Duck fire, or red duck
The fire duck, or red duck, is a relative of the sheath and belongs to the duck family. From a variety of photos, she is remembered for her bright red plumage, which is able to "burn" with her fiery color, which is where the second name appeared.
Ogar
External signs
This is one of the recognizable species of ducks with a long neck and short beak of large size and high legs. In terms of dimensions, wild ducks ogar are similar to their related sheaths:
- body length is 0.6-0.67 m, with a wingspan extending to 1.2-1.45 m,
- bird weight varies from 1.0 to 1.6 kg.
The description of birds is often reduced to the characteristic of color: bright orange-red plumage smoothly passes on the head into lighter shades of whitish ocher. The primary flight feathers on the wings, tail and upper tail are painted black and have a greenish sheen.
At the onset of the mating season and during the nesting season, males "put" on the neck the so-called "collar" - a ring of black feathers, and nature decorates the head of females with white spots on the sides.
Above and below the body on the wings, the covering plumage is white, it is clearly visible in birds flying in the air. Green mirrors adorn the secondary flight feathers.
With the change of seasons, the plumage of females and male ducks does not change to a large extent, only in drakes the bright feather color fades slightly. The young generation of ogars is similar to females in color of their plumage.
Features of behavior
Ogari are excellent swimmers, but in flight they look massive, rarely flapping their wide wings, the more they look like geese than their duck counterparts.
The red wild duck prefers to live in small flocks or to keep in pairs, you rarely see large flocks. Only in wintering places do they try to unite in large groups on the shores of lakes or small rivers.
The ogars' voice is compared to a loud cackle of goose.
The voice of red ducks can be heard throughout the year. They are similar in timbre to Canadian geese. Most often, you can hear the sonorous "ang", turning into two-syllable stretched "aak". Screams often end with a dull trill. The sounds emitted by drakes and female ducks are different: females prefer to "talk" loudly and sonorously with an emphasis on "a", while in drakes, "o" prevails.
When the hunt begins, some hunters compare the sounds made by red ducks to the neighing of domestic donkeys.
When kept in captivity, firefighters begin to show aggressiveness in character and close, therefore, the best way out is to keep them in pairs or in a small confined space. However, they can live peacefully in the vicinity of other species of ducks, except during the nesting period, when the birds begin to show their temper.
Geography of distribution
The largest distribution area of ogars extends from the Greek steppes to the Manchu semi-deserts to the Chinese provinces. Small populations of red ducks can be seen in northwest Africa and Ethiopia.
The African bird population has an average of 2.5 thousand representatives, spread from Morocco to Algeria.
After the 90s of the last century, scientists have recorded the movement of ducks towards Tunisia on the shores of Lake Shott el-Jerid.
The European species is found in the Turkish and Greek north on the shores of the Aegean Sea, in the Bulgarian and Romanian west on the Black Sea coast.
In Ethiopia, according to experts, there are about 200-500 representatives. They are rarely hunted there.
A small population of ogar ducks has survived on the territory of Crimea and Ukraine. In Russia, the red duck can be seen in the south of the Azov region, in the Krasnodar Territory and in the Amur Region. The nesting border in the north runs through Kazakhstan.
Outside of natural habitats, wild fires are often found in urban areas, acquiring the qualitative characteristics of synanthropic animals dependent on humans. For example, the ogar duck can often be seen in the park ponds of the Moscow region, where they remain on non-freezing water throughout the winter period.
Nesting and breeding sites
Asian representatives of ducks make migratory flights to the south, staying out the winter on the Caspian territory, in the Himalayas and in the area of the Indian plains. European and Turkish populations remain sedentary, roaming only occasionally relatively irregularly in search of food.
As places for nesting, ducks prefer salty inland reservoirs, not requiring a large area to search for food. For this reason, ogars often live at fairly large distances from water. An exception for birds is the taiga and heavily overgrown reservoirs.
Ogar bird often settles in mountainous areas at an altitude of up to 5 thousand above sea level.
By the age of two, the bulk of the fires begins to reproduce. Monogamous pairs persist for many years, forming in wintering places. For nesting, birds also fly on the ice lying on the water bodies from March to April. Mating courtship begins with games, while in ogars the main role is played not by the drake, but by the female - it is she who selects the partner.
Like the sheath, the female builds her nest at a height of up to 10 m from the ground in various niches. These can be gullies in the banks, hollows in trees, crevices in rocks, animal burrows.
The built nest can be used by the same parents for several years in a row.
A month after the flight to the nesting site, the ogary duck lays eggs, of which there are up to 8-12 eggs. Chicks hatch exclusively by a female, without the participation of a drake, for a month. Both parents begin to take care of the newly born offspring. Chicks, 8-9 weeks after birth, already firmly stand on the wing.
Power features
The diet of ducks consists of both plant and animal food, but the red representatives still give preference to the first type of food, only sometimes including the second on the menu. The proportion of plant and animal feed depends on the geography of the birds and can vary in different populations, which is influenced by the habitat.
Ogare ducks are distinguished from close relatives of sheldews by feeding mainly on land, and not on the water surface. Although the red duck also knows how to get food for itself on the water. They choose the time to search for food in the evening and at night, resting during the day.
With the onset of the warm spring period, the red fire often looks for food on the grassy lawns or plucks out the vegetation between the sand dunes. Seeds and shoots of plants such as hodgepodge become its prey. He eats a variety of grains.
With the arrival of the summer season, the birds, along with the emerging offspring, move to salt licks, where insects, mainly from the locust family, become their prey. On the lakes, they catch small fish and frogs, feed on mollusks and worms.
At the end of summer and closer to autumn, birds master in the fields with winter crops. There millet and millet serve as their fodder.