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<h1 id="title">Interesting Facts About Middle European Birds</h1>
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<img
alt="Lapwing standing near a river"
src="images/piqsels/lapwing.jpg"
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<h2 class="common-name">Northern lapwing</h2>
<h3 class="binomial-name">Vanellus vanellus</h3>
<p>
The flight of the lapwing is very distinct. Its flaps are gentle and
relaxed, with particular wide wings, which are round as paddles. As
their upper side is black while they are back and white underneath,
they seem to blink during flight, so they can be recognized from
quiet long distances.
</p>
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<img alt="Raven standing on lawn" src="images/piqsels/raven.jpg" />
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<h2 class="common-name">Common raven</h2>
<h3 class="binomial-name">Corvus Corax</h3>
<p>
While they did not have the best reputation throughout history, thus
being hunted to near extinction in middle Europe, up until the
1940s, they are actually quiet exceptional birds. For example, they
choose their mate with great care, which takes two to three years,
and then generally stay with them for the rest of their lives.
</p>
<p>
However, what ravens are best known for is their high intelligence,
with brains that are among the largest of any bird species. They
make use of tools and successfully adapted to living in human
settlements. For instance, they throw nuts, which are hard to crack,
on streets and wait until a car drives over them. Also, they are
smart enough to evade even the fast cars on highways.
</p>
<p>
Their social intelligence is stunning. They can often being seen
playing with each other, but what is truly remarkable is that they
are capable of deception. When hiding a food cache, they do so in
secret. Should they notice, that they have been watched by a sneaky
competitor, they move the food somewhere else. Sometimes they even
create fake caches to confuse thieves. These are strong indications,
that they are capable of putting themselves into other's position.
</p>
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<img alt="Hoopoe sitting on a lawn" src="images/piqsels/hoopoe.jpg" />
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<h2 class="common-name">Eurasian hoopoe</h2>
<h3 class="binomial-name">Upupa epops</h3>
<p>
To defend their nest against predators and deter parasites, the
incubating and brooding female Hoopoe and her nestlings, produces a
foul-smelling liquid, which reminds of rotting meat. These
secretions may even also have antibacterial properties.
</p>
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alt="Starling sitting on rock"
src="images/piqsels/starling_winter.jpg"
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<h2 class="common-name">Common Starling</h2>
<h3 class="binomial-name">Sturnus vulgaris</h3>
<p>
Since it has been brought to other continents by humans, the
starling has become one of the most common birds. For example, in
their winter grounds, they sleep together in groups of more than one
million individuals.
</p>
<p>
Before flying to their roost, they usually gather at other places,
like exposed buildings, high trees or power lines. From there, they
fly in large flocks to the actual sleeping spot. They form a cloud
of several thousand birds and fly down, forming a hose, that from a
distance can remind of a tornado.
</p>
<p>
Their feathers have light tips, which give them the distinct
speckled look. While the feathers are new in late-summer, their tips worn down
until the breeding season in the next spring. Then the metallic shine dominates their
plumage.
</p>
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<img
alt="Starling sitting on branch"
src="images/piqsels/starling_summer.jpg"
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<img alt="Jackdaw on ground" src="images/piqsels/jackdaw.jpg" />
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<h2 class="common-name">Western jackdaw</h2>
<h3 class="binomial-name">Coloeus monedula</h3>
<p>
The jackdaw is a very social corvid. If there is enough space
available, they often closely breed in colonies of dozens of pairs,
which they defend together. They also move in large groups when
searching for food, which allows them to prevail against larger
crows.
</p>
<p>
When not breeding, between several hundreds and a thousand jackdaws
gather at their roost to sleep. There are even accounts of groups of
more than 10,000 individuals.
</p>
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<h2>Did you know?</h2>
<p>
Due to their high metabolism, birds have the highest constant body temperature
of all animals alive today, at around 42 °C (107 °F).
</p>
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<h2 class="common-name">Great spotted woodpecker</h2>
<h3 class="binomial-name">Dendrocopos major</h3>
<p>
Woodpeckers are famous for their drumming and no other species drums
faster that the Great spotted woodpecker. The 10 to 16 strikes per
second in one or two second bursts, can be heard over long distances
and are used to mark their territory. Though the forces of each strike
can peak at 1200g, the bird's specialized anatomy prevents injuries.
</p>
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alt="Sparrow sitting on a wooden fence"
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<h2 class="common-name">House sparrow</h2>
<h3 class="binomial-name">Passer domesticus</h3>
<p>
Sparrows are quite social birds that feed in flocks or at least
small groups, even during breeding. In grain fields, groups of 20
birds are the most efficient ones for feeding, being a trade-off
between the time required for watching for predators and the
conflicts between fellow sparrows.
</p>
<p>
If a sparrow discovers a food source, it calls for others and waits
until enough have assembled before it begins to feed.
</p>
<p>
In cities, they can be watched looking for dead insects on the
radiator grills of cars or on the front of trains, shortly after
they have been moved to the depot.
