Why does an elk live in a coniferous forest. Daily activity and behavior of the moose. What do moose eat in the summer

Currently, these names are rarely used in everyday life.

Description

Appearance

A small bird with a length of 25-29 cm and a wingspan of 44-48 cm. Distinguished by its striped black and white wings and tail, long thin beak and long crest on its head, it is one of the most easily recognizable birds. The color of the head, neck and chest, depending on the subspecies, varies from pinkish to chestnut (ornithologist S. A. Buturlin describes it as "clay-reddish"). The wings are wide, rounded, painted with contrasting black and whitish-yellow stripes. The tail is of medium length, black with a wide white band in the middle. The ventral part of the body is pinkish-red, with blackish longitudinal stripes on the sides. The crest on the head is orange-red, with black tops of feathers. Usually the crest is complex and has a length of 5-10 cm, (depending on the size of the bird) however, when landing (rarely at other times), the bird dissolves it, usually 10-15 cm in height in a fan. Beak 4-5 cm long, slightly curved down. The tongue, unlike many other bird species, is highly reduced. The legs are lead-gray, rather strong, with short metatarsus and blunt claws. Males and females do not differ externally from each other. Juvenile birds are generally less saturated, have a shorter beak and crest.

Behavior

On the ground it moves quickly and nimbly, like starlings. In the event of a sudden alarm, when there is no way to escape, it can hide, clinging to the ground, spreading its wings and tail and lifting its beak up.
During the period of incubation and feeding of chicks, adult birds and chicks produce an oily liquid secreted from the coccygeal gland and having a sharp unpleasant odor. By releasing it along with the droppings on the alien, hoopoes try to protect themselves from medium-sized ground predators - as a result of such adaptation, in the eyes of a person, the bird has gained a reputation as a very “unclean” creature. The flight of the hoopoe is slow, fluttering like a butterfly. However, it is quite maneuverable, and raptors rarely manage to grab a hoopoe in the air.

Voice

Spreading

area

The hoopoe is an Old World bird. In Eurasia, it is distributed throughout from west to east, in its middle and southern parts. In the west and north of Europe, it practically does not nest in the British Isles (accidental flights to the south of England are known), the Benelux countries, Scandinavia, as well as in the highlands of the Alps, Apennines and Pyrenees. In Germany and the Baltic States, it is sporadically distributed. In the European part of Russia, it breeds south of the Gulf of Finland (southern Leningrad Oblast), Novgorod Oblast, Yaroslavl Oblast, Nizhny Novgorod Oblast, the Republics of Tatarstan and Bashkortostan. In Western Siberia it rises to 56°N. sh., reaching Tomsk and Achinsk. In Eastern Siberia, the range border skirts Lake Baikal from the north, passes through the Yuzhno-Muisky Range in Transbaikalia and drops to the 54th parallel in the Amur River basin. In continental Asia, outside of Russia, it lives almost everywhere, avoiding only deserts and areas of dense forest. Found in the Japanese Islands, Taiwan and Sri Lanka. In the southeast it reaches the southern part of the Malay Peninsula. Random flights to Sumatra and the island of Kalimantan are known. In Africa, the main range is located south of the Sahara, and also in the far north along the Mediterranean coast. In Madagascar, it lives in the western, more arid part. In the mountains, it usually occurs up to 2000 m above sea level, although in some cases it rises to 3100 m.

Habitat

Usually settles on a plain or in hilly areas, where preference is given to open landscapes without tall grass in combination with individual trees or small groves. It reaches its greatest abundance in warm and arid regions - the steppe and forest-steppe zone, savannah. It lives in steppe ravines, in a meadow, at the edge or on the edge of a forest, in a river valley, in the foothills, in coastal shrub dunes. Often found in human-used landscapes - pastures, vineyards or fruit plantations. Sometimes it settles within settlements, where it feeds at the expense of garbage dumps. Low-lying, damp areas are avoided. For nesting, it uses hollow trees, crevices in stones, burrows in river cliffs, termite mounds, deepenings of stone buildings. Active during daylight hours, using tree hollows, rocky crevices or other suitable shelters for lodging.

Migration

Sedentary, nomadic or migratory bird depending on latitude. Most of the populations of the nominate subspecies, breeding in the western Palearctic, with the exception of Egypt and southern Algeria, move to the central and southern regions of sub-Saharan Africa in winter. A small number of birds winter in the Mediterranean and in the north of the African continent. Birds of Central Asia, and in particular Siberia, migrate to the south of the continent. A small part of Russian hoopoes winters in the east of Turkmenistan and the southern part of Azerbaijan. The terms of migration are significantly extended in time - spring arrival falls on the beginning of February - May with a peak in mid-March - April, autumn departure begins in mid-July and ends at the end of October. The flight takes place on a wide front, at night or at dawn.

reproduction

Hoopoe reaches sexual maturity at the age of one year. Monogamous. In Russia, birds arrive at nesting sites quite early - in March-April, when the first thawed patches have just appeared. Immediately upon arrival, the males occupy the territory for breeding and behave very actively - they scream loudly, making repeated dull sounds “up-up-up…” and thereby calling the females. In vocalization, the Madagascar subspecies stands somewhat apart - its voice is more reminiscent of a rolling purr. During this period, birds call most often and loudly in the morning and evening, less often during the day. During courtship, the male and female slowly fly one after another, marking the place for the future nest. Often the same area is used for several years. As a rule, hoopoes breed in separate pairs, however, in the case of the neighborhood of other hoopoes, fights between males are not uncommon at the border of territories, reminiscent of cockfights. The nest is arranged in a secluded place - a hollow of a tree, a rocky crevice, a depression on a cliff slope, sometimes in a wall of a stone or clay building. If there is no suitable shelter nearby, eggs can be laid directly on the ground among the dried remains of an animal - for example, the famous German and Russian scientist Peter Pallas described a hoopoe nest in the chest of a human skeleton. The lining is either absent altogether or contains only a few blades of grass, feathers, and bits of cow dung. The hollow may also contain rotten wood dust. Unlike the vast majority of birds, hoopoes never remove droppings from the nest, which gradually accumulates around. In addition, during the period of incubation and feeding of chicks, birds produce an oily liquid secreted from the coccygeal gland and has a sharp unpleasant odor. This adaptation helps hoopoes to protect themselves from medium-sized ground predators, but as a result, among people, the bird has a reputation for being "unclean".
Breeding usually occurs once a year, although in the case of a sedentary lifestyle, repeated (up to three) cycles have been noted. Clutch size in temperate climates is 5-9 eggs, in the tropics 4-7 eggs. The eggs are oblong, 26×18 mm in size and weighing about 4.4 g. Color varies widely from grayish white to dark brown, may have a bluish or greenish tint. One egg is laid per day, incubation begins with the first egg and lasts for 25-32 days (the incubation period is 15-16 days). One female incubates while the male feeds her. The chicks that were born are blind and covered with a sparse reddish down, which after a few days is replaced by another, pinkish-white and thicker. Both parents feed the chicks, alternately bringing them insect larvae and worms. At the age of 20-27 days (in central Russia - late June or early July), the chicks leave the nest and begin to fly, although they remain close to their parents for several more weeks.

