Shilokhvost
The most numerous and widely distributed duck in our fauna. It nests everywhere except for the islands of the Arctic Ocean and the southern deserts of Central Asia and Kazakhstan. It is relatively less numerous in the steppe zone, but in years with abundant water, its numbers here increase sharply. During the nesting period, the highest numbers are observed in vast open grassy marshes of the tundra and taiga. It prefers shallow water bodies with open shores.
A medium-sized duck, slightly smaller than the mallard and much slimmer. The male can be easily identified in spring by its coloration and long, shovel-shaped tail. With some skill, females and all autumn birds can be recognized by their lanky figure (long neck, tail, bill). More distinct features can only be used at relatively short distances: a gray-brown speculum with a white edging along the back edge of the wing, dull or with a weak green sheen in females, and with a strong green-purple sheen and an ochre or light brown stripe in front of the speculum in males; the bill is gray-blue, brighter in males, with a black edging and a black stripe along the ridge. The legs are gray, with dark gray webbing. The shilokhvost can easily be confused (if it is not a spring male) with the swiyaz. The main difference is that shilokhvosts have less reddish coloration, they are grayer and lighter, the dark mottling on the chest gradually lightens towards the belly, which is not white. If the bird is in hand, another distinguishing feature can be used: the bill of the shilokhvost is always longer than 44 mm. The pre-breeding molt of males, i.e., acquiring the spring plumage, occurs much later than in mallards. However, during autumn migration, old males are already well distinguished from females by their coloration; they are "piebald," and they finish molting in their wintering grounds. Young males acquire their first breeding plumage only by spring. In summer and early autumn plumage, males can be distinguished from females by the coloration of the bill (it is two-colored, like in spring), a grayer body without wide ochre fringes, and a bright speculum. Young birds are colored like females but are darker on top, without wide ochre fringes, and the central tail feathers are not elongated. Young males (at the end of summer and in early autumn) differ from females by the gray color of the upper wing coverts and the reddish stripe in front of the speculum. Young males in spring, in their first breeding plumage, differ from old males by the coloration of the inner secondary flight feather that closes the speculum: in old males, it has a uniform velvety black color, while in one-year-olds, the black color is interspersed with gray areas. The bill of old males is two-colored, while that of young males is a uniform dark gray, and that of females is gray with dark spots along the edges of the upper mandible. The weight of males is 550-1300 g, females 400-1050 g, length of males 61-76 cm (long tail), females 51-57 cm, wing length of males 25.4-28.5 cm, females 23.6-26.7 cm, wingspan 80-95 cm.
A very social bird. Forms large flocks in resting places, numbering in the thousands. It rests and feeds exclusively on open, shallowly flooded salt marshes and low meadows. It flies in flocks of 10-30, sometimes 100-250 and even 1000 individuals (usually in a diagonal line). In spring, in flight and on the ground, males produce a characteristic two-syllable whistle "fryuk-fryuk," audible from afar. During the breeding season, males also emit an intimate call that resembles a thin squeak. The weight of adult males in autumn reaches 900 - 1300 g, females 800 - 900 g.
It has been established that the shilokhvost migrates the entire distance from its wintering grounds in India to Taymyr, a distance of 5000 km, in 115 - 120 days. Leading flocks of shilokhvost fly northeast at a speed of 50 - 60 km per day, synchronously moving towards the pole of the 0° isotherm. However, in the southern part of the country, the migration of shilokhvost lasts about one and a half months; later, migrating flocks of this duck fly only at night and cover more than 100 kilometers per day.
The shilokhvost is one of the best fliers among ducks.
Monogamous, pairs form during wintering and during spring migration. Most individuals nest at one year of age. The nest is built on the ground - in clumps of sedge, among low meadow grasses, in the steppe, in fields in piles of straw, sometimes very far from water bodies. The duck digs a hole for the nest with its bill.
Females lay 7 - 11 (on average 8 - 9) eggs of a yellowish or light olive hue, weighing up to 50 g, at the end of April - May. The incubation period is 22 - 23 days. In the first half of the incubation period, the male stays near the nest. At the end of May - June, males leave the females and migrate in small flocks to molting sites. They fly to molt mainly at night.
In late July - early August, the broods take to the wing and make evening flights to feed.
Their diet is mixed, like that of all river ducks. Thanks to their long necks, they feed in deeper areas than other river ducks. They eat seeds of pondweeds, water buttercup, buckwheat, bulrush tubers, and saltwort. In spring, they often visit grain fields, especially millet. Ducklings in summer consume a large number of aquatic insects - chironomid larvae, dragonflies, beetles, as well as mollusks and small crustaceans.
Kyrgyz Hunting Birds
