Ipatka - description, habitat, interesting facts

The content of the article

1 Appearance of the Ipatki
2 Habitat
3 Ipatki lifestyle
4 Interesting fact about the mortgage

Ipatka, Pacific hatchet or dead end - this is a representative of the purebred family. This is a clear representative of dead-ends with a bright beak of amazing shape. Seabirds of this species spend a lot of time in water. Ipatka is slightly larger than the Atlantic impasse, with which it has much in common. The bird is not very careful, it is able to let a person close to itself. Ipatka often moves on rocky terrain, clinging to stones with claws. The bird is able to move through the air and on the ground, but feels more harmoniously in the water.

Appearance of the Ipatki

The bird has a bright and attractive color, males and females are very attractive, practically have no differences. The plumage of a bird is a contrasting line of black and white. The upper part of the head, wings and back have a deep black tint, the area under the wings is gray. The lateral part of the face, breast and abdomen are crystal white. The mortar has a disproportionately large head and a particularly pronounced beak. In width, the beak covers almost the entire area of the head, on the beak there is a growth that is located above eye level. The color of the beak discourages with bright colors and tints - at the end it has a deep red hue. Ipatka eyes deserve admiration as well - a black pupil with a dark border looks exquisitely against the background of a white plumage of the eyes. A thin black line departs from the eye, like a lady’s arrow with magnificent make-up. Paws, like the base of the beak, have a bright orange color. On the paws there are sharp claws, between the fingers - the membrane. The length of the body of the middle-sized ipatka is about 40 cm, the weight of the bird is 200-300 grams.

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Habitat

Most often you can find a mortgage on the northern shores of the Pacific Ocean. Flocks can be settled, roaming, or migratory. With the advent of severe cold, in which ponds freeze, Ipatki move south to the Kuril and Commander Islands. Ipatka among small flocks can be found in Asia, on the shores of the Chukchi Strait, on the island of Alumka, on Kamchatka and Sakhalin. As a rule, the bird prefers to live on the coastal areas of the sea, only during the nesting period, climbing onto the rocks.

Ipatki lifestyle

The number of mortar beetles is quite high, in the Kuril Islands, Kamchatka and the Commander you can often see a bird, in the number of individuals, the mortar is second only to the crested hatchet. Maturation in birds of this species occurs relatively late - only for 3-4 years of life. During courtship, the male actively seeks the female, flaps her wings around her, shakes her head with a large beak. Ipatki are monogamous and create couples for life. Unlike hatchets that dig holes and build nests in the depths, the mortar organizes a place for masonry in a rocky crevice. The nest is usually occupied by the male. It lines hard stones with dry grass, feathers and leaves. Such nests are often used not once, but many times over several years, until the dwelling is suitable for hatching chicks. In clutch often one, rarely - two eggs of oblong shape. The eggshell is dull, with a coarse-grained surface, sometimes with minor inclusions.

Both parents incubate the egg, replacing each other to be able to feed. After the chick hatches, it is warmed for about a week, until the first fluff appears. Then both parents may well leave the baby alone and go in search of food for the chick. The main diet of the ipatki is small fish, mollusks, crustaceans and marine invertebrates. The diet of the chicks is the same, with the exception of size - at first the babies are fed small fish.As soon as the chicks get a little stronger and lean, the parents put them into the water, train them to fish, put them on the wing, teach them to beware of enemies. And there are enough enemies for the mortar - these are bald eagles, owls, seagulls, arctic foxes, crows. For the most part, predators prey on chicks, but can also enjoy an adult. Rats that roam the rocky spaces looking for eggs and chicks left unattended are also dangerous for the chicks. If an egg dies for some reason, the female Ipatki makes another laying. That is why the Ipatki try to nest as high as possible in the rocks, so that the probability of predator attack is minimal.

Ipatki are considered silent birds, which only occasionally make quiet sounds, similar to grunts. If Ipatki nest in small flocks in a wide area, you can never hear a single sound from the birds. In large flocks with a large number of birds forced to contact each other, this leads to mass conflicts and, as a result, background cries.

Interesting fact about the mortgage

Surprisingly, the bird feels so good in the water that it can hunt with a high percentage of success. By the number of survived chicks and chicks, people often assess the abundance of food supply and the saturation of sea water with fish. The lack of air in the feathers of the mortar, the maneuverability and speed allows the bird to dive to great depths - more than 50 meters. This means that feeding is often not a problem. However, the bird is very sensitive to environmental pollution factors. If at sea there is even a small percentage of pollution with pesticides or oil, then birds often die, in whole flocks. Moreover, scientists find pieces of plastic in the stomachs of birds found in Alaska - this is the result of world globalization.

Today, mortar is not considered an endangered bird species, just because it has few natural enemies. But the real predator and enemy becomes a man who pollutes nature. Effective measures to preserve the ecology of the northern latitudes will help preserve the population of Ipatica and many other species of birds and animals.

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