Nutrition

The basis of hoopoe nutrition is made up of small invertebrate animals: insects, their larvae and pupae (May beetles, dung beetles, dead eaters, grasshoppers, butterflies, steppe fillies, flies, ants, termites), spiders, wood lice, centipedes, small mollusks, etc. Rarely catches small frogs , lizards and snakes .

It feeds on the surface of the earth, usually in short grass or on bare soil. Possessing a long beak, it often picks at manure, garbage heaps or rotten wood, and makes shallow holes in the ground. Often accompanied by grazing cattle. The hoopoe's tongue is short, so it is sometimes unable to swallow prey from the ground - for this, the bird throws it into the air, catches it and swallows it. Large beetles are hammered on the ground, previously breaking into pieces.

Systematics and evolution

The hoopoe is the only modern bird species belonging to the Upupidae family (another species, the giant hoopoe ( Upupa antaios), who lived on the island of Saint Helena, became extinct in the 16th century). Hoopoes belong to the order Bucerotiformes, which, in addition to them, includes 3 more families, including hornbills, which for a long time were considered the closest relatives of hoopoes. The basis of close relationship is a number of common anatomical features, in particular the structure of the sternum. Recently, however, a number of scientists have singled out the hoopoes (Upupidae), as well as the family of forest hoopoes (Phoeniculidae) into a separate order of hoopoes (Upupiformes). Based on molecular studies (comparative DNA analysis), American biologists Charles Sibley and John Ahlquist hypothesized that the ancestors of hoopoes are hornbills, and forest hoopoes descended from hoopoe. Usually, 10 subspecies of hoopoes are described, depending on the size, color tones and shape of the wings. Some authors, such as James Clemens in The Birds of the World (eng. Birds of the World: A Checklist ), based on the work of Sibley and Ahlquist, identifies the African hoopoe ( U.e. africana) as a separate species.

The most ancient group of birds, similar to modern hoopoes, is considered to be the extinct family Messelirrisoridae (sister to Upupidae and Phoeniculidae), whose representatives dominated Europe in the Middle Eocene about 49 million years ago.

Hoopoe in the culture of the peoples of the world

The hoopoe is a notable bird and has been mentioned in various literary sources since ancient times, including sacred scriptures - the Koran and the Bible. In ancient Greek mythology, according to the works of the ancient classics, the Thracian king Tereus, the son of the god of war Ares and the Biston nymph, was turned into a hoopoe after he tried to kill his wives.

In Islam (Quran 27:20-28) and some Jewish sources (such as Targum Sheni" to the Book of Esther and Midrash Mishley, midrash to the Book of Parables), the hoopoe is associated with the lord of birds and beasts, King Solomon. According to legend, once the ruler did not find a hoopoe among his birds, and when he finally found it, he told about the wonderful city of Kitor and its ruler, the beautiful Queen of Sheba (Bilkis among Muslims), who worships the Sun. The king sent a hoopoe to the Sheba land with a message to the queen. In response to the letter, the woman sent him rich gifts and then paid a visit to the king in Jerusalem.

Eat every clean bird; but these you must not eat of them: the eagle, the vulture, and the sea eagle, and the kite, and the falcon, and the gyrfalcon with their kind, and every raven with its kind, and the ostrich, and the owl, and the gull, and the hawk with its kind, and an owl, and an ibis, and a swan, and a pelican, and a vulture, and a fisherman, and herons, and zuya with its breed, and hoopoe, and bat. original text(Hebrew) 11 כָּל־צִפֹּ֥ור טְהֹרָ֖ה תֹּאכֵֽלוּ׃ 12 וְזֶ֕ה אֲשֶׁ֥ר לֹֽא־תֹאכְל֖וּ מֵהֶ֑ם הַנֶּ֥שֶׁר וְהַפֶּ֖רֶס וְהָֽעָזְנִיָּֽה׃ 13 וְהָרָאָה֙ וְאֶת־הָ֣אַיָּ֔ה וְהַדַּיָּ֖ה לְמִינָֽהּ׃ 14 וְאֵ֥ת כָּל־עֹרֵ֖ב לְמִינֹֽו׃ 15 וְאֵת֙ בַּ֣ת הַֽיַּעֲנָ֔ה וְאֶת־הַתַּחְמָ֖ס וְאֶת־הַשָּׁ֑חַף וְאֶת־הַנֵּ֖ץ לְמִינֵֽהוּ׃ 16 אֶת ־הַכֹּ֥וס וְאֶת־הַיַּèְèְשׁ֖וּף וְהַתִּ canni &׃# 17 וְהַהַהַ─ת וְאֶֽת־הָרָרָרָרָרָמָiant וְת־הַהַה וְהַ֣ה וְהָèָפָ֖ה לְ Answers

Despite this, at the end of the 19th century in Germany, the meat of adult hoopoes and chicks was eaten and found it "very tasty".

One of the Israel Defense Forces battalions is called Duhifat, which means hoopoe in Hebrew. In May 2008, in connection with the 60th anniversary of Israel, at the initiative of the Ministry of Ecology, the elections of the national bird of this state were announced. As a result of a vote in which all the inhabitants of the country could take part, a hoopoe was chosen - more than 35% voted in favor of this bird, leaving far behind the warbler, goldfinch, short-toed song thrush and some other birds.

