to July. The clutch contains 5-6 (sometimes up to 9) white eggs with dark spots. Only the female is engaged in incubation, the incubation period lasts from 12 to 20 days. Chicks are born with thick ash-gray fluff on their heads.

Both parents take care of the offspring, tirelessly feeding the chicks for 12-19 days. Young pikas capable of flight keep their parents for another 2 weeks, and after that the family breaks up. In the southern regions of the range, parents begin to re-breed, and young birds begin an independent life in flocks of insectivorous first-year birds.

According to scientists, the oldest pika lived 8 years 10 months, but the average life expectancy of these birds in nature is only 2 years. The reason for this is natural carelessness and a considerable number of enemies, for example, a large spotted woodpecker, ferrets, weasels and squirrels. Nevertheless, common pikas are a numerous species and the state of their population does not cause concern.

Other representatives of the pika genus

The common pika species belongs to the pika genus of the pika family. This genus consists of 7 species.

1. American Pika - North American songbird;
2. Bicolor pika;
3. Common pika (described on this page);
4. Himalayan pika;
5. Nepalese pika;
6. Certhia tianquanensis.

The American pika is a North American songbird. This type lives in coniferous and mixed forests of North America up to the north of Mexico. The bird is known not only for its voice, but also for the fact that it systematically inspects trees in search of spiders and insects.

The short-toed pika lives in Europe and North Africa and is outwardly difficult to distinguish from the common pika. But he prefers to settle in deciduous forests, parks and gardens with fruit trees.

Field signs. common pika- a small bird of grayish-brown protective coloration with a sickle-shaped beak and short legs. During the search for food, it very deftly climbs, leaning on a hard tail, along the trunks of trees, always climbing from the bottom up in a spiral, bypassing the trunk in a circle. Having finished with one tree or a large branch, the pika flies to the next, always landing much lower than before, and again begins to rise in a spiral.

The flight of the pika is fast, undulating, fluttering, with frequent wing beats. The voice is a lingering, thin whistle, which, with some approximation, can be translated as "this, these", or "tsy, tsy".

The spring song of males is a quiet, but rather melodic, hasty ringing trill. It can be depicted as "sirr-iciri, itsiri, whit, tirrrr, whit." The song can be heard on clear sunny days from late February to late March, early April. In mixed blue flocks, pikas are always present among two or three pairs, which imperceptibly climb tree trunks, betraying their presence only occasionally emitted by a whistle and the rustle of tree bark peeled off by their claws.

area. forest zone and mountain forests of North America, Europe and Asia; to the north to 60-61 ° N. sh. (Europe) and 55-57° N. sh. (Asia). The southern boundaries of the species range pass through the mountain forests of the Mediterranean countries, Asia Minor and the mountain ranges of Central and East Asia. During the migration period, it occurs far beyond the nesting range.

The nature of the stay. The common pika is a sedentary, partly nomadic bird. At the northern borders of the range, migrations take place in southbound and are in the nature of flights. Migration begins in September and continues until the second half of March.

Biotope. Coniferous, deciduous and mixed forests, preferably old tree stands. During the nesting period, it lives mainly in old deciduous and mixed forest areas, although occasionally it also occurs in coniferous forests. During the migration period, it is found wherever there are trees - in forests, parks, groves, orchards.

population. In most of its range it is a common but not numerous bird. Breeding pairs, as a rule, are not located close to each other. In winter, during wanderings, it occurs more often, usually among several pairs as part of mixed titmouse flocks.

Subspecies and Variable Characters. Within the range of the species, geographical variability is clearly expressed, which manifests itself in a change in the size of the body and changes in the hue of the color, mainly on the upper side of the body. In addition to geographical variability, individual, seasonal and age variability in color is very noticeable, which makes it very difficult precise definition geographic races. Currently, 20 geographical races of the common pika are distinguished, the differences between which are often very small and noticeable only in large series.

reproduction. The beginning of the mating season for pikas falls on March (in the southern regions of Ukraine - the beginning of March), when singing males and fights between males can be observed.

