Snowflakes are flying, snowflakes are flying.
The forest paths were covered with snow.
Because of the cold, the jackdaws hid in the chimneys.
And the hares put on white fur coats.
(A. Tetivkin)
For indigenous forest dwellers, winter is a harsh time. The ground was covered with a blanket of snow, and food remained under it. During the cold season, birds and animals need even more food to replenish the energy spent on warming up. Frosts drive forest dwellers closer to human habitation. Tits and bullfinches have moved to the cities. In city parks you can see flocks of screeching waxwings pecking at rowan berries covered in frost.
It is more difficult for wild animals. If foxes and wolves sometimes wander into villages in the hope of ruining a poorly guarded chicken coop, then ungulates have to travel many kilometers through deep snow in search of food. Slender roe deer and giant moose are equally afraid of night frosts after daytime thaws. The hard crust leaves deep cuts on the legs.
But days like these bring joy to light-footed wolves. The ice crust of the crust supports emaciated predators. It is not difficult for them to catch up with the unfortunate roe deer falling belly-deep into the snow. White hares also feel at ease. With giant leaps they rush across the snow-covered field to the nearest copse. The bitter bark of young aspen trees awaits them there. The white skin reliably camouflages defenseless animals from bloodthirsty foxes and wolves.
The busy squirrels also changed their clothes for the winter and exchanged their red fur coats for silver-gray ones. All autumn the animals stocked up on nuts and berries, stuffing supplies into hollows, and now they have nothing to worry about. The bravest ones go to populated areas to enjoy the seeds carefully poured into bird feeders by people.
The foxes have only one prey left - voles. Silently gliding through the snow, the fox sensitively listens to the rustling of the grass under the snow blanket. She mouses. The red ears with a black sparkle perked up. Bounce! The fox dives deep into the snow. Another moment, and the prey is in the teeth of the predator.
And at this time, the owner of the forest, the brown bear, sleeps in a heroic sleep. All summer and autumn, the bear fattened in the meadows and raspberry fields and accumulated a supply of nutrients under its thick skin. Now he can rest in his den until spring comes. The badger follows his example. Back in early November, this clumsy animal went into a hole, where it will sleep until the end of March.
The day is getting longer and the sun is shining brighter. This spring comes on the heels of winter, driving it north. The cold and hungry time for forest animals is coming to an end. Time has taken another turn, nature comes to life, rejoices in the warm rays of the sun. Soon the cheerful hubbub of birds will fill the forest thicket, and the little animals, tired of the frost, will come out to warm themselves in the thawed patches.
Good afternoon, dear readers!
In autumn, you and your children often walk in the park or forest. Have a conversation, tell the children how animals prepare for winter.
Let the child remember which animals are called wild. You can show kids pictures of wild animals, ask riddles, and read poems. For older children, ask them to solve logic problems and read them stories about animals in the fall.
Show the relationship in the world around us - it has become cold, the insects are hiding, the birds are flying to warmer climes because there is no food for them.
In winter, the bunny changes his gray coat to a white one so that he will not be eaten by predators; he will not be so noticeable in the snow.
During the conversation, children enrich their vocabulary.
Repeat nouns: bear, wolf, fox, hare. hedgehog, squirrel, den, hollow, den, hole;
adjectives: shaggy, shaggy, angry, hungry, dexterous, strong, cunning;
verbs: howls, gallops, jumps, hides, hibernates, hibernates.
Children need to know: names of wild animals in our forests: bear, wolf, fox, hare, elk, hedgehog, beaver, squirrel;
That wild animals get their own food and build their homes;
- repeat who changes the color of their fur coat for winter (hare, squirrel);
Know where they live:
bear (in a den)
wolf (in the den),
fox (in a hole).
Late autumn has arrived: sad, rainy and cold. Winter is not far off. Winter is the hardest time for animals. They are freezing and cannot get food for themselves.
Some will sleep until spring in their houses (bear, hedgehog), other animals do not sleep, but make provisions for the winter, insulate their minks, and exchange their summer coat for a winter one.
Who is first?
Most animals begin to prepare for cold weather in the fall, some store food already in the summer. These are mice, chipmunks. They collect seeds, grains, seeds and carry them to their burrows. And then they spend the winter in them.
Let's talk with the children about how a hare, a bear, a hedgehog, a squirrel, a fox and a wolf, and an elk prepare for winter.
First, tell us about 2-3 animals, show pictures, play games so that the child can better remember how animals prepare for winter.
The bear is the owner of the forest
His home is a den. The bear arranges for her in a secluded place, under some snags. He carries moss and leaves there. In winter, the snow will fall and cover the den from above, and it will not be visible at all.
Bears eat nuts, berries, roots, fish, and various larvae. They eat and accumulate fat. In November, the bear climbs into its den and falls asleep. Bears sleep restlessly. If they are disturbed, they may abandon their den and make another.
In the bear's den, babies are born - cubs, 1-2. They are very small.
Foxes and wolves
Gray, angry, cold in winter
A hungry man wanders through the forest. (Wolf)
These predators do not sleep in winter. They also change their outfit and warm up. The animals begin to molt, and then grow thick fur, which helps withstand the cold.
Wolves unite in packs in winter and hunt wild boars, hares, and roe deer.
Look what it is -
Everything burns like gold.
Walks around in a fur coat dear,
The tail is fluffy and large. (Fox)
Foxes hunt at dusk or at night, catching mice, hares and birds. I sneak up on the prey, they suddenly rush at it, grabbing it with sharp teeth. The fox sniffs the snow and looks for mice.
Fox's house? (Nora).
Wolf's house? ( lair).
Another inhabitant of the forest is a squirrel.
Who is in the pines and spruces
Skilfully jumps, bends branches,
He sees where the cones have ripened,
And he carries it into his hollow. (Squirrel)
In summer, this animal wears a red fur coat, and in winter it turns gray.
Where does the squirrel live? (V double)
How does a squirrel prepare for winter?
In the summer he makes provisions: collects mushrooms, nuts, hides them in the forest floor, in a hollow. Strings mushrooms on branches.
The squirrel makes its nest in tall pines and spruces. Squirrels do not hibernate, but in severe frosts they can fall asleep in a hollow.
Elk
A large animal, a handsome forest creature, wears an ornament on its head - large horns.
The moose feeds on plants and in winter gnaws on the bark of trees. It’s difficult for moose in winter, so foresters often feed moose and deer.
At the end of autumn, the elk sheds its antlers. New ones grow by spring.
Hedgehog
That's why I'm famous in the forest,
Which is covered with needles.
But I'm not afraid of enemies -
I’ll snort and curl up into a ball. (Hedgehog)
Early in the fall, the hedgehog prepares a hut for wintering - a mink. It carries leaves and soft moss in it. Hedgehogs have little food in the fall: it is difficult to find frogs, lizards and worms. Therefore, the hedgehog hibernates.
It will burrow into the leaves, curl up into a ball and sleep all winter until spring, until the sun begins to warm.
Beavers
Ask the children if they know where beavers live.
Water masters
They build a house without an axe,
The house of their brushwood and mud,
And a dam. (Beavers)
Beavers are amazing animals. They have very sharp teeth, with which they chew through trees. And beavers’ fur coats don’t get wet in water.
Beavers take care of their coat: they comb it with their front paws and claws. And other beavers help comb the back.