In Russian literature, the hoopoe was mentioned by Maxim Gorky and Velimir Khlebnikov. Gorky did not speak very flatteringly about this bird: “The hoopoe is a completely stupid bird, and in no case can it be trained.” Khlebnikov, in a sketch of an autobiographical story in verse (1909), put it much more favorably:

Subspecies

• Upupa epops epops, the common hoopoe is the nominative subspecies. Eurasia from the Atlantic in the west to the Scandinavian Peninsula, central and southern regions of Russia, the Middle East, Iran, Afghanistan, northwestern India and northwestern China in the east. Canary Islands, Madeira Island and Northwest Africa.
• Upupa epops major- Egypt, northern Sudan and eastern Chad. The largest subspecies. In addition, it is distinguished by a longer beak, a grayish tint of the upper body and a narrow dressing strip on the tail.
• Upupa epops senegalensis, Senegalese hoopoe - Algeria, arid belt of Africa from Senegal to Ethiopia and Somalia. The smallest form. The wings are shorter, with more white on the secondaries.
• Upupa epops waibeli- Equatorial Africa from Cameroon and northern Zaire in the west to Uganda and northern Kenya in the east. Looks like U.e. senegalensis, but overall the tones are darker.
• Upupa epops africana, African hoopoe - Equatorial and South Africa from central Zaire in the west to central Kenya in the east, south to the coast. The plumage is dark red, without white stripes on the outer side of the wings. Males have secondary primaries with white bases.
• Upupa epops marginata, Madagascar hoopoe - northern, western and southern Madagascar. Larger than the previous subspecies. It also differs from it in paler plumage and very narrow white stripes on the wings.
• Upupa epops saturata- Eurasia from the central and southern regions of Russia to the east to the Japanese Islands, southern and central China. The size of the nominate subspecies, it is distinguished by a slightly more grayish plumage on the back and a less pronounced shade of pink on the belly.
• Upupa epops ceylonensis- Central Asia south of Pakistan and northern India, Sri Lanka. Smaller in size, generally more rufous. There is no white color at the top of the crest.
• Upupa epops longirostris- the Indian state of Asom, Bangladesh, Indochina, eastern and southern China, the Malay Peninsula. Larger than the nominate subspecies. Compared with U.e. ceylonensis the color is paler, and the white stripes on the wings are narrower.

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Notes

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6. V. I. Dal.. - 3rd ed. I. A. Baudouin de Courtenay. - SPb.-M.: M. O. Wolf Partnership, 1903, 1905, 1907, 1909.
7. Buturlin S. A. and others. Birds. Animal world of the USSR. M.-L.: Detizdat, 1940
8. . . Retrieved June 1, 2008. .
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10. // Encyclopedic Dictionary of Brockhaus and Efron: in 86 volumes (82 volumes and 4 additional). - St. Petersburg. , 1890-1907.
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12. L. S. Stepanyan. Synopsis of the ornithological fauna of the USSR. - M .: Nauka, 1990. - S. 303-304. - 808 p. - ISBN 5-02-005300-7.
13. A. Christine. Upupa epops in del Hoyo, J et al. Volume 6: Mousebirds to Hornbills // Handbook of the birds of the world. - Barcelona: Lynx Editions, 2001. - Vol. 6. - 589 p. - ISBN 978-8487334306.
14. Bogolyubov A. S., Zhdanova O. V., Kravchenko M. V.. - Russia: Ecosystem, 2006.
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18. : information on the IUCN Red List website (eng.) (Retrieved November 22, 2009)
19. Sibley, Charles Gald & Ahlquist, Jon Edward(1990): Phylogeny and classification of birds. Yale University Press, New Haven, Conn.
20. James F. Clements.. - 6th ed. - United States: Cornell University Press, 2007. - xix, 843 p. - ISBN 978-0801445019.
21. Gerald Mayr.// The Auk. - 2000. - Vol. 4, No. 117. - P. 964-970.
22. Sophocles. Terey, fr. 581 Radt; Pseudo Apollodorus. Mythological Library III 14, 8; Pausanias. Description of Hellas I 5, 4
23. Aristophanes. Birds.
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26. / Ch. ed. E. M. Meletinsky. - Soviet encyclopedia. - M ., 1991. - 672 p. - ISBN 5-85270-068-1.
27. The Targum of Esther (Second) (Targum Sheni) Translated by Bernard Grossfeld - Professor of Hebrew and Aramaic at the University of Wisconsin - Milwaukee, and founding member of the Association for Targumic Studies. Published in 1991 by T & T CLARK LTD, Edinburgh, in co-operation with The Liturgical Press, Collegeville, Minnesota 56321, USA. ISBN 0-567-09495-8
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Links

• (English) . Atlas of European Breeding Birds. EBCC. .
• . Birds of Altai. .
• Gerald Mayr.

An excerpt characterizing the Hoopoe

The wagons that drove up to the hussars were assigned to an infantry regiment, but, having been informed through Lavrushka that this transport was coming alone, Denisov with the hussars recaptured it by force. The soldiers were handed out crackers at will, even shared with other squadrons.
The next day, the regimental commander called Denisov to him and told him, closing his eyes with open fingers: “I look at it like this, I don’t know anything and I won’t start business; but I advise you to go to the headquarters and there, in the food department, settle this matter, and, if possible, sign that you received so much food; otherwise, the demand is written to the infantry regiment: things will rise and may end badly.
Denisov went directly from the regimental commander to the headquarters, with a sincere desire to fulfill his advice. In the evening he returned to his dugout in a position in which Rostov had never seen his friend before. Denisov could not speak and was suffocating. When Rostov asked him what was the matter with him, he only uttered incomprehensible curses and threats in a hoarse and weak voice ...
Frightened by the position of Denisov, Rostov offered him to undress, drink water and sent for a doctor.
- To judge me for g "azboy - oh! Give me more water - let them judge, but I will, I will always beat the scoundrels, and I will tell the sovereign." Give me some ice, he said.
The regimental doctor who came said that it was necessary to bleed. A deep plate of black blood came out of Denisov's hairy hand, and then only he was able to tell everything that had happened to him.
“I’m coming,” Denisov said. “Well, where is your boss here?” Showed. Wouldn't you like to wait. “I have a service, I arrived 30 miles away, I have no time to wait, report back.” Well, this chief thief comes out: he also took it into his head to teach me: This is robbery! “Robbery, I say, is not done by the one who takes food to feed his soldiers, but by the one who takes it to put it in his pocket!” So you don't want to be silent. "Good". Sign, he says, with the commission agent, and your case will be handed over on command. I go to the commissioner. I enter - at the table ... Who is it ?! No, you think! ... Who is starving us, - Denisov shouted, hitting the table with his fist of his sore hand so hard that the table almost fell and the glasses jumped on it, - Telyanin !! “How are you starving us?!” Once, once in the face, deftly it had to be ... “Ah ... rasprotakoy and ... began to roll. On the other hand, I am amused, I can say, - Denisov shouted, joyfully and angrily baring his white teeth from under his black mustache. “I would have killed him if they hadn’t taken him away.”
“But why are you screaming, calm down,” said Rostov: “here again the blood has gone. Wait, you need to bandage it. Denisov was bandaged and put to bed. The next day he woke up cheerful and calm. But at noon, the adjutant of the regiment, with a serious and sad face, came to the common dugout of Denisov and Rostov and regretfully showed the uniform paper to Major Denisov from the regimental commander, in which inquiries were made about yesterday's incident. The adjutant said that things were about to take a very bad turn, that a military judicial commission had been appointed, and that with real severity regarding looting and self-will of the troops, in a happy case, the case could end in a dismissal.
The case was presented by the offended in such a way that, after repulsing the transport, Major Denisov, without any call, appeared in a drunken state to the chief provisions master, called him a thief, threatened to beat him, and when he was taken out, he rushed to the office, beat two officials and dislocated one arm.
Denisov, to Rostov’s new questions, laughingly said that it seemed that some other one had turned up here, but that all this was nonsense, nothing, that he did not even think to be afraid of any courts, and that if these scoundrels dare to bully him, he will answer them so that they will remember.
Denisov spoke dismissively about the whole affair; but Rostov knew him too well not to notice that in his heart (hiding this from others) he was afraid of the court and was tormented by this affair, which, obviously, was supposed to have bad consequences. Every day, paper requests began to arrive, demands for the court, and on the first of May Denisov was ordered to hand over the squadron to the senior officer and report to the headquarters of the division for explanations on the case of the riot in the provisions commission. On the eve of this day, Platov made reconnaissance of the enemy with two Cossack regiments and two squadrons of hussars. Denisov, as always, rode ahead of the chain, flaunting his courage. One of the bullets fired by the French riflemen hit him in the flesh of the upper leg. Maybe at another time Denisov would not have left the regiment with such a light wound, but now he took advantage of this opportunity, refused to appear in the division and went to the hospital.

