Central European forests are the habitat of many species of plants and animals. Birds are an important element of the forest ecosystem, playing an important role in its functioning. Their singing fills the surroundings, and the multiplicity of colors and shades of feathers arouses our admiration. And the closer look we take at them, the more admiration we feel. Burton, allies of foresters and forest protection.  Birds the most insects in the breeding season. Then adults, besides satisfying their own needs, feed the chicks that need high protein food for rapid growth. The life of the forest. Birds. The forest is an environment that shapes living conditions for many organisms, including mushrooms, plants and animals. Plants in the forest form a special vertical arrangement divided into four distinct layers. Soil covered with duff ground cover, undergrowth and crowns of tall trees. Each of these layers is the place of life for some birds. These birds can be observed in the forest throughout the year, regardless of the time of day and weather conditions.

Their distribution, number, and species composition in particular parts of the forest depend, among others, on the abundance of food, habitat, preferences of individual species, as well as the season of the year.


In Polish forests there are and usually nest about 130 species of birds. They can be divided due to the location of their nests. Some build nests directly on the ground, others in shrubs, ascends tree crowns or in hollows. There are also species that are flexible enough to use several types of nests, as is the case with a robin or a common blackbird. Trees are the main place for food acquisition for many species of birds. Invertebrates, seeds and fruits can be found there. Certain species, such as Orioles, gold crests, coal tits or red cross bills, are mainly found in the crowns of tall trees where they feed and find a place to build a nest. However, not all of them nests so high. There are also species that find the best conditions for nest construction in the forest layer. For example, all Polish forms nest in wind, fallen trees and depressions of the area under the cover of low bushes and young trees. The capercaillie is the largest member of the grouse family in Europe.


It lives in big, old and not very dense woods, with rich duff and undergrowth and moderately tight tree tops. It chooses secluded places for its breeding site, but where the forests are not very dense and the undergrowth is dominated by low vegetation, not limiting visibility. The courtship ritual of capercaillie lasts from March until May, and takes place both on trees and on the ground. The mating song consists of four consecutive parts that form a coherent whole flapping, trilling, corking, and grinding. After the courtship, ritual and copulation which occurs on the ground, the female leaves the mating arena and, in hiding in the depression of the terrain, builds a nest in dense undergrowth. It lays 4 to 12 cream beige eggs with gray and brown spots. After about 24 to 26 days, the chicks hatch, which immediately after drying are taken by their mother from the nest. Help the young grow fast, feeding on insects, mainly ants and their larvae. Capercaillie are in Poland threatened with extinction. The main dangers for these birds are unfavorable changes taking place in their environment, an increase in the number of natural enemies, adverse habitat changes in refuges, and the disturbance by people.


Currently in the natural habitats of capacities. A number of forestry and breeding activities are carried out, aimed at improvement of their living conditions, increase of their number and making them return to some formerly occupied areas. One of the birds willingly settling in dry, well. Sunlit edges of broad deciduous, coniferous or mixed forests with nearby overgrown clearings, young trees, forest, plantations and glades is a tree pipit. It is the only Polish pipit nesting in the forest. You can meet it across the country. It returns to the breeding grounds from the winter resort in the first half of April, and stays in Poland until November. It starts breeding in May and June, usually coming to two broods a year. The female of a tree pipit builds a nest in an open area, always directly on the ground, in a previously dug hole under the cover of a dangling clump of grass. It is well camouflaged and hidden from predators, which helps in upbringing of the young. Chicks of the ultra cool species hatch naked and blind.


They grow fast on an insect diet, constantly demanding food. During this period, the male helps a female to provide food. After two weeks of intensive feeding, the young leave the nest spreading around the area, but remain for some time under the care of adults. This is the characteristic behavior of birds breeding on Earth. If they remained in the nest, and in the event of a predators attack, they would be concentrated in one place. They would all be killed. In the damp, heavily shaded forests with rich ground cover on the ground, under the pile of leaves and broken, crumbling branches, we can find a nest built by a robin. It has the shape of a shallow bowl made of leaves and moss lined with hair, bristles and feathers. As with most singing birds, a robin can have three broods in the season, but usually it has two. The chicks remain in the nest for about two weeks. Above the layer of groundcover grow young trees and shrubs.