</p>
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<img alt="Two young sparrows" src="images/piqsels/sparrows.jpg" />
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<img alt="Jay sitting on snowy branch" src="images/piqsels/jay.jpg" />
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<h2 class="common-name">Eurasian jay</h2>
<h3 class="binomial-name">Garrulus glandarius</h3>
<p>
Before winter, the jay builds significant stocks of food. Over the
whole year, it deposits excess food. In August, it begins to gather
acorns and other nuts and continues to do so until winter or even
the next spring. During October, the bird spends almost the entire
day gathering and hiding food. Once finished, a single jay has
stockpiled up to 5000 acorns.
</p>
<p>
Jays are able to find accurately remember and find their caches even
when it is covered under a thick layer of snow. If their caches last
long enough, they sometimes feed them to their offspring in the next
year.
</p>
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alt="Robin standing on a branch stump"
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<h2 class="common-name">European robin</h2>
<h3 class="binomial-name">Erithacus rubecula</h3>
<p>
Robins can be seen approaching wild boars or other large animals,
that open the ground, where they look for food, that may have been
uncovered by them. They also follow gardeners for the same reason.
</p>
<p>
They even actively seek out larger animals, as there are often
insects near them, keeping a distance of only one meter. It is
theorized, that they learn this behavior from older robins.
</p>
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<h2 class="common-name">Red-backed shrike</h2>
<h3 class="binomial-name">Lanius collurio</h3>
<p>
As the shrike primarily hunts insects, bad weather can prevent it
from finding enough food. To survive several rainy or cold days, it
builds a stockpile of big insects and small vertebrates, which are
impaled on thorns or barbed wire. This helps it to tear off smaller
bites and is an innate behavior, though they require some experience
to improve this skill.
</p>
<p>
When catching insects like wasps or hornets, shrikes are aware of
the stinger. Once they killed the prey, they rub it on a hard
surface to remove the stinger, before they proceed eating or storing
it.
</p>
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<img
alt="Blackbird standing on a lawn"
src="images/piqsels/blackbird.jpg"
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<h2 class="common-name">Common blackbird</h2>
<h3 class="binomial-name">Turdus merula</h3>
<p>
Although the blackbird was originally a bird of the forests, since
the 19th century it settles in parks, gardens and even towns.
</p>
<p>
Blackbirds are valued for their creative and melodic songs, that
sound pleasant to human ears. Often, a male knows more than 30
motifs and even more variations for the appendix at the end of a
call. They have two to five favorite motifs, that are so distinct,
that a human can identify an individual bird via the songs it
prefers.
</p>
<p>
The songs are only partially innate. Young blackbirds learn the
majority from their fathers or other males. But they are also
capable to imitate songs of other species or even artificial sounds
like the siren of an ambulance.
</p>
<p>
While the males mostly sing from March to start of July to mark their territory,
they can also be heard in winter quietly singing to themselves.
</p>
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<img
alt="Female Blackbird"
src="images/piqsels/blackbird_female.jpg"
/>
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<div class="card knowledge" data-col-span="2" data-row-span="1">
<h2>Did you know?</h2>
<p>
Birds have no diaphragm and use several air sacs to pump air through
their rigid lungs instead.
</p>
<p>
They are also important elements in regulating the body temperature
and can provide an extensive volume of air for singing.
</p>
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<h2 class="common-name">Common chaffinch</h2>
<h3 class="binomial-name">Fringilla coelebs</h3>
<p>
The nests are built carefully by the female chaffinches using roots,
a layer of lichen and spider silk for the outside. The inside is
padded with hair and feathers. Using moss and lichen provides very
good camouflage in the bushes and tree crotches, especially in the
later months of breeding, when there is more foliage.
</p>
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<img
alt="Little owl sitting on stump"
src="images/piqsels/little_owl.jpg"
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<h2 class="common-name">Little owl</h2>
<h3 class="binomial-name">Athene noctua</h3>
<p>
In contrast to other owls, that primarily hunt at night, the flight
of the little owl is not soundless and can even be heard by nearby
humans. They normally hunt on the ground around two hours after dusk
and before dawn. By running in large steps, occasionally jumping,
they are fast enough to even catch field mice.
</p>
</div>
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<img
alt="Kingfisher on branch"
src="images/goodfreephotos/kingfisher.jpg"
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<h2 class="common-name">Common kingfisher</h2>
<h3 class="binomial-name">Alcedo atthis</h3>
<p>
The kingfisher hunts by sitting above or near water and once, it
spotted a suitable fish, it dives head first down at an angle,
accelerating with a few short flaps.
</p>
<p>
As the refraction between air and water makes it very difficult to
catch the prey, the kingfisher has evolved special eyes. When
hitting the water, they stay open, but are protected by nictitating
membranes. The eye itself is truly remarkable. The lens is shaped
like an egg, which allows switching to a more accurate vision under
water, when used together with a second fovea on the retina. The eye
also contains small oil droplets that enhance color vision and
reduce glare.
</p>
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