Rook: bird description

Rooks are black large birds that are ambiguously perceived by people.

On the one hand, they are joyful heralds of spring, as they are among the first to arrive at this time of the year.

On the other hand, the rooks are capable of emptying the fields of crops cleaned up and in this respect the crows are worse.

Rook is ambiguous not only in terms of harm and benefit, it is also very original in behavior. It has its own characteristics in appearance and in the way of life.

Appearance Description

The rook bird is a large feathered one. The weight of an adult rook can be up to 700 g. The plumage is black, but not matte, but with a metallic greenish sheen. Almost all the feathers on the body - hard, almost no fluff, it is noticeable only in the "shorts" on the feet. By the way, it is this cover on the legs of the rook that differs from the crows and jackdaws, whose legs are bare.

Adult Rook, photo

The rook's feather feather is long; its keratin base reaches 30 cm in an adult bird. The core of the rook feather is unusually tough, durable, with a uniform hollow channel inside almost to the tip.

What else is different from the rook crows, except for feathering on the legs? If the crow’s head is covered with feathers, then the rook has a large stretch of bare skin of an unpleasant gray color around its beak.

Habitats and types of rooks

Grach is the only representative of its kind in the family of corvs. But unofficially rooks are divided into Smolensk and ordinary.

The first is smaller and with a shorter beak. He lives in the central Chernozem region of Russia.

An ordinary rook can be found anywhere in Eurasia, from the shores of the Pacific Ocean to the north of India.

What Rooks Eat

Birds walking around freshly arable land collecting worms - such a picture is immediately before your eyes, if you think about what a rook eats.

He eats the grubs of the May shrew, a dangerous field pest, which he chooses completely from freshly plowed land. For what we love farmers from ancient times. But the rook can bring and strong harm, pecking sowed grain.

Rooks can be seen circling over the corpses of animals. But they do not eat carrion, but only choose worms from dead bodies. Also, they do not disdain to visit landfills in search of food.

Nesting, breeding

Rooks begin to nest nests immediately upon arrival at the borderlands of groves, forests, near arable land. The nest is built on a tree next to last year's.

In winter, if you look at the trees at the edge, black lumps can be seen in bare boughs - old rooky nests. The nest is built first from the branches. For the base thick are used, and the walls are made of thinner ones.

Inside the bird build a nest with everything that they think is suitable. These are scraps of rags, animal dander, feathers of other birds, moss and dry grass.

In the nest, you can sometimes find pieces of foam and cellophane.

Nestlings hatch completely helpless, without feathers. The temperature of the chicks is unstable, because the mother constantly sits on the nest and warms them with her warmth, and the rook father carries food. About a month after birth, young fly out of the nest.

Social behavior and intelligence

Rooks are collective birds. They never live alone or in pairs, only in large colonies. Very noisy and mobile. They are constantly busy with something. Either the objects picked up from the earth are taken away from each other, then they simply fly in circles in a flock, loudly and unpleasantly gall. Rook - the bird is not just smart. His intellect is equated by scientists to the mental abilities of chimpanzees.

The rook bird is indisputable in terms of pest control. But their population still needs to be controlled.

In the spring, the rooks not only select the larvae on arable land, but after sowing the crops, pick out and eat the grain. Where watermelons and melons are grown, rooks are real vandals, they spoil the fruit by picking out the flesh.

general characteristics

Rooks belong to the roaming unit. At the same time, science distinguishes them into a separate species.

Adult individuals have a body weight from 400 g to 700 g. The length of birds does not exceed 50 cm. According to external signs, females and males look almost the same. Females are slightly smaller than males. From afar, it is almost impossible to distinguish a rook from its closest relative raven.

However, on closer examination, it turns out that the rooks look sleeker than the crows. Another distinctive feature is a smaller, thin beak. The plumage of a bird casts a metallic sheen and has an absolutely black color without shades and impregnations.

The lifespan of birds is about 4 years.

Habitats

Rooks are unpretentious to climate conditions, therefore they live in a wide geographical area. The main condition - the presence of a sufficient amount of feed. These birds are found throughout Eurasia, including the Scandinavian Peninsula. The exceptions are Central and South Asia.

Birds prefer to live near people and eat human food waste. They are often met on arable land and fields during the period of plowing the land. In the fresh soil is a favorite delicacy of rooks, namely insects hibernating there.

