The Formation History, Lifestyle, and Importance of Falconiformes in the Azerbaijan Territory

Abstract

The bird fossils belonging to the upper part of the 4th period found in Lake Binagadi are of great importance for studying the history of Falconiformes in Azerbaijan. Thus, in the Middle Pleistocene period, the shore of the lake in today's Binagadi became shallow, the middle part - deeper, and covered with heavy fuel oil (oil layer). There were many such lakes on the Absheron peninsula and still exist. A bird passing by, coming to settle, and wanting to drink water, drowned while landing in an oil lake. These were mostly wetland birds. However, the predatory birds that wanted to hunt these birds and feed on the dead birds fell into that oil trap and perished. To date, 106 species of bird fossils have been found in Binagadi excavations, including 64 species of wetland birds and 25 species of predatory birds [1, p.26]. Although the life of the predatory birds is not related to the water environment, they were involved in these areas by the wetland birds they feed on and the predatory mammals falling into the lake and dying. Such predatory birds include both scavenger species and bird-feeding ornithophagous species.
The fossils of predatory birds living in the Azikh cave in the Middle Pleistocene, Eagle (Aquila sp), falcon (F. vespertinus L.), common kestrel (F. tinnunculus L.), field hawk (F. naumanni F.), black vulture (A. monochus L.), forest buzzard (B. buteo L.), Mediterranean falcon (F. biarmicus Temm.), bearded vulture (F. ossetions Bur.) and the white-tailed sea eagle (H. albicilla L.) were found.
Thus, bird fossils found in Binagadi Lake and Azikh Cave confirm the spread of predatory birds in the territory of Azerbaijan in the Middle Pliocene period [2, p.39]. It is no coincidence that up to 10 species of predatory birds (black, white-headed vulture, kestrel, buzzard, golden eagle, etc.) live in the Gobustan area around Absheron (Umbaki, Garagush mountain, Gargabazar mountain, etc.) and migrate from this area. So, these areas have been one of the habitats of predatory birds since ancient times.