In June, the Battle of Friedland took place, in which the Pavlogradites did not participate, and after it a truce was announced. Rostov, who felt hard the absence of his friend, having had no news of him since his departure and worrying about the course of his case and wounds, took advantage of the truce and asked to go to the hospital to visit Denisov.
The hospital was located in a small Prussian town, twice ruined by Russian and French troops. Precisely because it was summer, when the field was so good, this place, with its broken roofs and fences and its filthy streets, ragged inhabitants and drunken and sick soldiers wandering around it, presented a particularly gloomy spectacle.
In a stone house, in the courtyard with the remains of a dismantled fence, frames and glass broken in part, a hospital was located. Several bandaged, pale and swollen soldiers walked and sat in the yard in the sun.
As soon as Rostov entered the door of the house, he was overwhelmed by the smell of a rotting body and a hospital. On the stairs he met a Russian military doctor with a cigar in his mouth. A Russian paramedic followed the doctor.
“I can’t burst,” said the doctor; - come to Makar Alekseevich in the evening, I'll be there. The paramedic asked him something else.
- E! do as you know! Isn't it all the same? The doctor saw Rostov going up the stairs.
“Why are you, your honor?” the doctor said. - Why are you? Or the bullet did not take you, so you want to get typhus? Here, father, is the house of the lepers.
- From what? Rostov asked.
- Typhoid, father. Whoever ascends - death. Only the two of us with Makeev (he pointed to the paramedic) are chatting here. At this point, five of our brother doctors died. As soon as the new one arrives, he’ll be ready in a week,” the doctor said with visible pleasure. - Prussian doctors were called, so our allies do not like it.
Rostov explained to him that he wished to see the hussar major Denisov lying here.
“I don’t know, I don’t know, father. After all, you think, I have three hospitals for one, 400 patients too! It’s also good, the Prussian ladies of the benefactor send us coffee and lint at two pounds a month, otherwise they would be lost. He laughed. - 400, father; and they keep sending me new ones. After all, there are 400? BUT? He turned to the paramedic.
The paramedic looked exhausted. He evidently waited with annoyance to see if the chattering doctor would leave soon.
“Major Denisov,” repeated Rostov; - he was wounded near Moliten.
- Looks like he's dead. What about Makeev? the doctor asked the paramedic indifferently.
The paramedic, however, did not confirm the words of the doctor.
- Why is he so long, reddish? the doctor asked.
Rostov described Denisov's appearance.
“There was, there was such a person,” the doctor said as if joyfully, “this one must have died, but I can handle it, I had lists. Do you have it, Makeev?
“Makar Alekseich has the lists,” said the paramedic. “But come to the officers’ chambers, you’ll see for yourself there,” he added, turning to Rostov.
“Oh, it’s better not to go, father,” said the doctor, “otherwise you don’t stay here yourself.” - But Rostov bowed to the doctor and asked the paramedic to accompany him.
"Don't blame me," the doctor shouted from under the stairs.
Rostov with the paramedic entered the corridor. The hospital smell was so strong in this dark corridor that Rostov grabbed his nose and had to stop in order to gather his strength and move on. A door opened to the right, and a thin, yellow man, barefoot and in nothing but underwear, leaned out on crutches.
Leaning against the lintel, he looked at the passers-by with shining, envious eyes. Glancing through the door, Rostov saw that the sick and wounded were lying there on the floor, on straw and overcoats.
- Can I come in and have a look? Rostov asked.
- What to watch? the paramedic said. But precisely because the paramedic obviously did not want to let him in, Rostov entered the soldiers' chambers. The smell he had already smelled in the hallway was even stronger here. This smell has changed somewhat here; it was sharper, and it was sensitive that it was precisely from here that he came.
In a long room, brightly lit by the sun through large windows, in two rows, with their heads to the walls and leaving a passage in the middle, lay the sick and the wounded. Most of them were in oblivion and did not pay attention to those who entered. Those that were in the memory all rose or raised their thin, yellow faces, and all with the same expression of hope for help, reproach and envy of someone else's health, without taking their eyes off Rostov. Rostov went to the middle of the room, looked into the neighboring doors of the rooms with the doors open, and saw the same thing on both sides. He stopped, silently looking around him. He never expected to see this. In front of him lay almost across the middle aisle, on the bare floor, a sick man, probably a Cossack, because his hair was cut in a bracket. This Cossack was lying on his back, his huge arms and legs spread out. His face was crimson red, his eyes were completely rolled up, so that only the whites were visible, and on his bare feet and on his hands, still red, the veins tensed like ropes. He hit the back of his head on the floor and said something hoarsely and began to repeat this word. Rostov listened to what he was saying and made out the word he repeated. The word was: drink - drink - drink! Rostov looked around, looking for someone who could put this patient in his place and give him water.
- Who's here for the sick? he asked the paramedic. At this time, a Furstadt soldier, a hospital attendant, came out of the next room, and stretched out in front of Rostov, beating a step.
- I wish you good health, your highness! - shouted this soldier, rolling his eyes at Rostov and, obviously, mistaking him for the hospital authorities.
“Take him away, give him water,” said Rostov, pointing to the Cossack.
“I’m listening, your honor,” the soldier said with pleasure, rolling his eyes even more diligently and stretching himself, but not moving.
“No, you can’t do anything here,” thought Rostov, lowering his eyes, and was about to go out, but on the right side he felt a significant look fixed on himself and looked back at him. Almost in the very corner, on an overcoat, with a skeleton-yellow, thin, stern face and an unshaven gray beard, an old soldier was sitting and staring stubbornly at Rostov. On the one hand, the neighbor of the old soldier was whispering something to him, pointing to Rostov. Rostov realized that the old man intended to ask him for something. He came closer and saw that the old man had only one leg bent, and the other was not at all above the knee. Another neighbor of the old man, who lay motionless with his head thrown back, quite far from him, was a young soldier with a waxy pallor on a snub-nosed face still covered with freckles and with eyes rolled under the eyelids. Rostov looked at the snub-nosed soldier, and a frost ran down his back.
“But this one, it seems ...” he turned to the paramedic.
“As requested, your honor,” said the old soldier with a tremor in his lower jaw. - Finished in the morning. After all, they are also people, not dogs ...
“I’ll send it right now, they’ll take it away, they’ll take it away,” the paramedic said hastily. “Please, your honor.
“Let’s go, let’s go,” Rostov said hastily, and lowering his eyes and shrinking, trying to pass unnoticed through the array of those reproachful and envious eyes fixed on him, he left the room.

