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Turach is a type of bird belonging to the family of chickens, having average sizes (a little more than a gray partridge), weight - up to 500 grams. A characteristic difference from other species is the unique color of the plumage (colorful and bright). Females, unlike males, have paler plumage colors. The males have a gray-golden top of the head, with characteristic white spots on the cheeks, the body is black with speckles. The neck of the turacha is decorated with the ornament of motley chestnut-colored feathers, resembling a necklace.
Turach runs very quickly, while pulling the neck and bending the front part of the body to the ground. If a bird in its territory feels protected (dense thickets), then it can go quite a long distance in search of necessary food, while practically without using wings.
Sensing even the slightest signs of danger, the turch tries to quickly escape immediately, but only at the last moment uses his opportunity to fly, soaring into the air with a “candle” a few meters (up to 4 meters). As a rule, after a short flight in a horizontal position, it descends again into the thickets of reeds or thick grass.
Turach loves to swim in the dust, during the extraction of food, necessary for food or resting, can sit on tree branches or shrubs. Bird singing is most often heard early in the morning. Turach's cry is trisyllabic: a sharp short sound follows two more extended ones.
This bird of the chicken family is very careful. But in nature reserves or in places where he does not feel in danger, he shows credulity.
The main features and appearance of the bird
The plumage of a turch is rather dense, the color is motley. The birds' neck is adorned with feathers of a brown-rust color. The legs are red in color, the beak is black.
The size of the turach is slightly larger than the gray partridge. The bird is very cautious and immediately begins to run away when danger arises. In flight, the turach makes frequent flapping of its wings, short-term flights.
Power Features
The basic ration of turch food is not too significant differences from the food consumed by other birds belonging to the family of chicken. This is mainly a variety of small insects, plant foods (grains, seeds, berries, young shoots of plants). As a rule, most of their feed turch finds on the surface of the earth. In search of berries, the bird, taking off, sits on the bushes.
Breeding features
Turachi-francolina are monogamous birds, which means that both parents in a pair equally care about their offspring. The mating season of birds of this species begins in early spring. The male, having chosen the female, is almost always near her, spreading her colorful feathers, constantly bouncing around and publishing characteristic calls for loud cries.
Basically, for the nesting places, the Turachi choose nooks under the trees, in the bushes, under the cliffs. Note that turachi, like ordinary guinea fowls, as a rule, do not build their own nests. For laying eggs, a small hole is used in the ground, the bottom of which is lined with dry vegetation, down and feathers. Egg laying time is from April to May. As a rule, the female strokes from 7 to 15 eggs that have a brown-olive tinge with small white patches. During laying, the male keeps near the nest in order to protect his girlfriend and future offspring in case of danger. The duration of hatching eggs is about 3 weeks.
New offspring from the very first weeks of their lives are quite active. In case of danger, the parents hide their chicks, covering them with a wing. Under brood parental care, the brood of chicks of the turch remains up to three months, after which the young birds fly away and begin to lead an independent lifestyle.
Natural habitat
Turachi are birds that prefer to live in thickets of grass, shrubs.They willingly settle in the thickets of reeds and tamarix, which alternate with open areas.
In the conditions of the anthropogenic landscape, this species of chicken-like as a place to live is selected by thickets located along irrigation canals, cultivated fields, vineyards and gardens, and the outskirts of household plots.
Especially often turch can be seen near human housing with the onset of the cold season. Wherever this species of birds dwells, its representatives always need the proximity of water sources. Most often turach found in countries of Southern Europe, Asia Minor.
Due to the low number of populations of this species, the value of turch in the hunting field is small. In addition, in some countries, hunting for this bird is prohibited. Turacha can be distinguished from other species of the chicken family by the characteristic dark-colored feathering.
Features molting
Such a process as molting turch to this day has not been fully studied. According to some studies, experts found that the molting period is directly related to the breeding period.The longer the breeding season in a population of birds of a given species, the longer the molt time lasts.
Adult birds, as a rule, start shedding from the middle of summer and by the beginning of autumn have fresh and bright plumage. The molting of feathers is characterized by a shift from the tenth to the first feather. Plumage of chicks is replaced by the first annual outfit by the end of autumn.
Interesting facts about turch
As already mentioned, turch is a bird that looks very similar to a common partridge. However, unlike the latter, the turch has a more slender constitution, the head and beak are slightly longer.
Unlike other species of the kuroobraznyh family, the female and the male turacha have the same color (in the female it is not as motley as in the male). On the legs of the males there are spurs.
Turach wings are rather short and rounded. The tail of the bird consists of 14 tail feathers.
Turach has many natural enemies, as a rule, the laying of birds is destroyed by animals such as weasels, ferrets, foxes, jackals. In that case, if he lives in the immediate vicinity of the farm, his nest can be ruined by an ordinary yard cat.From birds of prey to the enemies of the turch can be attributed to hawks and marsh moons.
Turach is a rather rare bird, however, in some countries it is an object of sport hunting. They hunt for representatives of this species of grouse not only by means of dogs and hunting weapons, but also with the use of hunting birds of prey. This is explained by the fact that hunting a bird with a dog can be complicated due to the dense vegetation and shrubs in which turaci prefer to live. In this case, the best solution would be to use hunting birds of the hawk family.
Video: Turach (Francolinus francolinus)
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