A video in which people save birds stuck with a beak in a tree trunk are popular on the network. It is argued that for wintering, this situation is not uncommon. We decided to check if this is so.

The authors of numerous publications about the negligence of the Zimrodkov argue that due to a long sharp beak and "irresistibly high" speed (in some cases It is indicated that it reaches 80 km/h) these birds often crash into the trees, stick in them with a beak, and then they cannot get out on their own, because their legs are too short and do not allow them to push away from the trunk. They write about it Entertaining Portals and users of social networks (""VKontakte" Facebook, Instagram, X, Telegram). On YouTube The videos with the happy salvation of the stuck birds are gaining millions of views.

Source: social networks

The most common species of zimodkov, which just appears in viral rollers, kingfisher ordinary. These are small birds weighing up to 50 g, barely larger than the sparrow (however, representatives of other, less common species can achieve much larger). They are easily recognizable in their unusual coloring-bright blue with orange. Most of the winter -beings live near the ponds, because the basis of their nutrition is fish and water insects. Although the “irresistibly high” speed is some exaggeration, the wintering are quite fast: when dive during the hunt, they can develop speed up to 40 km/h (which is still much less than, for example, in Sapsanovwho dive for prey at a speed of about 300 km/h). Scientists are still trying figure outAs the winter workers manage to avoid damage to the beak and brain during a collision with water at such a speed, because in people such a force would inevitably cause a concussion. Winterings can dive for prey several times a day, since for life support they need to eat food in volume up to 60% of their weight, and during the period of feeding the chicks to them Required up to 100 fish per day.

As for the video on which the hinges are allegedly stuck with beaks in the trees, they cause some doubts. Firstly, the honeycomb is simply no need to rush headlong among the trees-as mentioned above, they develop the only speed during the hunt, which takes place on reservoirs. Secondly, to pierce the bark of the tree with its beak and get stuck in it, the blow should be very strong-much stronger than when diving, because water and wood have different density, which means that the beak is more resistant in a collision with a tree. Therefore, although the winter roads adapted to blows on water during hunting, such a frontal clash with a tree would most likely cause irreparable harm to them. In addition, despite the video with the miraculous salvation of the Zimoprodkov, who allegedly stuck with the beak in the tree and failed to free themselves independently, in the wild these birds can hardly count on constant assistance from people or other animals. So, if it were a massive problem, they would either have died out, or adapted and learned to avoid collisions, or at least understand how to independently release a stuck beak. “Verified” also failed to confirm the information that this is a common problem for wintering, not in any authoritative study and/or scientific article. All publications about this are found only in social networks, blogs and other resources, where users often do not bother with factskening.

Unlike many other birds, wintering can "Switch"From monocular vision (when images visible by two eyes are not combined in a holistic picture, but perceived as if separately) on binocular (like a person, when the picture is perceived entirely, despite the fact that each eye sees only part of the image). In addition, there are photosensitive cones in the eyes of the winter roads that allow them to distinguish colors. Therefore, it is unlikely that these birds can crash into the trees en masse - what are the chances of avoiding this then in other birds that did not have such a sharp vision?

Some doubts cause the viral videos themselves. On each of them, the winter roads stuck with a beak in a tree at a height very convenient for salvation (and shooting), while in the wild, birds rarely fly at a height of human height. However, it can be assumed that it was precisely these Zimrodkovs, for some reason that crashed into the tree so low, managed to remove, while others, stuck above, simply died. But the behavior of the bird itself is also strange: she is not trying to get out on his own. Users explain this by the fact that the winter huts have supposedly too short paws and they cannot reach the tree to rest at it and release the beak. However, the instinct of self -preservation should force the bird to at least try to do it.

Organizations for the protection of animals for several years has been beaten anxiety Due to the fact that a video of salvation of wild and pets gain more and more popularity. Of course, there is nothing wrong with the help of our brothers, but the fact is that most of these videos are staged. Animals are specifically placed in a situation that is dangerous for their life and health, then to save them on camera and collect millions of views and likes. The plots are different: it can be an animal that a predator attacks, and an animal that fell into a trap or stuck somewhere. Experts distinguish several signs The fact that the video - and, accordingly, salvation is fake: it is shot where animals from the video usually do not live, the saved animal behaves atypically, does not try to escape, the author of the video does not help the animal in the future (the video ends exactly at the time of salvation, it is not clear what is happening with the animals further) and others are found in the video with allegedly saved wintering wintering.

Thus, there is every reason to believe that viral videos with zimodki stuck in trees are staged. Firstly, due to the lifestyle of the Zimrodkov, it would be difficult for them to get into such a situation in principle. Secondly, the birds behave strangely in the video-they do not try to escape on their own. It is not mentioned in any authoritative source that winter -how in the wild has similar problems. In addition, rollers with the salvation of animals are responding to the audience, so unscrupulous bloggers do not hesitate to adjust the situations dangerous for animals to gain likes. Therefore, most likely, it is the “saviors” of the Zimrodkov that they place the birds in a difficult position. But even if we assume that a similar situation has actually occurred with a couple of Zimoprodkov, there is no reason to say that this is a common problem among these birds.

Photo on the cover: Ellen Chan from Pixabay