The Internet was filled with photographs and videos with the opening of primroses, in gardens and squares, but now the air was filled with the singing of birds returning after wintering. The gardens of the Russian Museum also meet their feathered guests. Who was especially distinguished by beautiful singing at this time? Well, of course, starlings, as well as blackbirds. A pair of these birds nests each year in the Summer Garden.

After them, flytraps, glories, and then nightingales will return to us. Nightingale singing can be heard during June, when they are looking for a mate on the fly. Last night, one nightingale liked the Summer Garden so much that it lingered and delighted us with its trills for the whole of July. It is known from history that in 1737 Empress Anna Ioannovna ordered to catch 50 nightingales in the Moscow, Pskov and Novgorod provinces, bring them “for good charity” to St. Petersburg and release them in the Third Summer Garden. And so that commoners did not catch them from the garden, by decree of April 17, 1738 it was forbidden to catch nightingales near the capital and throughout Ingermanland. The empress was naive! If subjects could forbid something, then by no decree it was impossible to keep nightingales. Most likely, all 150 birds successfully left the garden at the end of summer, and after wintering in the spring they scattered across their native provinces. This experience was probably taken into account. In any case, already in 1740, more than 60 nightingales were kept in cages in the Summer Garden.

Of course, now there are especially many in the gardens of hollow nests (sparrows, tits, starlings) and mountain thrushes. They are our assistants in the fight against spring plant pests. All of them are picking up places for nesting and have already begun to build their nests. Fieldbirds settle openly and collect dry blade of grass and thin twigs to create a reliable strong nest. Many birds that inhabit hollows on trees choose man-made artificial nests. Sparrows and starlings use a variety of materials – dry blades of grass, fluff, feathers. Tits begin building a cozy nest with laying on the bottom of the nesting soft bed of moss.
This year, our gardens were presented with 10 new breeches, which were made by students of the Kirovsky Restoration College under the guidance of Oleg Tolstokorov, the master of vocational training. Thanks to the children and their leader for the new bird houses protecting the gardens of the Russian Museum!

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