In autumn, beavers prepare a lot of branches and place them near hut house. This will be their food for the winter.
Beavers do not sleep in winter. The entrance to their house is under water.
Gray in summer.
And in winter it’s white. (Hare)
By winter, the bunny changes his gray coat to a white one. For what? So that it is not visible in the snow and does not get caught for lunch by predators.
In winter, hares feed on tree branches: aspen, birch, and willow. and also gnaw bark.
The hare does not have a permanent home; in severe frosts, hares hide under bushes.
In the fall, the hare gives birth to babies - bunnies. This happens during leaf fall. That's what they call bunnies, deciduous plants.
The hare feeds them and runs away so that predators do not find the hares by the smell. There is enough milk for 3 days. Then the hare returns or someone else’s mother comes running and feeds all the bunnies, including strangers.
After talking with the children about how animals prepare for winter, you can play.
For children of senior preschool age and primary school age, conduct quiz.
1.What do animals do to protect themselves from frost?
a) fly to warm countries.
b) change their summer coat to a winter one.
2. Which animal sleeps in winter?
a) fox,
c) badger.
3. Who doesn’t change their fur coat?
4. What do hibernating animals need?
a) fat reserves,
c) silence.
5 What does a hare eat in winter?
a) carrots
b) cabbage
c) bark and branches of trees.
Game » Who's the odd one out?
Having eaten their fill over the summer, bears, badgers, mice, and hedgehogs go into hibernation. (Mice do not hibernate. They just stay in holes under the snow).
Predators roam the forest in search of prey: wolf, fox, elk. (Elk is not a predator, but a herbivore)
Elks, wild boars, and hares eat tree branches, bark, roots and fresh leaves in winter. (No fresh leaves in winter).
Exercise “Call me kindly”
Squirrel - squirrel,
Fox - fox
hare - bunny,
bear - bear cub.
D/exercise “Choose a definition”
Wolf (what?) - gray, angry, angry, hungry...
bear (what?) - brown, big, club-footed..
fox (Which one?) - red, cunning, fluffy. beautiful…
hedgehog (what?) - prickly, small...
hare (what?) - shy, white, long-eared...
Game "Who Lives Where?"
Does he live in a den? (bear).
(Who?) lives in the hole - a fox.
Does he live in a den? - wolf.
Does he live in a hollow? - squirrel.
Ask the kids to name a family of animals.
Mom, dad, babies.
Bear, she-bear, cubs.
Wolf, she-wolf, cubs,
Hare, hare, bunnies.
Game "Who's the odd one out and why?"
Squirrel, wolf, cow, fox. (A cow is a domestic animal).
Hedgehog, bear, hare, dog (Dog is a pet).
Fox, cat, hare, wolf (cat is a pet).
This is how you can have an interesting time with your children: talk about how animals prepare for winter, play word games, look at pictures.
As a result, the vocabulary of children is enriched, the horizons of children are expanded, and a love of nature is fostered.
V. Bianchi “How animals prepare for winter”
G. Skrebitsky “Who is preparing for winter?”
Video
Today we talked to the children about how animals prepare for winter.
Write comments, share information with friends.
Best regards, Olga.
Getting to know the world around you
Subject: “Life of wild animals in winter”
Target: developing knowledge about the life of wild animals in winter.
Educational: introduce and generalize children’s knowledge about the life of wild animals in winter; systematize and enrich children's knowledge about natural connections;
to form ideas about the role of humans in the life of animals in the forest in winter.
Developmental: develop attention, thinking, memory,
Educating: cultivate a caring attitude towards nature and animals.
Equipment: illustrations - bear, fox. hare, elk, squirrel; tape recorder, projector, presentation, animal stencils, scissors, colored pencils, sheets of paper, snowflakes - paper (large and small) and plastic.
Progress of the lesson:
1. Organizational moment
- Good afternoon guys! Today old man Lesovichok came to our lesson, let's say hello! (Salemetsiz be?!)
Sounding weather, snow chaos
This time of year we call...
(Winter). How will it be in Kazakh? (kys)(slide 1)
So, now we have a beautiful and cold season - winter. What winter months do you know? What month are we in now? (December), (slide 2).
December is the beginning of winter. Snow falls, frost sets in, and everything on the river and lake is covered in ice.
What holiday is it like in December, when everyone decorates the Christmas tree and Santa Claus comes? (New Year)
What's next month? (January). (slide 3).
January is the middle of winter, this month has the most severe frosts.
What is the third and last month of winter? (February). (slide 4).
In February, very strong winds blow, there are a lot of snowstorms and blizzards, but sometimes the sun begins to warm up a little.
What signs of winter do you know? (it is snowing, frost, cold, lakes and rivers are covered with ice, the day is short and the night is long).
Yes, guys, in winter it is very cold. And not only us people, but also animals are cold and hungry. Today we will learn how some animals prepare for winter, what they eat, and which of them also sleep in winter.
Old man Lesovichok came to us not alone, but with his friends. And with whom exactly, you will find out if you guess the riddle.
He lives in the thicket of the forest,
He is reputed to have a sweet tooth.
In summer he eats raspberries, honey,
He sucks his paw all winter.
Can roar loudly
And his name is….(Bear) How will it be in Kazakh? (Ayu)
What do you know about the bear? (children's answers).
What is he like? (big, furry, etc.) (shown in illustration)
2. Winter sleep of bears.
- All bears are engaged in underground construction in the fall; bears know all the secrets of construction skills.
As soon as heavy rains begin to fall and it gets colder, young bears look for a hole under a fallen tree, rake leaves into it, line it with grass and dry ferns and make a den for themselves. Bears know very well what kind of winter it will be, cold or mild. They climb into the den backwards to seal the entrance behind them and wait out the difficult times. Soon they fall into a very long sleep, which lasts not just one night, but all three winter months. (Slide 5)
Guys, have you ever heard the expression: “A bear sucks its paw”? (children's answers).
- In fact, rough skin comes off the feet. And young skin needs to be warmed up. That's why the bear licks the soles with a hot tongue, smacking his lips at the same time. He warms her up so much!
In winter, a female bear gives birth to 2-3 cubs, they are small, about the size of my palm. She is a very caring mother. The bear feeds them with her milk, cleans their fur, and then they all fall asleep.
- Guys, there are also polar bears. They live in the distant North Pole and do not go to sleep in the winter: they are not afraid of the cold. But they can also build dens. They dig caves under the snow where they nurse their young. ( illustration)
3. Old man Lesovichok is old and tired from the road, let's sit on the sofa and relax with him .
Physical education minute."On the couch"
4.
- I walk around in a fluffy fur coat,
I live in a dense forest.
In a hollow on an old oak tree
I'm gnawing nuts.
- Who is this? (squirrel) How will it be in Kazakh? ( teen )
(showing illustrations)
What do you know about the squirrel? (children's answers)
And look at the picture - what is it like? (small, tufted ears, fluffy brown fur, beautiful fluffy tail)
Please note - the squirrel is red in summer, but becomes gray in winter. (slide 5).
- By winter, the squirrel insulates its nest, which serves as reliable protection during severe frosts and bad weather. The squirrel builds its nest in the forks of branches or in the hollows of trees. In frosty weather, squirrels do not run through the forest; they hide in their nests. The squirrel stores nuts, the best fruits. She dries mushrooms herself in summer and autumn. If you bite into a fungus, is it tasty? Then prick it on a twig and let it dry until winter. It happens that hundreds and even thousands of fungi dry out over the summer. In the coniferous forest zone, it feeds on spruce seeds. Pines, firs. When there are no cones, it feeds on last year's cones.