Nest building begins a little later: in the south of the country - in early April (Voinstvensky, 1949), in the north - at the end of April. The nest is most often placed under the lagging bark or in a slit-like hollow of a tree and is always located low from the ground (from 50 cm to 3.5-4 m, more often 1.5-2.5 m) (Zubarovsky). The width of the slot is from 25 to 35-45 mm, the depth of the slot is 250-450 mm, the height of the nest is 200-480 mm.

Building a nest takes birds from 8 to 12 days, and only the female builds it. The lower part of the nest is most often a loose platform made of thin twigs and pieces of bark, the edges resting against the walls of the hollow. As a result of such a device, the nest often does not lie at the bottom of the hollow, but is reinforced in the middle of its height. The upper part of the nest consists of bast fibers mixed with pieces of bark, wood, moss tufts and lichens. The inner lining of the nest is usually made of a large number small feathers, sometimes mixed with wool, cocoons and cobwebs of insects and spiders.

A complete clutch consists of 5-7 (rarely 8) eggs, white with reddish-brown spots and dots, which accumulate more densely at the obtuse pole. Occasionally, clutches are almost pure white with a barely noticeable pale, small, pinkish spotting (Terebkov, outskirts of Kyiv).

Egg sizes: (42) 14.6-16.4x11.3-12.9, on average 15.7x12.2 mm (Ukrainian SSR, Zubarovskiy, Terebkov); eggs from Romania: (30) 14.0-16.5 x11.2-12.6, on average 15.5x12.0 mm (Dombrovsky, 1912). In the southern regions of the range of the subspecies, there are 2 clutches in the summer: the first - in late April, early May; the second - in June (until the beginning of July).
The female incubates for 13-15 days; the chicks stay in the nest for 15-16 days, they feed small insects and spiders.

Departure of chicks of the first clutch takes place in the south of the country (in the Ukrainian SSR) at the end of May, beginning of June; the second masonry - at the end of June, beginning of July. Young birds, after leaving the nest, begin migrations near the nesting site.

Moult. Young birds molt completely in their first year of life; their molt begins in July and continues until early September. The molt of old birds continues from the end of June to the end of August, and at the beginning of the molt, in June and the first half of July, large contour feathers are replaced. The small feather is replaced later - at the end of July, in August. After molting, the plumage is brighter, its tones become somewhat redder.

Food. They feed mainly on insects and spiders. Occasionally eaten and seeds.
According to Pospelov (1950) for the Leningrad region, in the food of the common pika, dipterous insects and beetles (especially weevils) take the first place in terms of the number of encounters, accounting for 24.7% of all insects found in the stomachs. Homoptera insects (aphids, psyllids) predominate quantitatively in the pika's stomachs, constituting over 60% of the total food composition (by number of specimens). 75% of the insects eaten by pikas are forestry pests. Among them are caterpillars of moths and moths, centipedes, sawfly larvae, weevils, leaf beetles, click beetles, bugs, aphids and psyllids.

Birds that can run up tree trunks...

In addition to the nuthatch, there is another bird in our forests that can move along smooth trunks - the pika. She also does not leave her native places and wanders through the forests all winter along with tits, nuthatches and other birds. But if the nuthatch, thanks to the loud voice and active behavior, is very easy to detect, then the pika can not be seen at all, even if you watch the feeding flock for a long time - this bird behaves so quietly and imperceptibly. When, wanting to get to know a pika, you find a flock of birds in a spruce forest, the first thing that will most likely attract your attention is chickadees - chubby gray-white tits with matte black caps. There are usually a lot of them in a flock, and they are always on the move: either they jump along the branches of a young aspen, examining it from all sides, then they fall to the ground or snow, pick at rotten leaves, or peck mosquitoes or random seeds of spruces and pines from snowdrifts. You will also see other tits: crested grenadiers brownish on top with high gray tufts on their heads; small dark-colored Muscovites with a light spot on the back of the head - these prefer to examine shaggy spruce paws. Hear the already familiar “two-two” and look with your eyes for a nuthatch jumping along a thick branch or moving along the trunk. The great spotted woodpecker, which often accompanies tit flocks, will give itself away with a voice or soft tapping.

