Cave breeder
Cave breeders are birds that build their nests in burrows. Depending on the species , either existing caves in hollow trees , rock crevices, wall holes and burrows are used (these species are then called secondary cave breeders , such as great tit or nuthatch) or specially created caves . Nevertheless, cave breeder is not an ornithologically systematizing term in the narrower, scientific sense .
If natural caves are not available or not available in sufficient numbers, some cave-breeder species can be given a suitable nesting opportunity by hanging up nesting boxes . These bird species include, among many others, almost all tit species , for example the great tit and blue tit , the nuthatch , the starling , house and tree sparrows , pied and collared flycatchers and the common redstart , which can also be found as so-called niche breeders . The wryneck is the only woodpecker that does not carve its nest hole into tree trunks itself.
More in Eurasia occurring cavity nesters are Merganser , Common Goldeneye , Barrow , shelduck , ruddy shelduck , Dove , Hoopoe , European Roller , bee-eaters , kingfishers , swifts , sand martins and several owl species , such as tawny owl , little owl , boreal owl and pygmy owl .
Similar to the birds, some state-forming insects of the order Hymenoptera are referred to as cave breeders, so-called "dark cave nisters". These are, for example, western honey bees , eastern honey bees , bumblebees , hornets , German wasps and common wasps .
See also
- Ground-nesting birds , free breeders , American breeders , crown breeder
- nesting box
- Nesting aid
- Bird protection