Rooks partially belong to migratory feathered. Birds living in the northern regions, with the onset of cold weather, fly to the south. Happier year-rounds live at home with a mild and warm climate, without experiencing a shortage of food.

Behavior features

These birds are very talkative and loud creatures. Gathering in flocks, birds continuously make noises, make noise, croak and even play catch-up. The meaning of fun: take away a piece of food or a thing from an opponent. Another popular entertainment among them is to ride on the branches, while at the same time passing an object to a neighbor.

In the mating season, the rook males practice spectacular performances. Their funny somersaults are aimed at attracting a potential partner to create offspring. If it is successfully found, happy pairs of birds spread their tails and coo among themselves, settling on trees in squares and parks.

Rooks are characterized by separation according to a hierarchical principle. Thus, adult birds occupy a place in the middle on tree branches, while the young live on the sides.

Mental capacity

Scientists compare the intelligence of these birds with monkeys. For these goals, the rooks use all the resources and means available to them. In particular, they construct primitive tools for food, if they can not get it with a beak. They are a piece of wire or a branch.

Experiments in the laboratory confirmed the presence of outstanding intellectual abilities of rooks.

Experimental birds were brilliantly tested in each of the situations modeled for them. Smarty and quick-witted help these intelligent birds where other representatives of the avian world feed.

Mating season and offspring

Rooks - birds, which are characterized by monogamy. Partners create couples for life. Their nesting preferences are also conservative. They do not change their place without need. Their favorite zones are the tops of the trees, where for the mating period (from the beginning of April) they are arranged in whole flocks.

The material for the construction of the nest are branches. Dense rooks lay the foundation, and thin and small twigs twist around the upper part of the nest. The soft layer consists of animal hair, cobwebs and dry grass.

The laying includes from 3 to 6 eggs. The female has been incubating them for about 20 days. At this time, the male plays the role of a food getter. Newborn chicks are absolutely helpless.

In the first days after birth, their mother is heating and protecting them. Then, in her absence, the partner does this. Within a month after the birth (in mid-June), the rooks chicks are ready for independent living.

Nutrition and Diet

In the wild, birds survive because of their omnivorous. Their diet is varied and wide. Arriving from warm countries in early spring, they feed on last year’s remains of cereals, seeds, worms and bugs, which they find underground.

In summer and autumn, their choice falls on:

• May beetles,
• mollusks,
• worms, other insects,
• seasonal seeds.

Birds benefit the ecosystem by eating parasitic insects, small rodents, bedbugs, harmful worms, and other creatures that can damage nature. However, they often become pests themselves, eating crop crops. These are sunflower seeds and melons at the stage of their ripening. And bird droppings stain the leaves of cultivated plants in gardens and suburban areas.

Enemies in the wild

Despite the fact that the Rooks threaten some living organisms, they themselves often become prey. The first and most threatening enemy is man. On the birds, massively spoiling the crops of crops, put all sorts of traps. Often, people shoot rooks in whole flocks.

In addition to humans, birds of prey pose a considerable threat to birds. Among them are gyrfalcon, falcon, golden eagle, and even the closest relative of the raven. Rooks take particular care in the mating season when their females are physically weak and the chicks are helpless. At this time, the protection of the family is the main priority of the head of the family.

Interesting Facts

The voice of the rook and the manner of his singing do not differ in melodiousness and euphony. In the cry of this bird there is a sharp bass and hoarseness. In general, his croaking resembles a crow. It sounds like “kraa” or “kaaa”.

The officially recorded length of the smallest feathered body of this species is 45 cm.

Rooks are not afraid of the sounds of working agricultural machinery. Therefore, they are often met by flying behind a combine, tractor or grain harvesting machine.

Science is the only unprecedented case in which the rook lived to almost 23 years. Unfortunately, scientists at that time found him already dead.

The rook family (an adult chick that has fallen out of the nest) is recommended to be returned back to the branch of the nearest tree, where parents will find it.

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Rook Description

The length of an adult bird varies between 45-47 cm.. The average length of the wing is about 28-34 cm, and the rather thick beak is 5.4-6.3 cm. All members of the Crane family and the Crow family have black feathers with a very characteristic purple tint. The main feature of adult birds is the bare base of the beak. Young rooks have plumage in the okollyuvny basis, but as they grow up it disappears completely.