But where is the pika that you so wanted to see? Be patient and be careful. Here, some small, inconspicuously colored bird silently flashed behind the trees and sank onto the trunk of a fir tree near the ground. And suddenly she crawled up the trunk, rising higher and higher. This is the pika. The bird is very small. And although the length of her body is about 14 cm, i.e. the same as that of the nuthatch, this is only due to the long beak and the tail, which is longer than that of the nuthatch. And the mass of the pika is only about 8.5 g. It is almost three times lighter than the nuthatch ..

Come closer. The pika is not shy, although just in case, sideways, sideways crawled behind the trunk. But you have already managed to make out its long, thin and curved, like a miniature awl, beak, brownish plumage with light mottles and stripes on the wings, and a long and elastic tail, like a woodpecker, on which the bird rests when moving. And when she emerges from behind the trunk again, you will see that the entire underside from her chin to the very tail is silky white.

Observing how the pika moves along the trunk, and comparing it with the nuthatch, you can see that the climbing style of these birds is different. The nuthatch, like a clockwork toy, quickly runs along the trunk both up and down with its head and behind a short time has time to examine large plots trunk and large branches. The pika, sitting on the trunk at the very butt, in small jerks begins to slowly crawl up the spiral, clinging to the bark with the ends of the hard and elastic tail feathers. If the pika needs to move sideways, it spreads its paws more strongly and, stepping over them one by one, moves in the chosen direction. If it is necessary to go down a little, it carefully backs away, leaning on the tail and holding its head up. She can't descend upside down like a nuthatch. True, crawling onto a thick horizontal branch, the pika can move along it both from the upper and from the lower side. Having reached almost the top, the pika flies to the foot of the next trunk and begins a new ascent in a spiral.

Crawling along the trunks, the pika, with a thin curved beak, examines along the way each fold of the bark or crack in the wood, choosing from them small invertebrates hiding or numb from the cold. The most frequently feeding pikas can be seen on coniferous trees: spruces and pines. But she also examines other trees, and during the autumn-winter migrations often flies into orchards, cleaning the trunks of apple trees, pears and other fruit trees from dangerous pests.

In summer, pikas predominate in the diet small beetles, especially weevils, bark beetles and leafworms. In winter - the same beetles, as well as earthen fleas and aphids. It also destroys a lot of eggs of harmful lepidoptera: scoop, moths, wavelets. Seeds also play an important role in the winter nutrition of the pika. coniferous trees, especially closer to spring, when the cones begin to open. In Siberia, even small pieces of pine nut kernels were sometimes found in the stomachs of pikas - the birds picked them up at the feeding places of woodpeckers, nutcrackers and jays. So to speak, the remains of the master's table.

At the end of the day, already at dusk, pikas go to spend the night. One by one, they climb into hollows or squeeze under the lagging bark. Moreover, in such shelters they hide at night not only in winter, but also in summer. It is not easy for predators, especially birds, to find a pika that has climbed under the lagging bark, and in winter time, pikas, apparently, at night suffer more not from predators, but from severe frosts. After especially frosty nights, I found frozen pikas under the trunks.

The voice of the pika is a quiet thin whistle with slightly creaky notes of “tsii-tsii”. This call can only be heard at close range. And the spring song, although not loud, but rather melodic and pleasant to the ear, consists of a series of hurried trills.

In the forests of the middle belt, songs of pikas can sometimes be heard already from the end of February. They are usually distributed from large Christmas trees, in the dense crowns of which it is not easy to see a little singer. In early spring, when there are still few other songs in the forest, the voice of the pika can be heard without interference. But in April, when many birds return from wintering, the pika's soft singing is lost in the general choir.

nest in middle lane The Russian pika usually starts from the second half of April. In choosing nest sites, the pika is very original and usually does not suffer from competitors for living space. This bird can be attributed to hollow nesters only with a reservation. Most of all, the female pika (and she builds the nest alone) is attracted by all sorts of narrow cavities. This is a deep crack in the trunk or a split in a broken tree, narrow space under the loose bark of a tall birch stump or such a narrow hollow that it is unlikely to attract any other bird.