5.- Behind the trees, bushes,
The flame flashed quickly.
Flashed, ran -
There is no smoke, no fire.
- What kind of animal? (fox) What will it be like in Kazakh? ( talk )
What do you know about the fox? (children's answers)
And look - what is she like? (red hair, long fluffy tail, long elongated nose).
The fox hunts for birds and hares at dusk or at night. It sneaks up on prey unnoticed, suddenly rushes and grabs it with sharp teeth. The fox has a very good sense of smell. She tracks mice by smell under the snow, quickly digs the snow with her front paws and grabs the prey. This “dance” is called “mousing”.
In one day, a fox catches about 40 mice! By destroying mice, the fox brings benefits. During strong snowstorms, she seeks shelter, curls up into a ball and covers herself with her tail.
6.Not a lamb or a cat,
Wears a fur coat all year round.
Gray fur coat for summer,
A different color for winter. (Hare)What will it be like in Kazakh?(Koyan)
What color is a hare's fur coat for winter? (white). In the summer? (gray). (slide 6).
The coats of some animals change because they shed. By winter, their undercoat grows and their color changes. Shedding in animals occurs in autumn and spring.
A white fur coat in winter helps the hare escape from enemies. What do you know about hares? ( children's answers) What is he like? ( long ears, white fur).
- What do hares eat? (Children's answers)
- Hares feed on bark and branches of trees and bushes. And the hare’s favorite treat is aspen bark.
They say about the hare that he is very attentive, observant and nimble. He runs away from his enemies very quickly. It's hard to catch up with him.
7. Practical part. I will give you coloring books with images of animals, and you must color them in the desired color . If squirrel, what color? (brown). If it’s a bunny, it’s blue, if it’s a fox, it’s orange or yellow, if it’s a bear, it’s brown. (accompanying music “Sounds of nature in winter” during independent work).
Foresters work in the forest. When loggers, hunters and others who want to get something more from the forest than fresh air appear in the forest, the forester checks their documents: the right to felling, hunting, grazing, etc.
He also makes sure that no one lights a fire during hot weather. If someone breaks the rules, the forester has the right to detain him. In some cases, it is limited to suggestion: for many people it is enough to simply explain why they should not pick Red Book flowers and why a glass bottle thrown among the moss is dangerous. (The bottle not only litters the forest, but can also cause a fire because it acts like a lens.) Forester- an employee of the state forest guard, he is issued a site passport, and may be issued a hunting weapon. Persons who have been trained at a forestry school, college, technical school or special courses are accepted for the position of forester.
In the forests, animals are fed by foresters. They set up feeders for animals and put hay and salt in them. They also feed other animals. For the hares Even in the summer they stock up brooms with young leaves and dried raspberry branches.
8. Old man Lesovichok hurries into the forest. Let's help him collect all the animals.
Game "Who Lives Where"(bear, squirrel, hare, fox)
On the board is a model of the forest. On the model - a den, hole, nest, hollow, tree - determine which animals live where.
In memory of our meeting, old man Lesovichok gives us a piece of his kind heart!
9. Summing up the lesson.
Guys, how should people behave in the forest?
What do you know about the work of a forester?
What is mouseing?
What is shedding?
What group of animals do our guests belong to?
Forest shadow, forest silence,
Full of miracles
You are standing in front of a fairy tale,
And this fairy tale is a forest.
Save this fairy tale
Love, pity and take care!
This concludes our lesson.
The rain had been drumming on the roof since night, and it did not stop during the day. Autumn this year has been a long one. October is already ending, and there have been almost no frosts. The grass in the meadows is still green, and there are still a lot of leaves on the trees.
True, at night the voices of flying birds are no longer often heard. Only occasionally the rare calls of blackbirds can be heard in the dark sky. Most of the birds have already flown away for the winter. The storks went to southern Africa back in August, and the swallows also flew there later. A few woodcocks still fly out at night to feed on worms in the meadows and pastures. Some of them will last until early November, until frost hits and snow falls. 
Some woodcocks have already reached their wintering grounds, located mainly in the coastal regions of the Mediterranean and on the foggy shores of Great Britain. A significant part of the birds we meet winter in the west and southwest of Europe, but in general their winter habitats extend much further to the south and east. Our teals can be found both in the waters of Great Britain and France, as well as in India. Blackbirds, familiar to many from encounters in summer cottages, winter throughout the Mediterranean - from the Greek islands scattered across the Aegean Sea to the azure coast of the Iberian Peninsula.
However, not all birds leave us in anticipation of a long and harsh winter. Some of them have adapted to existence in such unfavorable conditions. They have to switch to other foods, fight the cold and improve their ability to move on snow and ice.
The hazel grouse grows a fringe of horny scales on its toes, allowing it to hold onto the icy branches of trees and shrubs. The partridge's toes are covered with feathers, so it easily runs on loose snow. The lynx moves with the same ease (Fig. 1). Its wide paws allow the rather large animal to cover considerable distances in search of prey and easily evade the pursuit of enemies.
If birds can easily change their places of stay, flying hundreds and thousands of kilometers, then animals in most cases are forced to remain in a limited area throughout their entire lives.
Although they are also characterized by significant migrations. Sometimes the length of migration routes can reach several hundred kilometers, but in the vast majority of cases the distances are not so impressive. There are also very unique ways to survive the winter. We are talking about a bear and a badger. All winter they sleep in a den or hole. The raccoon dog also falls asleep, but during the thaw it can leave the shelter, and with cold weather it returns to it and again indulges in deep sleep.
It is more difficult for animals that, thanks to humans, have penetrated far to the north. In harsh, snowy winters, wild boars often die. Their existence in our country largely depends on the person. When the soil freezes deeply, natural food becomes unavailable, and deep snow makes it difficult for animals to move. Therefore, wild boars like to stay in forests bordering fields, where they can profit from the remaining potato tubers, unharvested ears of barley or oats. They also visit garbage dumps, where they pick up everything edible. In more southern regions, their existence is not so difficult, because the winter there is not so severe, and the diet is much richer. There are often good harvests of acorns in oak forests. Not only wild boars feed on them, but also mice, squirrels, jays, nuthatches and many others. Wild boars will not miss the opportunity to eat fallen apples, pears and other fruits. And there is much more food in the soil here than in the northern regions of their vast range.
In autumn, in our suburban parks you can see jays scurrying around, actively taking away acorns. They are stocking up for the winter. It’s amazing how they then find them, digging them out from under the thick snow cover. However, they store not only acorns. They drag small potatoes and grain from the fields. All this will be useful to them in winter. Hoarding food is also characteristic of some tits, nuthatches and our other birds. Puffy tits - small tits with a black cap - busily search for pikulnik seeds and carry them to secluded places.
Birds store food throughout the year. You can observe their activities while feeding in a park or forest (Fig. 2-4). They insert grains and pieces of lard into cracks in trunks and branches, into niches formed in the place of fallen knots, or directly into the dense terminal shoots of pine trees. Reserves are most actively created in the fall, at which time tits switch mainly to collecting caterpillars, and in the spring, when spruce and pine seeds become available. In March, under the rays of the spring sun, spruce cones open, and in May, pine cones open.