Appearance

The weight of a large adult feathery can reach 600-700 g. The main plumage of a rook is black in color, without dullness, but with the presence of a metallic greenish sheen. Almost all the feathers on the body of a rook are distinguished by rigidity with almost no fluff. Only so-called “shorts” on the paws have a certain amount of down. It is this kind of cover that makes it quite easy to distinguish a rook from crows and daws, whose paws are bare.

It is interesting! Unlike the crows, with which all the rooks have a very large external similarity, the representatives of this species have an extensive leathery area or the so-called growth of grayish coloring around the beak.

The feather feather of all representatives of the Sparrow-shaped detachment and the Vranov family is very rigid and unusually strong, having a uniform and hollow internal channel that lasts almost to the very tip. The feathers of rooks possess such an unusual structure over many hundreds of years, due to which they were actively used as a convenient and accessible writing device. The tip of this pen was carefully cut obliquely, after which it was dipped in a jar of ink.

Partial molting with the loss of small feathers in young individuals occurs from July to September, which is accompanied by thickening of the skin and subsequent reduction of the feather papillae. Feather prolapse progresses in rooks with age, and molting of mature individuals occurs in a full annual cycle.

Character and way of life

On the territory of Western Europe, the rooks are mostly sedentary, and in some places migratory birds. In the northern part of the range of distribution, rooks belong to the category of nesting and migratory birds, and in southern latitudes they are typical resident birds. All representatives of the species are characterized as very restless and incredibly noisy birds, the movement of colonies near the person’s dwellings causes a lot of inconvenience, which is explained by the almost continuous cawing and noise.

During scientific tests carried out by specialists at the University of Cambridge in England, it was reliably established that the rook was very good at creating or using the most simple tools with his beak, and are not inferior in such activities to chimpanzees who use well-developed limbs for these purposes. Rooks are collective birds, never living in pairs or alone, but necessarily uniting in fairly large colonies.

How many live rooks

As foreign and domestic scientists have managed to find out, representatives of the Sparrow-shaped detachment and the Vranov family live quite well until the age of twenty years, but some researchers argue that individual specimens of a species more than half a century may also occur.

In reality, many birds of this species often die from diseases of the stomach and intestinal tract, not even reaching the age of three. Therefore, as the general practice of long-term observations shows, under natural conditions, the average life expectancy of a rook is extremely rare than the standard five to six years..

Habitat

In Europe, the range of rook distribution is represented by Ireland, Scotland and England, the Orkney and Hebrides, as well as Romania. In the Scandinavian countries, representatives of numerous species nest most often in Norway and Sweden. A rather large population inhabits the territories of Japan and Korea, Manchuria, western and northern China, and also northern Mongolia.

During the winter period, birds of this species are relatively often found in countries near the Mediterranean or in Algeria, in northern Egypt, on the Sinai Peninsula, in Asia Minor and Palestine, in the Crimea and Transcaucasia, periodically fly into Lapland. Only with the onset of autumn, representatives of the species sometimes appear in the Timan tundra.

Nesting specimens are found in gardens and parks, among groups of trees that are scattered in a cultural landscape, in forest areas, groves and river banks. Such birds for nesting prefer forest edges with tree plantings and places for high-grade watering places represented by rivers, ponds and lakes. The feeding biotope of the rooks includes cultural landscapes and numerous steppe areas. For wintering, such birds, as a rule, choose piedmont belts and river valleys, cultivated land and other areas not covered with deep snow.

Rooky Diet

Common food sources for rooks are a variety of insects, as well as their larval stage. Representatives of the Sparrow-shaped and the Vranovy families are also happy to eat with mouse-like rodents, grain and garden crops, some weeds. In the standard feed regime, birds with food of animal origin, including large insects like locusts and grasshoppers, predominate.

The use of rooks in agriculture and forestry is indisputable, which is due to the very active destruction:

• May beetles and their larvae,
• bugs, turtles,
• kuzek - pests of grain crops,
• spring scoop,
• meadow moth caterpillars,
• beet weevil,
• wireworms,
• small rodents.

Important! Representatives of the Rooks species play a very significant role in the active elimination of local and extensive foci characterized by the mass reproduction of harmful insects, including pine silkworm, grasshoppers, and beet weevil.

Representatives of the Vranov family and the crows of the Crow are eagerly digging with their well developed and sufficiently long beak in the ground, making it easy to find various insects and worms. Also, rooks often follow tractors or harvesters plowing the ground, greedily picking up all the larvae and insects that have been turned out of the soil. The collection of harmful insects is carried out on tree bark, branches or foliage of all kinds of vegetation.