Having found a place suitable for the nest, the pika begins to bring thin dry spruce or birch twigs and folds them into a thick flooring. Due to the narrowness of the cavity chosen for the nest, the nest of the pika is strongly compressed from the sides, and the ends of dry branches often stick out from the crack or from under the bark. In the middle of the nest is placed a small round tray 4.5–5 cm in diameter and 3–3.5 cm deep. It is lined with soft warm material: vegetable fibers, wool of four-legged inhabitants of local forests and small bird feathers. Having visited the forest at the end of April, an attentive naturalist may notice how a small bird rises from below along the trunk to a hollow with dry twigs or a whole bunch of soft material in its beak.

Due to the unusual construction and location, the nest of the pika, as well as the nest of the nuthatch, can be easily distinguished from the nests of other birds even when the birds themselves are not nearby or the nest has long been abandoned by grown chicks.

Usually the female pika starts laying eggs from the second half of April. Sometimes, for some reason, such as prolonged bad weather, the bird stops building a nest, and then the start of laying is delayed by almost a month. But normally, in the second half of May, either full clutches of eggs or chicks should be in the nests of pikas. Pika lays from 4 to 7 eggs (most often 6-7). Pika eggs, measuring 15 x 11 mm and weighing about 1.1–1.2 g, are among the smallest that can be found in the nests of birds living in Russia. Only ladles and kinglets have slightly smaller eggs. pika eggs white color, with very small red spots, slightly thickening towards the blunt end. The eggs of many other forest hollow-nesting birds, such as tits, are similarly colored. But the red ripples on them are usually denser and the size of the mottles is larger.

The female pika alone incubates the clutch for exactly two weeks, while the male feeds her at this time. When the chicks hatch, the female takes out the shells of the eggs and throws them away from the nest. Many passerines do this, but I have never found nuthatch egg shells. Perhaps he does not throw out the shells from his hollow at all.

15 days after hatching, the grown young pikas leave the nest. They still almost do not know how to fly and, having got out of a cramped dwelling, they crawl up the trunk. The coloration of pika fledglings (however, the name “fledglings” is not very suitable for them, because they leave the nest on foot) differ little from adult birds. But they are easily recognizable by their shorter beak with pale yellow beak ridges at the corners of the mouth. Wings and tail appear to be a bit short, as the flight and tail feathers are not yet fully grown and have come out of the horn sheaths. On the head of a young pika, bunches of long light fluffs are visible, giving the chick a funny and touching look. When I first saw a pika chick that had just left the nest, it seemed so cute to me that I immediately wanted to draw it. But the chick did not sit still for a minute and tried to crawl up all the time. So a good portrait, unfortunately, did not work out.

Adult pikas feed their fledglings for about 10 more days. During this time, young birds finally grow feathers and funny tufts of fluff on their heads disappear. Soon the chicks become independent.

Despite the early start of nesting, pikas have only one clutch per season.

In addition to the common pika (Certhia familifris), one can also meet the short-toed pika (C. brachydactila) in Russia. This species is widely distributed in the forests of Western and Southern Europe, Asia Minor and North Africa (Algeria). But in our country, the short-toed pika can only be seen in the deciduous forests of the Caucasus in the vicinity of Sochi. However, outwardly, it is so similar to an ordinary pika that only an experienced naturalist or ornithologist can recognize it. It differs from the common short-toed pika in that its chest and abdomen are duller, without a silky sheen, and there is a reddish tint in the color of the back, however, slightly pronounced. It is somewhat easier to distinguish these birds by their voices. The call of the short-toed pika is louder and lower in tone - “tweet-tweet”, and the song is somewhat reminiscent of the song of common lentils.

In the West, the short-toed pika often nests in crevices wooden buildings and even in the woodpile.