Having passed the corridor, the paramedic led Rostov into the officers' chambers, which consisted of three rooms with open doors. These rooms had beds; wounded and sick officers lay and sat on them. Some walked around the rooms in hospital gowns. The first person that Rostov met in the officers' wards was a small, thin man without an arm, in a cap and a hospital gown with a bitten tube, who walked in the first room. Rostov, peering at him, tried to remember where he had seen him.
“This is where God brought me to meet,” said the little man. - Tushin, Tushin, do you remember taking you near Shengraben? And they cut off a piece for me, here ... - he said, smiling, pointing to the empty sleeve of his dressing gown. - Are you looking for Vasily Dmitrievich Denisov? - roommate! - he said, having learned who Rostov needed. - Here, here, Tushin led him to another room, from which the laughter of several voices was heard.
“And how can they not only laugh, but live here”? Rostov thought, still hearing that smell of a dead body, which he picked up while still in the soldier's hospital, and still seeing around him those envious looks that followed him from both sides, and the face of this young soldier with rolled eyes.
Denisov, covering himself with a blanket, slept on the bed, despite the fact that it was 12 o'clock in the afternoon.
“Ah, G” skeleton? 3do “ovo, hello” ovo, ”he shouted in the same voice as he used to in the regiment; but Rostov sadly noticed how, behind this habitual swagger and liveliness, some new, bad, hidden feeling peeped through in the facial expression, in the intonations and words of Denisov.
His wound, in spite of its insignificance, still did not heal, although six weeks had already passed since he had been wounded. His face had the same pale swelling that was on all hospital faces. But this was not what struck Rostov; he was struck by the fact that Denisov seemed not to be pleased with him and smiled unnaturally at him. Denisov did not ask about the regiment, nor about the general course of affairs. When Rostov talked about this, Denisov did not listen.
Rostov even noticed that it was unpleasant for Denisov when he was reminded of the regiment and, in general, of that other, free life that went on outside the hospital. He seemed to be trying to forget that former life and was only interested in his business with the provision officials. When asked by Rostov what the situation was, he immediately took out from under the pillow the paper received from the commission, and his rough answer to it. He perked up, beginning to read his paper, and especially let Rostov notice the barbs that he spoke to his enemies in this paper. The hospital comrades of Denisov, who had surrounded Rostov - a person newly arrived from the free world - began to gradually disperse as soon as Denisov began to read his paper. From their faces, Rostov realized that all these gentlemen had already heard this whole story that had managed to get bored of them more than once. Only the neighbor on the bed, a fat lancer, was sitting on his bunk, frowning gloomily and smoking a pipe, and little Tushin, without an arm, continued to listen, shaking his head disapprovingly. In the middle of the reading, the lancer interrupted Denisov.
“But for me,” he said, turning to Rostov, “you just need to ask the sovereign for mercy.” Now, they say, the rewards will be great, and they will surely forgive ...
- I ask the sovereign! - Denisov said in a voice to which he wanted to give the former energy and ardor, but which sounded like useless irritability. - About what? If I were a robber, I would ask for mercy, otherwise I am suing for bringing out robbers. Let them judge, I'm not afraid of anyone: I honestly served the king, the fatherland and did not steal! And to demote me, and ... Listen, I write to them directly, so I write: “if I were an embezzler ...
- Deftly written, what to say, - said Tushin. But that’s not the point, Vasily Dmitritch,” he also turned to Rostov, “it’s necessary to submit, but Vasily Dmitritch does not want to. After all, the auditor told you that your business is bad.
“Well, let it be bad,” said Denisov. - The auditor wrote a request to you, - Tushin continued, - and you need to sign it, but send it with them. They have it right (he pointed to Rostov) and they have a hand in the headquarters. You won't find a better case.
“Why, I said that I wouldn’t be mean,” Denisov interrupted and again continued reading his paper.
Rostov did not dare to persuade Denisov, although he instinctively felt that the path offered by Tushin and other officers was the most correct, and although he would consider himself happy if he could help Denisov: he knew the inflexibility of Denisov's will and his truthful ardor.
When the reading of Denisov's poisonous papers, which lasted more than an hour, ended, Rostov said nothing, and in the saddest frame of mind, in the company of Denisov's hospital comrades again gathered around him, he spent the rest of the day talking about what he knew and listening to the stories of others. . Denisov was gloomy silent throughout the whole evening.
Late in the evening, Rostov was about to leave and asked Denisov if there would be any instructions?
“Yes, wait,” said Denisov, looked back at the officers, and, taking his papers from under the pillow, went to the window, on which he had an inkwell, and sat down to write.
“You can’t see the butt with a whip,” he said, moving away from the window and giving Rostov a large envelope. “It was a request addressed to the sovereign, drawn up by an auditor, in which Denisov, without mentioning anything about the faults of the food department, asked only for pardon.
“Pass it on, I see…” He didn’t finish and smiled a painfully fake smile.