Animals and birds that eat buds, catkins, and seeds of coniferous and deciduous trees and shrubs are most provided with food in winter. Already at the end of October, white partridges leave the raised bogs, where they spent the spring and summer, and move to clearings, the banks of rivers and lakes. Here they stay all winter, and feed almost exclusively on the buds and tips of young shoots of willows and birch. The hazel grouse has a similar diet. But he gives preference to the buds and catkins of gray alder and birch, and young shoots of blueberries, until they are hidden under the snow. During the years of the rowan harvest, he enjoys its fruits with pleasure. Previously, hunters caught it with nooses, and for bait they hung rowan tassels, prepared in advance for this purpose.
With the arrival of winter, black grouse feed almost exclusively on buds and birch branches. A flock of black grouse, nestled in the crowns of birches, gives the winter landscape an extraordinary picturesqueness. The largest representative of grouse birds is the capercaillie. In our country, it lives in pine forests located adjacent to raised bogs. All winter, wood grouse feed on pine needles, so they also do not lack food. But even with such a monotonous diet, there is still a choice. He does not feed on any tree, but gives preference to certain pines, the needles of which he somehow likes.
The situation is more complicated for birds that use the seeds of trees or herbaceous plants. The harvest does not happen every year, and the availability of grass seeds is largely determined by the depth of the snow cover. All winter long only the tall stems of burdock, thistle, nettle and wormwood stick out from under the snow. Goldfinches, linnets, siskins, redpolls and other species feed on them.
Pine and spruce play an important role in ensuring the existence of many animals and birds in the winter months. Abundant fruiting of spruce is observed approximately once every four years, but in pine it occurs more often. Great spotted woodpeckers feed on pine and spruce seeds throughout the winter. They begin to peck pine cones in the summer, but in winter they become their main source of food. The cones are processed in special “forges” (Fig. 5).
Shallow cracks or depressions in tree trunks can be used for these purposes, or woodpeckers specifically hollow them out. Sometimes up to several hundred cones processed by woodpeckers accumulate under the “forges”. It is difficult to say who owns the “forge”, since different individuals can work at one of them.
Seeds of spruce and pine are eaten and stored by marsh chickadees, puffy tits, tufted tits and Muscovites. These birds extract them from the opening cones, but the beak of crossbills is specially designed for extracting seeds from under tightly closed scales. In years of abundant spruce harvest, spruce crossbills begin nesting in February, so that the chicks emerge during the period when the cones open. The beak of young birds is fully formed by the end of the second month of their life, and only from this moment can they, like adults, open their cones.
From autumn to spring, squirrels feed on spruce and pine seeds. Numerous scales of cones and rods with the remains of several scales on their tops remain at the feeding sites of this animal. The cones dropped to the ground by birds and squirrels are subsequently used by the squirrel itself and the mice. The cones lying on the ground do not open, but seem to be preserved. They form a reserve and will be used when the cones on the trees run out. When there is a lack of seed food, squirrels bite off the terminal shoots of spruce and eat the buds. For both the squirrel and the great spotted woodpecker, eating spruce seeds is more profitable than pine seeds. They spend less effort and time processing spruce cones. And an animal sitting in the dense branches of a spruce tree is less noticeable than in the transparent crown of a pine tree. Hunting a squirrel in a spruce forest is much more difficult for both predators and humans.
If the Great Spotted Woodpecker in winter feeds almost exclusively on the seeds of coniferous trees, then other woodpeckers remain fans of animal food even during this period of the year. White-backed and three-toed woodpeckers obtain their food from under the bark of trees heavily infested with bark beetles. The Lesser Spotted Woodpecker searches for food mainly along the banks of rivers and lakes, where it examines not only trees, but also extracts wintering insects from the stems of reeds, umbrellas and other herbaceous plants that have fairly thick and tall stems. But the largest of our woodpeckers - the yellow woodpecker, or black woodpecker, as befits a large bird, does not waste time on trifles. Just one glance at the traces of his activities is enough to appreciate its grandeur. Its beak is so adapted to chiseling that a layer of hard wood of several centimeters is not a hindrance for it if the long-awaited prey is hidden under it (Fig. 6). Sometimes, in search of food, it completely destroys huge stumps, and rotten trunks of gray alders fall under the blows of its beak.
With the onset of autumn, great tits, jays, and crows rush to human habitation. It is easier for them to feed themselves here than in the snowy forest. For some individuals of these bird species, the summer and winter habitats are separated by several kilometers, while for others it is several hundred kilometers. By November, crows gather in winter flocks. They are attached to certain feeding places. The largest flocks are kept in landfills, meat processing plants, and cowsheds. Their composition is not constant - during the winter, crows can move to other flocks. Everything is determined by the specific conditions prevailing in one place or another. As a rule, adult individuals are characterized by attachment to both wintering and nesting sites. Young ones are in most cases more mobile, and attachment arises only after the first nesting. But there are exceptions to this rule. How active crows are can be judged by encounters of ringed birds. For many years they were caught and tagged at the Leningrad Zoo. Ringed E.V. Shutenko and his assistants met crows during the winter near the airport, in Strelna and other suburbs, moving up to 20 km from the place of capture. In March they begin to leave their wintering areas and scatter quite widely. They were celebrated throughout the Leningrad region, as well as in Karelia, Vologda and Arkhangelsk regions.
An interesting observation was made on the shores of Lake Ladoga, far from human habitation. One autumn day, a flock of three tree sparrows stopped in an abandoned village. These birds were caught and banded. Here they stayed on bait for quite a long time, but in the middle of winter they suddenly disappeared. In January, a new person came to the village and noticed that the sparrows had no rings. Surprisingly, the disappeared trinity was also replaced by three individuals. What made the sparrows take the flight in the middle of winter, since the nearest housing was 20 kilometers away, and they were separated by vast expanses of swamps and forests?
The unpredictability of living conditions in winter forces animals to quickly respond to changes in the situation. They adapt to new conditions quite quickly, often surprising us with their intelligence. Thus, gray crows have successfully mastered ice fishing. As soon as the fisherman moves away from the hole for a while, a crow immediately appears and quickly pulls out the fishing line. In the lean year of 1968, a female Great Spotted Woodpecker stayed for a long time near the Military Medical Academy. She checked the grocery bags hanging out the windows. This source provided her with a comfortable existence. In England, great tits quickly learned to recognize bottles of cream by the color of their caps and open them.
Who spends the winter how?
Who winters like this: educational stories in pictures and tasks for children of preschool and primary school age.
In this article, children will get acquainted with the life of nature in winter and find out who spends the winter how:
In winter, many wild animals sleep - hibernate. During hibernation, they do not eat anything, do not grow, and do not respond to sounds.
Before hibernation in the fall, animals accumulate fat. Fat helps them maintain body temperature during long hibernation - it “warms” them from the inside like a stove.
Most of all, animals suffer in winter not from cold, but from hunger. It is food that animals need to maintain a constant body temperature and not die.
Believe it if you want. Or don't believe it.
There is an elk animal in the forest.
Like hangers of horns,
Very formidable for the enemy.
Noise in the forest. What happened there?
Then a huge one runs...( Elk).