Reproduction and offspring

Rooks, by their nature, are common schooling birds, so they set up colonies on fairly large and tall trees near settlements, including the fork of old roads. As a rule, on the crown of a single tree, dozens of strong and reliable nests, used for many years, wind at once by birds.. The nest is usually represented by branches of various sizes and is lined inside with dry grass or animal hair. To build a nest with rooks, all kinds of garbage from city dumps can also be used.

Formed feathery couples live together until the end of their lives, so the rooks are traditional monogamous birds. The eggs are laid by the female once a year, in quantities ranging from three to seven. There are cases of breeding female two offspring within one year. Яйца грача достаточно крупных размеров, достигающие в диаметре 2,5-3,0 см. Цвет скорлупы, как правило, голубоватый, но иногда обладает зеленоватым оттенком с бурыми пятнами. Инкубационный период составляет в среднем двадцать дней, после чего потомство появляется на свет.

It is interesting! In the process of mating games, the males bring the kind of edible gifts to the selected females, after which they are placed side by side and notify the neighborhood with loud cries.

Rooks take great care of their babies not only in the first days of life, but also after their departure from the nest. Nestlings of representatives of the family Vranovye take off from the nest only at the age of one month, therefore a massive first flight of young people can be observed from May to June. Grown offspring after wintering prefer to return to their native nest.

Natural enemies

In some places, with rooks, corn crops or other agricultural crops deteriorate significantly, young shoots are dug up and sowing grain is destroyed; therefore, such birds are often destroyed by traps or shot. Due to their large size, adults rarely become prey for birds of prey or animals.

It will also be interesting:

Population and species status

In the European part of the range, the rooks belong to ordinary birds, and in the Asian zone, the distribution of representatives of this species is quite rare, so their total number is very moderate. Even in European countries, the number of specimens of rooks is somewhat sporadic, which is caused by the need to use exclusively tall trees for nesting. In general, the established protection status of rooks today is "Causes the least concern".

WHAT EATS

Adult rooks are practically omnivorous birds. They feed on insects, fruit, worms, seeds, mouse-like rodents and cereal grains. Birds look for food in the fields, meadows, near livestock farms and in cities. With its long beak, the bird turns over lumps of earth, leaves, and wiggles the grass. Rooks prefer vegetable food, therefore they cause significant damage to the fields. Birds not only destroy insect pests, but also pick out the seeds of cultivated plants from the ground.

Where it lives

Rooks are common in Europe and parts of Asia. These birds make their nests on tree tops in parks, gardens and forest edges. In winter, the rooks are kept in cities. In the northern regions, the rook is a migratory bird. Rooks are the first to return to their nesting sites. This occurs during the period of intense snow melting. Rooks nest in colonies. In search of food, they fly out in large groups. In some areas, people regulate the numbers of these birds.

Reproduction

Rooks nest in fairly large colonies that number several hundred pairs. The nesting period for rooks lasts from March to June. Usually birds return annually to the same place. Paired male and female together build a nest. The nests of rooks are very large compared to the size of the birds themselves. The building blocks for the nest are branches. Birds line the nest tray with grass, roots and leaves. Rooks have been using the nest for several years. After arrival, the birds repair it and update the litter. Despite the fact that birds nest in colonies, each pair of rooks has its own small area. During the matchmaking, the male brings the feast to the female and, with bows, invites her to taste the treat, while he jumps from branch to branch and shouts loudly. In late March - early April, the female lays four or five eggs. Hatching begins with laying the first egg. The female incubates the clutch, the male brings her food. The chicks hatch naked, so the female warms them for a long time. Later, in search of food for the chicks, parents fly together. At the age of thirty days the chicks leave the nest. Parents continue to feed them for about three weeks.

OBSERVATIONS OVER GROOM

Rooks are found throughout Europe and parts of Asia. In the northern part of the range these are migratory birds. Rooks are the first to return to their nesting sites. Here birds appear in mid-March - early April. The first time they keep near livestock farms and houses. Rooks nest in large colonies in gardens, parks and forest edges. In recent decades, birds are increasingly nestled on human buildings. Rooks feed in the fields, meadows and wastelands. These birds are very often confused with black crows. However, the rooks are much slimmer than crows, they have a thinner and more straight beak. There is no plumage in the rook on the basis of the beak, chin, bridle and part of the cheeks.

INTERESTING FACTS, INFORMATION.