Returning to the regiment and conveying to the commander the state of Denisov's case, Rostov went to Tilsit with a letter to the sovereign.
On June 13, the French and Russian emperors gathered in Tilsit. Boris Drubetskoy asked the important person under whom he belonged to be included in the retinue appointed to be in Tilsit.
“Je voudrais voir le grand homme, [I would like to see a great man,” he said, speaking of Napoleon, whom he still always, like everyone else, called Buonaparte.
– Vous parlez de Buonaparte? [Are you talking about Buonaparte?] – the general told him smiling.
Boris looked inquiringly at his general and immediately realized that this was a mock test.
- Mon prince, je parle de l "empereur Napoleon, [Prince, I'm talking about Emperor Napoleon,] - he answered. The general patted him on the shoulder with a smile.
“You will go far,” he said to him, and took him with him.
Boris was among the few on the Neman on the day of the meeting of the emperors; he saw rafts with monograms, Napoleon's passage along the other bank, past the French guards, he saw the pensive face of Emperor Alexander, while he silently sat in a tavern on the banks of the Neman, waiting for Napoleon's arrival; I saw how both emperors got into the boats and how Napoleon, having first landed on the raft, went forward with quick steps and, meeting Alexander, gave him his hand, and how both disappeared into the pavilion. From the time of his entry into the higher worlds, Boris made it a habit to carefully observe what was happening around him and write it down. During a meeting in Tilsit, he asked about the names of those people who came with Napoleon, about the uniforms that they were wearing, and listened carefully to the words that were spoken by important people. At the same time as the emperors entered the pavilion, he looked at his watch and did not forget to look again at the time when Alexander left the pavilion. The meeting lasted an hour and fifty-three minutes: he wrote it down that evening, among other facts that, he believed, were of historical significance. Since the emperor’s retinue was very small, it was very important for a person who valued success in his service to be in Tilsit during the meeting of the emperors, and Boris, having got to Tilsit, felt that from that time on his position was completely established. He was not only known, but they got accustomed to him and got used to him. Twice he carried out instructions for the sovereign himself, so that the sovereign knew him by sight, and all those close to him not only did not shy away from him, as before, considering him a new face, but would be surprised if he were not there.
Boris lived with another adjutant, the Polish Count Zhilinsky. Zhilinsky, a Pole brought up in Paris, was rich, passionately loved the French, and almost every day during his stay in Tilsit, French officers from the Guards and the main French headquarters gathered for lunch and breakfast at Zhilinsky and Boris.
On June 24, in the evening, Count Zhilinsky, Boris' roommate, arranged a dinner for his French acquaintances. At this supper there was an honored guest, one adjutant of Napoleon, several officers of the French guards and a young boy of an old aristocratic French family, Napoleon's page. On that very day, Rostov, taking advantage of the darkness so as not to be recognized, in civilian clothes, arrived in Tilsit and entered the apartment of Zhilinsky and Boris.
In Rostov, as well as in the whole army, from which he came, the revolution that took place in the main apartment and in Boris was still far from being accomplished in relation to Napoleon and the French, who had become friends from enemies. Still continued in the army to experience the same mixed feeling of anger, contempt and fear for Bonaparte and the French. Until recently, Rostov, talking with a Platovsky Cossack officer, argued that if Napoleon had been taken prisoner, he would have been treated not as a sovereign, but as a criminal. More recently, on the road, having met with a French wounded colonel, Rostov got excited, proving to him that there could be no peace between the legitimate sovereign and the criminal Bonaparte. Therefore, Rostov was strangely struck in Boris's apartment by the sight of French officers in those same uniforms that he was accustomed to look at in a completely different way from the flanker chain. As soon as he saw the French officer leaning out of the door, that feeling of war, hostility, which he always felt at the sight of the enemy, suddenly seized him. He stopped on the threshold and asked in Russian if Drubetskoy lived there. Boris, hearing someone else's voice in the hallway, went out to meet him. His face in the first minute, when he recognized Rostov, expressed annoyance.
“Oh, it’s you, very glad, very glad to see you,” he said, however, smiling and moving towards him. But Rostov noticed his first movement.
“I don’t seem to be on time,” he said, “I wouldn’t come, but I have a business,” he said coldly ...
- No, I'm just surprised how you came from the regiment. - "Dans un moment je suis a vous", [I'm at your service this minute,] - he turned to the voice of the one who called him.
“I see that I am not on time,” repeated Rostov.
The expression of annoyance had already disappeared from Boris's face; apparently having considered and decided what to do, he took him by both hands with special calmness and led him into the next room. Boris's eyes, calmly and firmly looking at Rostov, were as if covered with something, as if some kind of shutter - the blue glasses of the hostel - were put on them. So it seemed to Rostov.
- Oh, come on, please, can you be at the wrong time, - said Boris. - Boris led him into the room where dinner was laid, introduced him to the guests, naming him and explaining that he was not a civilian, but a hussar officer, his old friend. - Count Zhilinsky, le comte N.N., le capitaine S.S., [count N.N., captain S.S.] - he called the guests. Rostov frowned at the French, reluctantly bowed and was silent.
Zhilinsky, apparently, did not gladly accept this new Russian face into his circle and did not say anything to Rostov. Boris did not seem to notice the embarrassment that had occurred from the new face, and with the same pleasant calmness and veiled eyes with which he met Rostov, he tried to revive the conversation. One of the French turned with ordinary French courtesy to Rostov, who was stubbornly silent, and told him that it was probably to see the emperor that he had come to Tilsit.
"No, I have business," Rostov answered curtly.
Rostov became out of sorts immediately after he noticed the displeasure on Boris's face, and, as always happens with people who are out of sorts, it seemed to him that everyone was looking at him with hostility and that he interfered with everyone. Indeed, he interfered with everyone and alone remained outside the newly ensued general conversation. "And why is he sitting here?" said the glances cast at him by the guests. He got up and walked over to Boris.
“However, I’m embarrassing you,” he said to him quietly, “let’s go and talk about business, and I’ll leave.”
“No, not at all,” said Boris. And if you're tired, let's go to my room and lie down and rest.
- And in fact ...
They entered the small room where Boris slept. Rostov, without sitting down, immediately with irritation - as if Boris was to blame for something before him - began to tell him Denisov's case, asking if he wanted and could ask about Denisov through his general from the sovereign and through him to convey a letter. When they were alone, Rostov was convinced for the first time that it was embarrassing for him to look Boris in the eyes. Boris, crossing his legs and stroking the thin fingers of his right hand with his left hand, listened to Rostov, as the general listens to the report of his subordinate, now looking to the side, then with the same obscured look in his eyes, looking directly into Rostov's eyes. Rostov felt awkward every time and lowered his eyes.
– I have heard about such cases and I know that the Emperor is very strict in these cases. I think we should not bring it to His Majesty. In my opinion, it would be better to directly ask the corps commander ... But in general, I think ...
“So you don’t want to do anything, just say so!” - Rostov almost shouted, not looking Boris in the eyes.
Boris smiled: - On the contrary, I will do what I can, only I thought ...
At this time, the voice of Zhilinsky was heard in the door, calling Boris.
- Well, go, go, go ... - said Rostov and refusing dinner, and left alone in a small room, he walked back and forth in it for a long time, and listened to the cheerful French dialect from the next room.