Elk- This is a forest giant, and he needs a lot of food. In winter, moose live together, gnaw the bark of trees, rubbing it with powerful and strong teeth. Moose love the bark of young aspen trees. They also eat the shoots of young pine trees; for them these shoots are like medicine.
Moose rest in winter, buried in the snow, in snow pits. In a snowstorm, moose gather in a herd and go to a secluded place, hide on the ground - climb under a snow coat. Snow falls on top of them, sometimes covering the elk almost completely. It turns out to be a warm snow blanket.
The last month of winter - February - is a difficult time for moose. A crust appears in the forest - a crust on the snow. Moose fall through the snow, cut their legs with infusion, and cannot run fast. Wolves take advantage of this. Moose defend themselves from wolves with their antlers and hooves.
Ask the children who is easier to run in the snow - a mouse or a moose? Why? Read the dialogue between the moose and the mouse, the moose and the magpie from the stories of E. Shim. These dialogues can be acted out in a toy theater or in a picture theater.
- Why are you out of breath, moose?
“It’s hard for me to run, I’m falling into the snow...
- Fi, how clumsy you moose are! They've grown so big, but you can't run properly.
- Why?
“Just judge for yourself: you are running light, empty, and failing at every step.” And I run with heavy weight, carrying a whole nut in my teeth, and not a single paw gets stuck. I would like to learn!
Moose: - No luck, no luck!
Magpie: - Why are you unlucky, Elk?
“I thought I’d pile up the snow higher in the forest, I’d reach the pine trees and bite the tops of their heads...”
- And the snow was piled high!
- What's the point if I fall into it?!
There is a wonderful the tale of the moose V. Zotova. Listen to it with your children. You will also find this fairy tale and other tales about animals for children in our VKontakte group “Child development from birth to school” (see audio recordings of the group, album “Forest ABC”)
Ask your child what he thinks is a moose afraid of someone? After all, the elk is a “forest giant”? Probably, on the contrary, everyone in the forest is afraid of him? And read the story about the moose and their winter enemy - the wolf, the story about how the boy Mitya helped the moose escape from the wolves in winter.
In winter, in the December cold, a moose cow and her calf spent the night in a dense aspen forest. It's starting to get light. The sky turned pink, and the forest, covered with snow, stood all white, silent. Fine shiny frost settled on the branches and on the backs of the moose. The moose were dozing.
Suddenly, somewhere very close, the crunch of snow was heard. The moose became wary. Something gray flashed among the snow-covered trees. One moment - and the moose were already rushing away, breaking the icy crust of the crust and getting stuck knee-deep in deep snow. The wolves were chasing them. They were lighter than moose and galloped across the crust without falling through. With every second the animals are getting closer and closer.
The moose could no longer run. The elk calf stayed close to its mother. A little more - and the gray robbers will catch up and tear both of them apart.
Ahead is a clearing, a fence near the forest guardhouse, and a wide open gate.
The moose stopped: where to go? But behind, very close, the crunch of snow was heard - the wolves were overtaking. Then the moose cow, having gathered the rest of her strength, rushed straight into the gate, the elk calf followed her.
The forester's son Mitya was shoveling snow in the yard. He barely jumped to the side - the moose almost knocked him down.
Moose!.. What's wrong with them, where are they from?
Mitya ran up to the gate and involuntarily stepped back: there were wolves at the very gate.
A shiver ran down the boy’s back, but he immediately swung his shovel and shouted:
- Here I am!
The animals scurried away.
“Atu, atu!” Mitya shouted after them, jumping out of the gate.
Having driven away the wolves, the boy looked into the yard.
A moose cow and a calf stood huddled in the far corner of the barn.
“Look, they were so scared, they’re all trembling...” Mitya said affectionately. “Don’t be afraid.” Now it won't be touched.
And he, carefully moving away from the gate, ran home - to tell what guests had rushed into their yard.
And the moose stood in the yard, recovered from their fright and went back into the forest. Since then, they stayed in the forest near the lodge all winter.
In the morning, walking on the way to school, Mitya often saw moose from afar on the forest edge.
Having noticed the boy, they did not rush away, but only watched him carefully, pricking up their huge ears.
Mitya cheerfully nodded his head at them, like old friends, and ran further into the village.
Heavy vehicles loaded with logs are walking along the winter road one after another. An elk ran out of the forest.
Boldly runs across a wide, well-worn road.
The driver stopped the car and admired the strong, beautiful elk.
There are many moose in our forests. Whole herds of them wander through snow-covered swamps, hiding in bushes and large forests.
People don’t touch or harm moose.
Only hungry wolves sometimes decide to attack moose. Strong moose use their horns and hooves to defend themselves from evil wolves.
Moose in the forest are not afraid of anyone. They boldly wander through forest clearings, cross wide clearings and well-worn roads, and often come close to villages and noisy cities.
Of all the animals that live in our Russian forests, the largest and most powerful animal is the elk. There is something antediluvian, ancient in the appearance of this large beast. Who knows - perhaps moose roamed the forests back in those distant times when long-extinct mammoths lived on the earth. It is difficult to see a moose standing motionless in the forest - the color of its brown fur blends in with the color of the tree trunks surrounding it.
In pre-revolutionary times, moose in our country were destroyed almost completely. Only in very few, most remote places, these rare animals survived. Under Soviet rule, moose hunting was strictly prohibited. Over the decades of the ban, moose have multiplied almost everywhere. Now they fearlessly approach crowded villages and noisy big cities.
Quite recently, in the center of Leningrad, on Kamenny Island, children going to school in the morning saw two moose wandering under the trees. Apparently, these moose wandered into the city during a quiet night and got lost on the city streets.
Near cities and villages, moose feel safer than in remote places where they are pursued by hunters and poachers. They are not afraid to cross wide asphalt roads along which trucks and cars move in a continuous stream. They often stop right next to the road, and people passing in cars can freely observe them.
Elk is a very strong, watchful and intelligent animal. Captured moose quickly become accustomed to people. In winter, they can be harnessed to a sleigh, just as domestic reindeer are harnessed in the north.
I have often encountered moose in the forest. Hiding behind the shelter, I admired the beauty of the strong animals, their light movements, and the branchy, spreading antlers of the males. Every year, male moose replace their heavy, branching antlers. Shedding old antlers, they rub against the trunks and branches of trees. People often find shed elk antlers in the forest. Every year, an extra shoot is added to the antlers of a male elk, and by the number of shoots you can tell the age of the elk.
Moose love water and often swim across wide rivers. You can catch moose crossing the river in a light boat. Their hook-nosed heads and wide branched horns are visible above the water. Wandering with a gun and a dog through a forest clearing near the Kama River, one day I saw a moose “taking a bath” in a small open swamp. Apparently, the elk was fleeing from the evil gadflies and horse flies that besieged it. I came close to a moose standing in the swamp water, but my gun dog jumped out of the bushes and scared him. The elk came out of the swamp and slowly disappeared into the dense forest.
The most amazing thing is that they are heavy moose They can cross the swampiest swamps, where a person cannot walk. For me, this serves as proof that moose lived back in those ancient times when the glaciers that covered the earth retreated, leaving behind vast swampy swamps.
In winter, it is difficult for wild boars; it is very difficult for them to walk through deep snow. If you need to walk through the snow, the wild boars walk in single file, one after another. The strongest boar goes first. He paves the way for everyone, and everyone else follows him.