• With the end of the mating season, the Rooks gather in large flocks, sometimes with crows and daws.
• The disappearance of rooks from the usual nesting sites is considered a bad sign.
• In the rook colony there is a certain order, according to which, old and experienced birds nest in the center, and at the edges there are nests of young ones. Due to this, the nests in the center are better protected from attacks by predators and ruin.
• In central Europe in winter live those rooks that nest in spring in Eastern Europe.
• In 1424, the king of Scotland issued a law according to which the farmers had to stretch their nets over the fields where the rooks fed and kill the birds that they got entangled.

SPECIFIC FEATURES OF THE GRAVE

Tail: when the rook cries, the tail feathers rise.

Wings: wide. In flight, the pointed ends of the feathers are visible.

Masonry: consists of 2-7 eggs. Eggs are greenish-bluish, greenish or bluish with brown spots.

Plumage: black with a purple metallic luster. In adult rooks, the base of the beak, bridle, chin and part of the cheeks are devoid of feathering and have a whitish color. The legs are black. Rook the size of a crow, but slimmer than she. The rook's beak is straighter and thinner.

Beak: thin and straight. Pretty long. The bridle, chin, base of the beak and part of the cheeks are devoid of feathering and have a whitish color.

- Habitat Rook

Where it lives

Rook is found in Eurasia. This bird is absent in the north of the continent, as well as in Central and South Asia and in the south of Europe.

PROTECTION AND PRESERVATION

Since the 1960s, the population of rooks in Central Europe has declined significantly. The main reason for their decline is the use of pesticides in agriculture.

Birds continents Grach. Video (00:02:07)

Rook size and appearance resembles a crow, and therefore many confuse them. But the rook has a clear distinctive feature - a ring of unguided bare skin around the beak in adult birds, in addition, the rook is “slimmer”. In young birds, this ring is missing. The color of the rook is pure black with a metallic luster, the body weight is 350-490 g. They feed on large insects, mouse-like rodents, food garbage, pecking animal carcasses, and from plant food they are seeds of various plants, vegetables, fruits and berries. Taking off to feed on the field, pull out the seedlings of grain crops. Rooks are not uncommon in cities, they can be seen in mixed flocks with crows and daws, and often they stay in the city to winter.

This is also interesting!

"The Rooks Have Arrived!". Who does not know the famous painting artist Savrasov? Compositions are written on it in middle classes, and the memory that the coal-black birds that have flown in is the first timid attempt at spring to remind of its inevitable approximation. For those who work in agriculture and plow the land, the rook is a constant companion, it is important to step on fresh plowing and feed on the first worms.

External features Rook and photo

Most, theoretically knowing how the bird looks, in practice will not be able to distinguish it from the common crow. The similarity really is, the rooks and belong to the same family of corvidae as the “sassy thieves”, but only to the passerine squad. However, this similarity is deceptive, and in fact, rooks have many differences from feathered companions.

Rook in size is smaller than a crow, the length of its body from the tip of the tail to the top of the head is about 45 cm. The body is slim and toned, with a nearly half-meter long bird's weight not reaching half a kilogram (450-480 grams). An adult individual has a distinctive distinction by which it can be unmistakably recognized and not confused with a crow: the okollyuvnaya area on the head has no plumage. Everything else in a bird is black as night: feather, beads of eyes, strong, strong beak and limbs.

You say what's wrong with that, the crow is also blacker than soot. Right. But in the crow the black is green, and in the rook it is metallic blue. In the sunshine, the brightness of the moose plumage is incredibly beautiful. In general, the bird itself is very elegant and unusual, although many will pass indifferently past, just gliding over dark, gloomy clumps, sitting in clusters in the trees. Some also think annoyingly: "Again, these crows screamed to the whole district."

In fairness it should be recognized that yes, the bird does not shine with musical talents. Her bassist hoarse "kraa" and "kaa" is very similar to a crow crowing. Actually, this is all that is able to produce a musical rook, no tendency to imitation of a feathered one was found.

Habitat and lifestyle

Although old Europe is called the birthplace of birds with plumage of agate, but in fact they are common in much larger territory. Their habitat is stretched from overcast rainy Scandinavia to the eastern Pacific coast. And their place of residence, they can choose any landscape: steppe, forest, forest-steppe. As long as human livelihoods did not develop so rapidly, the rooks preferred to settle in areas far from people. Now the birds are choosing more and more confidently not only the countryside for their habitat, but also crowding down the urban birds, conquering the place under the sun.

