Експрес: The cranes returned much earlier than usual. Why?

Source: Експрес

Author: Богданна Мартиник

In many areas, people have already observed keys and cuckoos in the sky.

– Spring will probably be early. Because the larks have already flown in, – says Andriy Kiyko, ornithologist, expert of NGO “Danube-Carpathian Program”, member of the board of the West Ukrainian Ornithological Society. — Perhaps in the places where the cranes used to dose, it warmed up significantly and that is why the birds moved further north.

Another version is that some flocks of cranes never made it to their wintering grounds in the fall. Since it was quite warm, they could winter somewhere in the south of Europe, and not in Africa, as usual.

– And the storks have already arrived?”

– No. Storks arrive later than cranes. Cranes caw in the sky, and storks make no sound. That’s how they can be recognized.

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— What do cranes eat? Will they be able to find food now?

— These birds feed on molluscs, reptiles, and amphibians. Small mouse-like rodents are collected in the fields. Large birds can stay without food for several days. This is not critical for them. But often people try to save, for example, storks that arrive too early. There were cases when they returned to their nesting places when the snow had not yet melted. However, birds are wise by nature. They can stand almost motionless for several days, and if the weather does not improve, they move to warmer places.

Of course, if the birds are very weak, they will not fly. Then you can fill them with fodder – by-products of poultry or fish farming.

By the way, gray cranes nest in Polissia, as well as in the swampy valleys of the rivers of the Left Bank. In total, there are 700-850 pairs of these birds in Ukraine during the nesting period.