It is especially difficult for a wild boar to walk on crusty crust. The wild boar falls under the crust and cuts its legs with the sharp ice.
At night, wild boars warm themselves in shelters in winter, lying on branches and leaves. If it’s very cold, they lie close to each other and warm each other.
Boars They never bury themselves in the snow, they don’t like it. On the contrary, they try to cover the snow with something - they drag branches under the tree or lie on the reeds.
Wild boars feed during the winter during the day. They eat twigs, dig out acorns, nuts, and grass from under the snow.
If there is no snow, the wild boars are free! They dig up rhizomes and bulbs from the ground, dig into the ground with their snouts, and get beetles, worms, and pupae.
Over the winter, the boar loses a third of its weight! By spring, only “skin and bones” remain.
Listen to how the boar and the hare talked in the last month of winter.
Hare: - Oh, Boar, you don’t look like yourself! How skinny - just stubble down to the bone... Do such pigs exist?
Boar: “Wild oink-oinks... and there are not like that... It’s bad for us, Hare... The ground is covered with an icy crust, neither a fang nor a snout can take it.” You can’t dig anything these days, you can’t fill your belly with anything... I’m surprised how my legs still walk. One consolation: even a wolf wouldn’t set his sights on someone so skinny and scary...
- Oh, oh, you’re completely naked, Pig! The bristles are sparse and even stiff. How are you going to spend the winter?
- How thin you are, Little Fox! One spine, skin and bones. How are you going to spend the winter?
- My fur is thick, my fur coat is warm - I won’t freeze!
- Do you think it’s worse for me? I have fat under my skin. Fat warms you better than any fur coat!
- Come on, Moose, scratch my side! Tighten up!
- Whoosh, whoosh!.. Well, how?
- Weak. Come on tighter!
- Whoosh, whoosh!.. Well, how?
- I say, be stronger!
- Shuh!!! Whoosh!! Shuh!!. F-f-u-u, is it really weak?
- Of course, weakly. It’s a shame, you understand: I’ve accumulated two inches of fat, and under this fat I’m actually itching!
This is a wild pig - boar.
He wanders through the forests, grunting. Picks up oak acorns. It digs in the ground with its long snout. With its crooked fangs it tears out the roots, turns them upside down - looking for something to eat.
It’s not for nothing that a boar is called a cleaver. He will cut down a tree with his fangs, as if with an ax; he will kill a wolf with his fangs, as if he would cut down a saber. Even the bear himself is afraid of him.
Guess the riddle: “Who wanders around angry and hungry in the cold winter?” Of course it's a wolf! A wolf wanders through the forest in winter, looking for prey.
Wolves are cunning predators and very dangerous for both animals and humans. Wolves see perfectly even in the dark and hear perfectly.
In winter, the wolf almost always goes hungry; he cannot run quickly through the loose snow. But he runs on the crust very quickly! Then you can't run away from the wolf!
You've probably heard the saying “the feet feed the wolf.” This is true. The wolf runs very long distances to find food. They hunt moose, hares, partridges, and black grouse. Yes, even for moose! If the elk stands, the wolf does not rush at him. But if the elk runs, then the wolf pack can overcome it. Hungry wolves even attack dogs and people in winter.
In winter, wolves grow a thick, warm winter “coat,” and their fur becomes warmer. Wolves live in packs in winter: a wolf, a she-wolf and their grown wolf cubs.
This is what happened to a wolf in the forest one day in winter.
Fairy tale “According to Zaichishkin’s advice, Volchische went on a diet: Gray meat, no, no, no, even on holidays.” You can read this tale and other tales about animals in the book “Why. Because” (authors: G. A. Yurmin, A. K. Dietrich).
“The stupid Wolf caught the wise Hare and rejoiced:
- Yeah, gotcha, oblique! Now I'll kill the worm...
“Y-y-that’s right, I got it,” the Hare shakes. “But, on the other hand, you yourself, Wolf, say: you’ll only kill the worm.” Well, if you devour me, your appetite will increase even more... Why would such an attack be made on you, on the Wolf: everyone in the forest is well-fed, you alone are always hungry. Think about it!
The Wolf's gray forehead frowned. Really, why? And says:
- Since you, Hare, are so wise, so smart - reasonable, advise: what should I do, how can I help?
“And you take others as an example,” the hare answers without hesitation. - Take the black grouse, let me show you.
- Look, you cunning one! I'm daydreaming! Perhaps you want to sneak away on the way? What more?!
The Wolf tore the bast from the linden tree, twisted a rope, took the Hare on a leash, and off they went.
They see a black grouse sitting on a birch tree.
“Terenty, answer,” shouts the Hare. - Why are you full all winter?
- There’s food around – eat it, I don’t want it! That's why I'm full. As many kidneys as you like.
- Did you hear, Gray? ... You have all the meat on your mind, and Terenty is talking about birch buds in which green leaves sleep. There are plenty of them all around. Bend a birch tree and taste it, don’t be shy.
The Wolf did as the Hare ordered and spit:
- Ugh, disgusting! No, scythe, I’d rather eat you!
- Do not rush! - the Hare oppresses his. And he dragged the Wolf to the Elk, the giant.
- Uncle Sokhaty! - shouts the Hare. - Tell me, is your life satisfying?\-
“I’ll chew the last twig and that’s it, it’s full, it won’t come any more.”
- Did you see it, Wolf? The elk has been gnawing aspen trees all his life in the winter, and how powerful he has become! That's how you would do it. Look how much aspen the moose tore up remains.
- Salmon? – the Wolf licked his lips. - That's for me.
He pounced on the treat, greedily clanked his teeth, but suddenly fell down - and well, roll around in the snow:
- Oh, I'm dying! Oops, my stomach hurts! Oh, bitterness is poison!!! Well, Hare!
You can act out the dialogues of the animals - how they treated the wolf - in a picture theater or a finger theater.
- Moose, moose, I'll eat you!
- And I’m from you, Wolf, in pure love, and that’s what I was!
- Hare, hare, I will eat you!
- And I left you, Wolf, in the clear bushes, and was like that!
- Ryabchik, Ryabchik, I will eat you!
- And I left you, Wolf, on a tall tree, and I was like that!
- What should I do, my dears? What to fill your belly with?
- Gnaw your sides, Wolf!
- Mom, why do we wolves howl at the moon?
“And because, son, the moon is the wolf’s sun.”
- I don’t understand something!
- Well, of course... Daytime animals and birds love white light, they sing and rejoice in the sun. And we, wolves, are nocturnal miners; darkness is more capable of us. So we sing under the moon, under the pale night sun...
When a wolf walks at a walk or a jog (trot), he carefully steps with his right hind paw in the footprint of his front left paw, so his tracks lie in a straight line, like a string, in one line. You look at this line and read: “A huge wolf passed here.”
But you'll end up in trouble. It would be correct to read: “five wolves passed here,” because here a seasoned and wise she-wolf walked in front, followed by an old wolf and behind them the wolf cubs.
They followed the trail until it never occurred to them that this was the trail of five wolves. This can only be distinguished by very experienced trackers on the white trail (as hunters call tracks in the snow).
- Hey, Wolf, why are you so gloomy?
- From hunger.
- And the ribs stick out, stick out?
- From hunger.
- Why are you howling?
- From hunger.
- So talk to you! He got along like a magpie: from hunger, from hunger, from hunger! Why are you so taciturn these days?