The Himalayan pika (C. himalayana) lives in the mountain forests of Central Asia, the Tien Shan and the Himalayas. It is slightly larger than usual, up to 15 cm long, with a longer beak and tail feathers rounded at the ends. Keeps in junipers, in the same place, in the cracks of the trunks, and nests.

In total, in the genus of true pikas (Certhia), there are 5–8 species. All of them are small in size (10–15 cm long and 8–10 g in weight) and are very similar to each other. They are found in the forests of Eurasia, North America and North Africa.

Domain - Nuclear (Eukaryota)

Kingdom - Animals (Metazoa)

Type of - Chordates (Chordata)

infratype - Vertebrates

Class - Mammals (Mammalia)

Subclass - Beasts (Theria)

Infraclass - Placental (Eutheria)

Detachment - Lagomorpha (Lagomorpha)

Family - Pika

Genus - Ochotona

View - northern pika

Pikas or haystacks are distant relatives and related to lagomorphs, and although they look more like hamsters, they are not rodents. Once upon a time there were 11 genera in the pika family, but by now only one has remained. It is divided into 14-16 species, of which 7 are found on the territory of the former USSR. Fossil remains indicate that pikas lived on earth 15 million years ago. Pikas got their name because of the characteristic thin squeak they make when jumping. Pikas live in the mountains, steppes and even deserts of Eurasia and North America, mainly on rocky landscapes at altitudes up to 6000 m, and one of the species that is described here is northern pika (Ochotona hyperborean)- mastered even the Arctic coasts. The northern pika is one of the most typical representatives of the pika family, both in structure and lifestyle. It lives in the mountains of the Northern Urals, Eastern and Southern Siberia, continental Far East, in Kamchatka and Northern Sakhalin, in the rocky tundra from the Yenisei to Chukotka. Lives in stone placers of the taiga and tundra belt of mountains. In Chukotka, it sometimes settles in road embankments, heaps of large rubble.

The northern pika is one of the largest species of the pika family. The length of the animal is up to 25 cm, the weight is 250 g, the length of the sole of the hind foot is up to 25 mm, the length of the hind and fore legs is almost the same. The tail is very short and invisible from the outside. The ears are short, up to 15 mm, with rounded tips and often with a light border along the edge. Vibrissae (whiskers) up to 55 mm long, black-brown. The color of summer fur varies from light gray-brown with a pale-reddish or yellowish admixture to rusty-red-buff or brown-brown; the color of the sides is usually lighter; belly whitish or grayish with pale yellow admixture. Despite his appearance, pikas are very agile and deftly run along the slopes of cliffs.

Pikas lead a predominantly diurnal lifestyle, their activity has two peaks - morning and evening; begins at the first sign of dawn and continues until dark. During the day, many of them sit motionless on a pebble, resembling the Egyptian sphinxes at the foot of the pyramids. They live in colonies that are far apart from each other, without forming continuous settlements. They dig holes for habitation or settle in voids between stones, but only one animal or a pair settles in a mink, at some distance from neighbors. The presence of pikas can be recognized by the loud alarm they emit. There are 3 types of sound signals: long, short and trills. Animals often die, becoming the prey of birds of prey and other predators of the animal world.

In summer, pikas feed mainly on herbaceous vegetation. Hardworking animals not only feed on plants, but also stock up on food for the winter, since they do not hibernate, then in order to survive the hungry time, they must prepare enough food. They prepare grass by storing hay in underground stores or more often in stacks, which they arrange under stones in well-ventilated niches, usually not far from holes. The stacks reach a height of 45 cm, and so that the stock is not blown away by the wind, the pikas press them down with stones. Each family collects several stacks of food. From time to time, pikas stir stacks and turn over, shake and lay out hay to dry evenly like real peasants (hence another name for pikas - hay delivery). Ready-made hay northern pikas hide in their pantries for winter storage. They are very sensitive to weather changes and before prolonged rains they sharply reduce their activity, stopping foraging a day or two before bad weather.

The offspring of the northern pika is born twice a year. The duration of pregnancy is 28 days. There are 4-7 cubs in a litter.