Rostov arrived in Tilsit on the day least convenient for intercession for Denisov. He himself could not go to the general on duty, since he was in a tailcoat and arrived in Tilsit without the permission of his superiors, and Boris, even if he wanted to, could not do this the next day after Rostov's arrival. On this day, June 27, the first terms of peace were signed. The emperors exchanged orders: Alexander received the Legion of Honor, and Napoleon received the 1st degree, and on this day a dinner was appointed for the Preobrazhensky battalion, which was given to him by the battalion of the French guard. The sovereigns were to attend this banquet.
Rostov was so awkward and unpleasant with Boris that when Boris looked in after dinner, he pretended to be asleep and the next day, early in the morning, trying not to see him, left the house. In a tailcoat and a round hat, Nikolai wandered around the city, looking at the French and their uniforms, looking at the streets and houses where the Russian and French emperors lived. On the square, he saw tables being set up and preparations for dinner; on the streets he saw draperies thrown over with banners of Russian and French colors and huge monograms A. and N. There were also banners and monograms in the windows of the houses.

The first impression when meeting with a hoopoe is a mixture of beauty and funny. Despite their relatively small size, hoopoes are quite voracious. They get food with their beak. They preliminarily pick out prey from the bark of a tree or from the ground, kill it with sharp blows of the beak, throw it up, catch it and swallow it.

hoopoe is elegant bird, with its bright plumage and white and black wing pattern, striking a casual observer and even an expert ornithologist. On a territorial basis, scientists distinguish nine species of these birds:

1. Ordinary;
2. African;
3. Senegalese;
4. Madagascar;
5. Upupa epops waibeli;
6. Upupa epops longirostris;
7. Upupa epops major
8. Upupa epops saturata;
9. Upupa epops ceylonensis.

The main external characteristics of the hoopoe bird include:

Outwardly, both females and males practically do not differ from each other. In young birds, the color is less saturated. They have a short crest and beak.

Bird habitat and behavior

The hoopoe is a migratory bird. In summer, it mainly lives in North Africa and Europe. In autumn, these birds fly away to winter in tropical areas. Most often they migrate to India and equatorial Africa, but sometimes they live all year in Northeast Africa and China.

bird migration falls on the night. Its duration is significantly delayed from mid-July to early November.

Usually hoopoes are located in open areas and spend time on the ground, choosing habitats such as:

• pastures and meadows;
• wastelands;
• savannas;
• forest steppes;
• mountain lands;
• forest areas;
• vineyards;
• olive groves;
• vegetable gardens and orchards.

In order for the birds to be able to easily obtain food, vegetation must be present on the ground. Vertical surfaces must also be present. Hoopoes build nests on trees, walls, rocks, haystacks.

These birds have rather weak wings, however, they are capable of a long long flight, which confirms their habit of wandering. The flight of the hoopoe is fluttering, not fast, but quite maneuverable. Therefore, raptors can rarely catch hoopoe in the air.

On the ground, these "handsome" move quickly and nimbly. In the event of an unexpected alarm, when the hoopoe cannot escape, it clings to the ground, spreading its tail and wings and raising its beak up.

During the period of incubation and feeding of chicks, an oily liquid with a very sharp unpleasant odor is produced in an adult bird and in babies. It is secreted from the coccygeal gland, being a kind of protection against terrestrial medium-sized predators.

Like the appearance, the hoopoe's vocals are also special. The bird has a deaf, slightly guttural voice and a five-syllable cry “ud-ud-ud” or “up-up-up”, repeated several times in a row. Between a series of sounds, the interval does not exceed 5 s. In cases of fright or surprise, the bird emits a piercing cry "chi-ir", which resembles the cry of a dove. During mating games and caring for offspring, these birds make rolling sounds.

Hoopoe reaches sexual maturity at the age of one year. These birds are monogamous. They arrive in Russia to nesting places when the first thawed patches appear in March-April. Upon arrival, the males are very active, occupying the territory for breeding. They scream loudly and call the females. Often the hoopoes use the same territory for several years.

Hoopoes breed, as a rule, in separate pairs. Often, males living in the neighborhood arrange fights on the border of the territory, reminiscent of a cockfight.

The nest of the bird is arranged in a secluded place. It can be a hollow tree, a recess on the slope of a cliff, or a rocky crevice. In the absence of suitable shelter, hoopoes can lay their eggs on the ground among the dried remains of an animal.

The nest lining may contain only a few blades of grass, bits of dung and feathers, or none at all. Unlike most bird species, hoopoes do not remove droppings from the nest, which gradually accumulates.

Breeding most often occurs once a year, but if the birds are sedentary, the cycles can be repeated up to three times. The clutch contains 5-9 oblong eggs weighing about 4.4 g. The color varies from gray-white to dark brown, sometimes it can have a greenish or bluish tint. Every day, the bird lays one egg, starting from the first incubation and continuing for 25-32 days. While the female sits on the nest, the male forages.

Chicks are born completely blind. They are covered with reddish sparse down, which changes after a few days to pinkish-white, becoming denser. Both parents feed the babies. They alternately bring them worms and insect larvae. At the end of June, the chicks at the age of 20-27 days leave the nest. They begin to fly, but stay with their parents for a few more weeks.

Average period of life hoopoe - about eight years. This bird is quite ancient. It is mentioned in the Bible and the Koran.

Nutrition

The main food of hoopoe are:

These birds feed on the surface of the earth on bare soil or in short grass. They often poke their long noses into manure, rotten wood, and rubbish heaps. It is for this reason that hoopoes often accompany grazing cattle. In addition, some species additionally feed on fruits and drink flower nectar.

In the non-commercial online store of Ecological Center "Ecosystem" you can purchase the following methodical materials on ornithology:
computer(electronic) guide to birds of central Russia, containing descriptions and images of 212 bird species (bird drawings, silhouettes, nests, eggs and voices), as well as a computer program for identifying birds encountered in nature,
pocket guide-determinant "Birds of the middle band",
"Field guide to birds" with descriptions and images (drawings) of 307 species of birds in central Russia,
colored key tables"Migratory Birds" and "Wintering Birds" and also
MP3 disc"Voices of the birds of the middle zone of Russia" (songs, cries, calls, alarms of 343 most common species of the middle zone, 4 hours 22 minutes) and
MP3 disc"Voices of birds of Russia, part 1: European part, Urals, Siberia" (B.N. Veprintsev's music library) (singing or sounds during towing, calls, alarm signals and other sounds, the most important in the field identification of 450 species of Russian birds, duration sounding 7 hours 44 minutes)

The hoopoe is a very remarkable member of the order of hornbills, easily recognizable by its long, thin beak, fan-shaped crest on its head, and black and white striped wings and tail. In the old days, the hoopoe was called a wasteland and a tattoo, and the birds got their modern name thanks to the guttural cries of "oud-ud-ud" emitted.

Hoopoe on a tree branch.

