When you are thinking of building a house for yourself, you need to consider several important points – to find a good place and calculate costs. The jay, which decided to organize a nest on the Central manor of the Prioksko-Terrasny Zapovednik, had similar tasks, only the material side of the process was not taken into account. There is a lot of building material around and enough time – it remains only to build.
The representative of the cunning family of corvids looked around the neighborhood and went to explore the ecological path “Through the foliage”. The prospects are wonderful – there are 10 convenient sites on the trees, you can choose any one. Observations showed that people almost never come here this spring. Jay, of course, did not know about quarantine, so after inspecting all the existing structures, the construction of the nest began.
This spring, if people passed under the path, then far below. But in the process of incubating the eggs, the first problems began at the jay – one day the two-legged still climbed onto the platform and found a nest! It seems that they were full and did not touch the nest, then appeared several more times, but quickly left. In general, you can live if you are on your guard.
Jay, of course, did not like that people suddenly began to walk under the crowns of trees as at home, but she was used to these inconveniences.
«Through the foliage» ecological trail was opened for visitors in 2015 and every year it is visited by several thousand people. Safe sites installed directly on the trunks of huge trees without a single nail or screw at a height of 8 meters above the ground and suspension bridges between them amaze the imagination. Forest inhabitants have long been accustomed to these human eccentricities. Two years ago, jays already arranged a nest on one of the sites, but then the birds used the lower tier – the chicks were born under a plank flooring. To prevent visitors from feeding the birds with harmful and unnatural products, we even had to close up the cracks in the flooring of the site.
Why did people disturb the birds now? The tourist facilities of the reserve are temporarily closed for visiting, but when the restrictions are lifted, they must be in perfect order. Therefore, routine maintenance is carried out constantly and on schedule. The reserve’s specialists climbed the ecological trail and discovered a nest. Jay quietly flew away from him without the usual shouts and indignations for this grumpy bird, lurking nearby, watching the development of events. Workers checked the site. After making sure that all the mounts are normal, people left the bird alone. Researchers at the reserve learned about the nest, and these are very curious people. It’s so interesting to watch the life of birds and the birth of chicks! Scientists could not resist and a few days later put a camera trap near the nest.
Scientists try to bother birds as little as possible and change memory cards in the camera trap when none of their parents are around. This year, jays will have time to raise offspring before the advent of tourists and, possibly, next spring, one of the sites of the ecological trail will again be chosen for the construction of the nest. Birds do not forget comfortable and safe places.
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