- From hunger.
Beware, sheep in the stables, beware, pigs in the pigsties, beware, calves, foals, horses, cows! The robber wolf went hunting. You dogs, bark louder, scare the wolf!
And you, collective farm watchman, load your gun with a bullet!
The badger sleeps in winter, but not very soundly. He can wake up during a thaw, crawl out of the hole for a while, smooth and clean his fur and... go to sleep again. In its winter “pantry” the badger stores food for the winter - seeds, dried frogs, roots, acorns. And in the fall, he accumulates fat - he gorges himself. During hibernation, the badger does not eat anything. And the supplies in the “pantry” are needed during his short winter awakening.
- A-o-o-o-o-o-o...
- What's wrong with you, Badger?
- A-o-o-o-o-o-o...
—Aren’t you sick already?
- A-u-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o...
“Aren’t you already dying?!”
- A-u-s... Leave me alone, get off... I’m not dying, fefela... I’m not dying-a-u-o-s...
- What about you?
- The yawning has overcome. I wanted to sleep until then - I wouldn’t get out of the hole. Looks like I'll soon fall completely asleep... Until spring, I'll be on the side-oo-o-o-o-o-o-o!!.
- What, Bear, are you still sleeping?
- I'm sleeping, Badger, I'm sleeping. That’s it, brother, I’ve gotten into gear – it’s been five months without waking up. All sides rested.
- Or maybe, Bear, it’s time for us to get up?
- It's not time. Sleep some more.
- Won’t you and I sleep through the spring right away?
- Don't be afraid! She, brother, will wake you up.
“Will she knock on our door, sing a song, or maybe tickle our heels?” I, Misha, fear is hard to rise!
- Wow! You'll probably jump up! She, Borya, will give you a bucket of water under your sides - I bet you’ll lay low! Sleep while you're dry.
Bear in winter They sleep peacefully in their den, which is lined with pine needles, tree bark, and dry moss. If a bear has not gained a lot of fat in the fall, then he cannot sleep in his den for a long time and walks through the forest in search of food. Such a bear is very dangerous for everyone. It is called a "connecting rod".
Late winter at the bear's 2-3 cubs are born. They are born helpless, lying on their mother’s belly. She feeds them with thick milk, but does not eat herself. Only in the spring do the cubs leave the den.
At the onset of winter, insects hide deep in the soil, in rotten stumps, in the cracks of trees.
Some insects, without invitation, climb straight into an anthill to wait out the cold season. At this time, ants fall into torpor until spring.
Grasshoppers They hide eggs in the ground in the fall that will overwinter.
U cabbage butterflies pupae overwinter. In summer, the cabbage moth lays its eggs on cabbage. In the fall, caterpillars emerge from these eggs onto tree trunks, fences, walls, tie themselves with a thread and become... pupae! They hang like that until spring. And the rain drips on them, and the blizzard pours snow. Spring will come and young butterflies will emerge from their pupae.
Butterflies – urticaria, mourning butterfly, lemongrass winter as adults. They hide in the bark of trees, in hollows, in sheds, in cracks in attics. They will appear again in the spring.
For the winter, mosquitoes hid in various cracks and old hollows. They winter next to us too. They will climb into the basement or cellar, a lot of them will gather there in the corner. Mosquitoes cling to the ceiling and walls with their long varnishes and sleep all winter.
- All the animals hid in holes from the cold, all the birds were barely alive from hunger. You alone, Crow, cawed at the top of your lungs!
- Or maybe I’m the worst of all?! Maybe it’s me shouting “karraul”!
By evening the stars began to shine, the frost crunched at night, and in the morning the first snow fell on the ground.
The forest inhabitants greeted him differently. The old animals and birds shivered and remembered the last cold winter. And the young people were terribly surprised because they had never seen snow.
Young on the birch Grouse sat, swaying on a thin branch. He sees furry snowflakes falling from the sky.
“What kind of fluff?” muttered Teterev. “White flies fly, circle above the ground, don’t hum, don’t buzz, don’t bite.”
- No, darling, these are not flies! - said old Grouse
-Who is this?
- These are ours covers flying.
- What kind of covers are these?
“They will cover the earth,” answers old Teterev, “it will make a warm blanket.” We will dive under this blanket at night, we will be warm and cozy...
- Look, you! - Young Teterev rejoiced. “I’d better try to see if he sleeps well under the covers!”
And he began to wait for the duvet to spread out on the ground.
Under the birches, in a bush, young Zaychishko whiled away the day. He dozed off with half his eyes, and listened with half an ear. Suddenly he notices furry snowflakes descending from the sky.
- Here you go! - Zaichishko was surprised. “The dandelions have long since faded, they have long since flown around and dispersed, and then look: a whole cloud of dandelion fluff is flying!”
- Stupid, is this flower fluff? - said the old hare.
- What is this?
- These are ours funerals flying.
- What kind of funerals?
“The very ones who will bury you from your enemies, protect you from evil eyes.” Your fur coat has faded and turned white. You can immediately see it on the black earth! And when the burials fall to the ground, everything will become white and white, no one will see you. You will begin to walk invisible.
- Wow, how interesting! - shouted the Bunny. - Hurry up and try how the choir girls are hiding me!
In the forest, along a bare aspen grove, a young man was running Little wolf. He ran, looked around with his eyes, looking for food. Suddenly he looks and sees light snowflakes falling from the sky.
- Ay-ay! - said the Little Wolf. - How do geese-swans fly into the sky, dropping fluff and feathers?
- What are you talking about, is this just fluff and feathers! - the old Wolf laughed.
- What is this?
- This, grandson, is ours. showing off flying.
- I don’t know any show!
- You'll find out soon. They will lie flat and even, covering the entire earth. And they will immediately begin to show where the birds roamed, where which animal galloped. We'll look at the displays - and we'll immediately find out what time
run to the side for the prey...
- Clever! - The Wolf Cub was delighted. “I want to quickly see where my prey ran to!”
As soon as the young animals and birds found out that it was falling from the sky, they just became acquainted with the first snow, when a warm breeze began to blow.
Here the coverings, burials, and displays melted away.
Do you know where crayfish overwinter? Read V. Bianchi's fairy tale to the children and find out :).
What does the expression “where crayfish spend the winter” mean?
A expression “where crayfish spend the winter” appeared a long time ago. The landowners were very fond of eating crayfish, and it was difficult to catch them in winter. After all, in winter, crayfish hide and spend the winter there. In winter, guilty peasants were sent to catch crayfish. Serfs caught crayfish in cold water - it was very hard work. They often fell ill after catching crayfish in the winter. After that they began to say: “I’ll show you where the crayfish spend the winter.” And “where crayfish spend the winter” is said in another case - about something very distant, that is located far away, no one knows where.
In the kitchen there was a flat basket on a stool, a saucepan on the stove, and a large white dish on the table. There were crayfish in the basket, there was boiling water with dill and salt in the pan, but there was nothing on the dish.
The hostess came in and began:
once - she lowered her hand into the basket and grabbed the crayfish across the back;
two - threw the crayfish into the pan, waited until it was cooked, and -
three - spooned the crayfish from the pan onto a dish. And it went, and it went!
Once - a black crayfish, grabbed across the back, angrily moved its mustache, opened its claws and flicked its tail;
two - the crayfish was dipped in boiling water, stopped moving and turned red;
three - the red crayfish lay on the dish, lay motionless, and steam came from it.