The rook settles in colonies, so there can be no uniformity in the inhabited territory. The bird is found according to the principle “now thick, now empty”. Plus, resin ptah migrate in some areas, which also does not contribute to the uniform density of settlement in nature. If the “Southerners” live in one place for the rest of their lives, then the northern inhabitants fly over to the warmer lands for the winter.

Russia, which, as we know, is not always hospitable in terms of climate, receives black guests at the billeting in early spring. Rooks in Russia have been loved since ancient times, they waited with impatience, for it is known that rooks flew in - spring is just around the corner. In November, and when it is too cold in autumn, and in October, the rookery flocks begin to leave the “summer residences”. They do this before the first frost, in time to reach the wintering place. Before flying off, a small “migratory fever” occurs in birds. They are excited, often shout a lot and even arrange loud round dances in the air. Maybe this is how they say goodbye to their native lands until the next warm season, who knows.

By the nature of the rooks are active and friendly, they love to communicate with each other, play catch-up, swing on the branches of trees and enjoy the warm day.

Diet

Rook is omnivorous. With the spring arrival, when there is still snow in many places, they eat the seeds of plants, pick their thaw patches in search of bugs, larvae. With the advent of warm time, the menu becomes more diverse, insects appear, there are a lot of worms on freshly plowed fields or garden beds.

In the summer, the bird prefers cereals and grains. Corn, peas, sunflower are favorite dishes. Grain bodies like this food more, it is more nutritious, gives more energy and a feeling of fullness for a long time. When ripening melon crops, the rook is not averse to feasting on watermelons, melons, pumpkins, and zucchini. Farmers do not like birds' taste preferences, of course. Birds peck and damage the fruit, spoiling the harvest. The same devastation they inflict and grain in the fields.

Procreation, longevity

Rook creation is very homely. When the spring fully comes into its own, the bird begins to prepare nests for future offspring. Already you will not meet carefree heaps, aimlessly spending time. Future parents are actively preparing for responsibility.

For a nest, a rook can choose any tree, so long as it is large. At a decent height (15–18 m), 15–20 dregs can be accommodated at once. The bird doesn't try to hide its houses too. Natural selection in the ranks of these birds is not too tough, so nature has not taught the birds too much to beware of. She builds a nest very businesslike, literally breaking off strong twigs and twigs with the help of a powerful beak. He treats his efforts with care and very often, returning from wintering, settles in last year’s housing, having repaired and strengthened it.

The period of construction coincides with the time of formation of married couples. Bird weddings will take place in March-April, and the first testicles will appear on the warm bottoms of the nest. There will be 3-4 of them in total, each of which will appear a day later than the previous one. With the advent of the first, the female sits on a hatching, and now the male alone will begin to feed for the whole family. Sometimes the rookie breaks away from his occupation, but only for a short while, just to fly towards the male for prey in the beak, if he is too hungry. The rest of the time, she patiently and selflessly sits in the nest, warming and waiting for the appearance of offspring.

The birth of chicks does not give the female a long-awaited freedom for another week. She closes the babies with herself, warming them, and the rook is still alone feeding the now numerous family. After 5-7 days, the rookie finally flies out of the nest and helps the husband to feed the cawgling crumbs. 14 days chicks need to get stronger and begin to move confidently in the nest. And after 3.5 weeks after the appearance of the rookes, they try their hand at the first flights. For some time, parents feed offspring and teach independence, but soon the younger generation begins an independent life.

Folk omens and superstitions

• According to the national calendar, the rook flocks arrive on March 17 (4 old style). This day is called - Gerasim Grachevnik. When the birds return before the deadline, it is a bad sign - the year is coming hungry. In order to “coax” nature and avoid crop failure, on the day of St. Gerasim, rye flour was made into sour dough, molded and baked “rooks”.

• They also used to say: “Whoever puts a new bast shoe into Grachevnik will be creaking all day with his neck”.

• Seating females in nests also had its meaning: "Rook in the nest - after 3 weeks of sowing." The time of sowing bread was very important to determine correctly, the future harvest depended on it.

• When the rooks returned to nest in the old nests, it was believed that spring would be a friendly, without flood.

• A month after the arrival of rooks, according to the signs, all the snow has to go.

• Rookies play games, when birds hover in the sky and return to the nest many times - this is a harbinger of good weather.