Hoopoes are considered extremely unscrupulous birds: they never clean their nests from droppings and feathers, they like to dig into the manure with their long noses, and in case of danger they release a disgustingly smelling oily substance from the coccygeal gland. Nevertheless, hoopoe meat was considered a sacred bird by some Islamic nations, and in 19th-century Germany, hoopoe meat was considered a delicacy.

What does hoopoe look like

According to the current scientific classification, hoopoes belong to the hoopoe family and form the only genus and species of the same name, which has several subspecies, among which the common hoopoe is considered typical.

This is a bird of small size with a body size of 25 to 29 cm, and individuals of both sexes do not differ in appearance. Looking at a photo of a hoopoe, two decorations immediately catch your eye: a beak and a crest. The narrow, slightly bent down beak has a length of about 4 - 5 cm. It looks fragile, the beak of hoopoes is actually very strong, with its help the birds hammer beetles on the ground, butchering the victim.

When folded, the hoopoe crest does not exceed 5–10 cm in length, and during landing it fluffs up like a fan and sticks out 15 cm up. The main color of the crest is orange with red, only the tips of the feathers are painted black.

The neck, chest and head of hoopoes range from pale pink to chestnut. The belly is pinkish-red with dark transverse stripes passing to the sides. Wide wings with a span of up to 48 cm in their color resemble a black and white vest with yellowness. The black tail of medium length is decorated in the middle with a white band. Strong gray limbs end in blunt claws.

The hoopoe is looking for food on the ground.

Hoopoe in flight.

Range and lifestyle

Hoopoes are quite numerous and widespread in the southern and central regions of Eurasia and almost everywhere in Africa. These birds are cautious, but by no means shy, therefore they prefer open landscapes: meadows, plains, foothills and pastures. Often, hoopoes can be found in vineyards and fruit plantations, sometimes birds settle near human habitation.

During the day, hoopoes are awake, and at night they hide in various shelters: in hollows of trees and crevices of rocks. Depending on the habitat, hoopoes lead a sedentary, nomadic or migratory lifestyle.

A hoopoe takes off from a spruce.
The hoopoe flies up from the tree.
Hoopoe: photo of a bird on a tree.
A hoopoe sits on a tree branch.
Hoopoe cleans feathers.
Beautiful hoopoe photo.

Nutrition Features

Hoopoes feed mainly on small animal food. The diet of birds includes various invertebrates, insects, their larvae and pupae: Maybugs, dead beetles, termites, butterflies, wood lice, ants and centipedes.

An interesting feature of birds is a very short tongue, which does not allow swallowing food from the ground, so hoopoes first throw up prey, then deftly catch and swallow.

A hoopoe flies with a caught caterpillar.
Hoopoe with a large caterpillar caught.


A hoopoe with a beetle, like it's a cockchafer.

The prey of hoopoes can be, among other things, a bear or a cockchafer.

reproduction

Hoopoes are monogamous and a pair often uses the same place for nesting for several years in a row. Close proximity to another pair often ends in something like cockfights between males.

To arrange a nest, birds choose cracks in the rocks, tree hollows, niches in the walls of stone buildings. For lack of a suitable place, the female lays her eggs among the bones of the animal skeleton. A case has been scientifically described when a hoopoe nest was found between the ribs of human remains.

A hoopoe feeds a chick.

In clutch there are from 4 to 9 eggs, 2.6 x 1.8 cm in size. Their color is highly variable and can be from pale gray to dark brown. The female lays an egg a day and incubates the clutch for about a month, eating food brought by the male. The offspring are fed by both parents, at the age of 3 - 4 weeks the chicks already know how to fly, but for some time they do not leave the parent site.

According to the IUCN, nothing threatens the large population of hoopoes today.

Hoopoe(lat. Upupa epops) - a small brightly colored bird with a long narrow beak and crest, sometimes opened in the form of a fan. It is widely distributed in the southern and central regions of Europe and Asia, as well as almost throughout Africa. The preferred habitat is an open area with sparse shrubs or trees, such as a savannah, meadow, or pasture. Also found in cultivated landscapes in orchards and vineyards. Cautious, but not shy - as a rule, shuns a person and flies away at his approach. Spends a lot of time on the ground, hunting for insects.

The only representative of the hoopoe family (Upupidae), a detachment of coraciiformes. The opinions of ornithologists about the systematic position of this species are very diverse. Some scientists consider subspecies of the common hoopoe as separate species, and also distinguish hoopoes in a separate order of hoopoe-like (Upupiformes).

According to the International Union for Conservation of Nature, a rather numerous species. Despite the fact that the overall bird population has decreased in recent years, its dynamics does not currently allow this species to be considered vulnerable. In the International Red Book, hoopoe has the status of a taxon of minimal risk (category LC).

In Dahl's explanatory dictionary for hoopoe, 2 synonyms are indicated - empty and potatuyka. Currently, these names are rarely used in everyday life.

Suggest to read 10 interesting facts about the hoopoe bird.
1. No more than 20 thousand pairs of hoopoes live in Belarus (1998). Their number is declining across Europe due to the intensification of agriculture, the consolidation of fields and the transformation of the style of rural buildings.

2. More opportunities to meet or hear Hoopoe in Polissya. He loves the countryside, especially open grasslands and forest edges with bare patches of land. Nests are located in hollows or in the walls of buildings, in heaps of stones.

3. The Hoopoe song is a deaf, trochkladovy "upupup", which in spring and summer he repeats up to 30 times per minute. Zvukapadragalnaya is the name of a bird in the languages ​​of many peoples.

4. The hoopoe's diet is mainly insects and their larvae 2-3 cm long: beetles, grasshoppers, bears, which birds either collect on the surface, or with the help of a long beak they can deftly get out of the soil. Special muscles on the head allow you to open the beak in the ground.

5. Mostly hoopoe feeds on species that people consider pests of agricultural and forest crops. Having caught a large beetle, the hoopoe beats it on the ground or stone to kill and deprive the prey of the shell and legs.

6. Hoopoe live in pairs. Only the female incubates the eggs, and the male provides her with food.

7. Our Hoopoes winter in Africa.

8. For protection, the chicks have a special gland at the base of the tail, with which they spit out an oily liquid smelling of carrion towards the enemy, who checks the hollow or other nesting niche of hoopoes occupied by birds. Chicks also "shoot" droppings well.

9. The hoopoe was a sacred bird in ancient Egypt, depicted on the walls of pyramids and temples. It is mentioned in sacred writings - the Bible and the Koran. In 2008, the hoopoe was chosen as Israel's national bird.

10. In Poland and the western regions of Belarus, hoopoe is called "Dudek". Many common surnames come from this name, including "Dudko". In Poland, meetings of people with the surname "Dudek" are even held.

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