One-two-three, one-two-three - there were fewer and fewer black crayfish left in the basket, the boiling water in the pan was boiling and gurgling, and a mountain of red crayfish was growing on a white dish.
And now there is one last crayfish left in the basket.
Once - and the mistress grabbed him across the back.
At this time they shouted something to her from the dining room.
- I’m bringing it, I’m bringing it, - the last one! - the hostess answered - I was confused:
two - I threw the black crayfish onto the dish, waited a little, picked up the red crayfish from the dish with a spoon and
three - put it in boiling water.
The red crayfish didn’t care where to lie - in a hot pan or on a cool dish. The black crayfish didn’t want to go into the pan at all; He didn’t want to lie on the platter either. More than anything in the world, he wanted to go where the crayfish spend the winter. And - without hesitation for a long time - he began his journey: backwards, backwards to the backyard.
He came across a mountain of motionless red crayfish and hid under them.
The hostess decorated the dish with dill and served it on the table.
The white dish with red crayfish and green dill was beautiful. The crayfish were delicious. The guests were hungry. The hostess was busy. And no one noticed how the black crayfish rolled from the dish onto the table and crawled backwards, backwards under the plate, backwards, backwards and reached the very edge of the table.
And under the table there was a kitten sitting and waiting to see if he would get something from the master’s table.
Suddenly - bang! — someone black and mustachioed cracked in front of him.
The kitten didn’t know it was a cancer, he thought it was a big black cockroach, and pushed it with his nose.
Cancer backed away.
The kitten touched him with his paw.
The cancer raised its claw.
The kitten decided that it was not worth dealing with him, turned around and smeared him with its tail.
And grab the cancer! - and pinched the tip of his tail with his claw.
What happened to the kitten? Meow! - He jumped onto the chair. Meow! - from chair to table. Meow! - from the table to the windowsill. Meow! - and jumped out into the yard.
- Hold it, hold it, you madman! - the guests shouted.
But the kitten rushed like a whirlwind across the yard, flew up onto the fence, and rushed across the garden. There was a pond in the garden, and the kitten would probably have fallen into the water if the cancer had not unclenched its claws and let go of its tail.
The kitten turned back and galloped home.
The pond was small, all overgrown with grass and mud. Lazy tailed newts, crucian carp, and snails lived in it. Their life was boring - everything was always the same. Newts swam up and down, crucian carp swam back and forth, snails crawled on the grass - one day it crawls up, the next day it goes down.
Suddenly the water splashed, and someone’s black body, blowing bubbles, sank to the bottom.
Now everyone gathered to look at him - newts swam, crucians came running, snails crawled down.
And it’s true, there was something to look at: the black one was covered in armor - from the tips of the mustache to the tip of the tail. Smooth armor covered his chest and back. From under the hard visor, two motionless eyes protruded on thin stalks. Long straight mustaches stuck out forward like peaks. Four pairs of thin legs were like forks, two claws were like two toothy mouths.
None of the pond residents had ever seen a crayfish in their lives, and everyone climbed closer to it out of curiosity. The cancer moved - everyone got scared and moved away. The cancer raised its front leg, grabbed its eye with a fork, pulled out the stem and started cleaning it.
It was so surprising that everyone again climbed onto the crayfish, and one crucian carp even stumbled upon his mustache.
Raz! - the crayfish grabbed him with its claw, and the stupid crucian carp flew in half.
The fish and crucian carp became alarmed and ran away in all directions. And the hungry cancer calmly began to eat.
The cancer in the pond healed well. All day long he rested in the mud. He wandered around at night, felt the bottom and grass with his mustache, and grabbed slow-moving snails with his claws.
The newts and crucians were now afraid of him and would not let him get close to them. Yes, snails were enough for him: he ate them along with the houses, and his shell only became stronger from such food.
But the water in the pond was rotten and musty. And he was still drawn to where the crayfish spend the winter.
One evening it started to rain. It rained all night, and by morning the water in the pond rose and overflowed its banks. The stream picked up the crayfish and carried it out of the pond, poked it into some stump, picked it up again and threw it into the ditch.
The cancer was delighted, straightened its wide tail, clapped it in the water and swam backwards and backwards, as if crawling.
But the rain stopped, the ditch became shallow - it became uncomfortable to swim. The cancer has crawled.
He crawled for a long time. He rested during the day and set off again at night. The first ditch turned into the second, the second into the third, the third into the fourth, and he still backed away, crawled, crawled - and still could not crawl anywhere, get out of a hundred ditches.
On the tenth day of the journey, he climbed, hungry, under some snag and began to wait to see if a snail would crawl past, if a fish or frog would swim by.
So he sits under a snag and hears: boo-dah! Something heavy fell from the bank into the ditch.
And he sees a cancer: a big-faced animal with a mustache, short legs, and the size of a kitten is swimming towards him.
At another time, the crayfish would have been scared and backed away from such a beast. But hunger is not an issue. You need something to fill your belly.
He let the beast's crab pass by and grab its thick, hairy tail with its claw. I thought it would cut it off like with scissors.
But that was not the case. The beast - and it was a water rat - suddenly exploded - and the crayfish flew out from under the snag, lighter than a bird.
The rat threw its tail in the other direction - crack! — and the crayfish’s claw broke in half.
I found some seaweed and ate it. Then I fell into the mud. Cancer stuck his fork-like paws into it and let’s fumble with them. The left hind paw felt and grabbed a worm in the mud. From paw to paw, from paw to paw, from paw to paw - and sent the worm cancer into his mouth.
The journey through the ditches had already lasted a whole month, it was already the month of September, when the cancer suddenly felt bad, so bad that it could not crawl any further; and he began to stir up and dig in the sand on the shore with his tail.
He had only just dug a hole in the sand when he began to writhe.
The cancer was molting. He fell on his back, his tail either unclenched or contracted, his whiskers twitched. Then he immediately stretched out - his shell burst on his stomach - and a pinkish-brown body climbed out of him. Then the crayfish twitched its tail strongly and jumped out of itself. A dead mustachioed shell fell out of the cave. It was empty and light. A strong current dragged him along the bottom, lifted him, and carried him away.
And in the clay cave there remained a living crayfish - so soft and helpless now that a snail could pierce it with its delicate horns.
Day after day passed, and he still lay motionless. Little by little his body began to harden, again becoming covered with a hard shell. Only now the shell was no longer black, but red-brown.
And here’s a miracle: the claw torn off by the rat quickly began to grow back.
The crayfish crawled out of its hole and, with renewed vigor, set off on its journey to where crayfish spend the winter.
From ditch to ditch, from stream to stream, a patient crab crawled. His shell was turning black. The days became shorter, it rained, light golden shuttles floated on the water - leaves flying from the trees. At night the water twitched with fragile ice.
The stream flowed into the stream, the stream ran to the river.
The patient crayfish swam and swam along the streams - and finally found itself in a wide river with clay banks.
In the steep banks under water, several floors high, there are caves, caves, caves - like swallows’ nests above the water, in a cliff. And from every cave the crayfish looks, moves its mustache, threatens with its claw.
A whole crab city.
The traveler crab was delighted. I found a free place on the shore and dug myself a cozy, cozy hole-cave. He ate more and lay down to spend the winter, like a bear in a den.
