Atlas guide to birds for schoolchildren

 Now the work in the garden is over. I clean up the house, including the bookcase. In the summer, there is no time to do cleaning for everyday affairs, and now is the right time.
I love digging into books. Much has been read and much has been successfully forgotten. In the past, books had to be looked for in shops to buy. Often there was a queue in front of the shop door. But those days are over. This month, the renovated House of Books on the central Nevsky Avenue opens in St. Petersburg.

But I digress. So, "Atlas guide to birds for schoolchildren" fell into my hands. When I read  David M. Gascoigne's blog, I'm always amazed at how many varieties of birds there are and how little I know about them.

 

For example about ducks. It turns out that there is a gray duck (Anas strepera) 44,  pintail (Anas acuta) 46, teal terskun (Anas querquedula) 47, shoveler (Anas clypeata) 48 and other ducks (see photo). All of them inhabit the reservoirs of the tundra, Siberia, taiga, everywhere except the Far North. Duck nests are built on the ground. Beautiful, brightly colored ducks.

 

Or sparrows. It seemed to me that I knew them all, I see them every day, I feed them with seeds. They are not at all afraid of people. There is a black-breasted sparrow (Passer hispaniolensis) 413, a tree sparrow (Passer montanus) 414, a snow sparrow (Montifringilla nivalis) 415, a house sparrow (Passer domesticus). They inhabit most of the country, the Caucasus, Central Asia, Altai. They differ in the color of the head, a spot on the cheek or on the throat (see photo)

 

Starlings and jays are regular guests in my garden. They are always busy looking for food: worms, insects, caterpillars, clean the garden from pests. Here is the gray starling (Sturnus cineraceus)418, myna (Acridotheres tristis) 419, oriole (Oriolus oriolus)420, jay ( Garrulus glandarius) 421, kuksha (Perisoreus infaustus) 422, (see photo). These birds are migratory, we live in broad-leaved forests and groves, in the European part to the Kuril Islands. They nest in trees. I must admit that I have never seen and do not know the Oriole and the Kuksha.

 

 

The author of the book is Vladimir Khrabriy, the book was released in 1988. Beautiful color illustrations are made by a group of artists. Although this atlas is intended for schoolchildren, I think many older people like me can learn a lot from it. All the best.

Video of the birds I painted, with birds sounds.