Birdwatching - 1767 🐦

🦉 The European pied flycatcher (Ficedula hypoleuca)

• Ficedula fi cedulinus (medieval lat.): “A small bird that feeds on figs and turns into a black-headed warbler in winter ”(from: Jobling, 2010)
• hypoleuca hypoleucos Greek: hypo below, a little, leukos white, hypoleukos whitish

With the appearance of the first flying insects in the spring, these birds also appear. But first, the males arrive first, and the females arrive a few days later. This is not a very favorable time, and even unpredictable, since the weather in the spring in my region can be very changeable, sometimes warm, sometimes frosty. And it’s very difficult for these birds in this early period.

They catch insects directly in flight, although they prefer to collect them from the surface.
And just during cold weather, when insects are hiding, they have to search every branch, look under every sprout in order to find food. Sometimes, in times of extreme hunger, they have to make do with stinking bugs, which no one eats except them.