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It has a relatively small size with a forelock on the head and thin elongated beak. The main habitat is south and central part of Eurasia, northern and central Africa. They settle in flat areas, sometimes they can be seen near fruit trees.
Description
The length of the torso of the bird is 25-30 cm, the length of the wings is 45-50 cm. The hoop can be easily recognized by the orange fan on the head, it is small, about 7 cm and is usually folded back, but on the ground the bird can reveal it. The color of the body, neck and head of each species is different, but the main colors are chestnut and red. It has wide semicircular wings with white and black stripes. The tail is small, has a coat-like color. The belly is red with pink shades, with dark stripes. The bird has a long curved beak.Her paws are gray or dark with small thin claws. There are no external differences in females and males, and the young individuals only slightly differ in the color of feathers and in the length of the beak and tuft.
Hoops fly slowly, smoothly and gracefully, while fluttering like butterflies. During their flight, they are rather agile and can begin to flap their wings quickly in order to break away from the predators pursuing them.
Nutrition
Obtain their own food, mainly on the ground, without going into the tall grass. Their special beak makes it possible to penetrate deeply into the manure, make pits, and can also look for small animals near the places of walking of livestock. Hoopoe can not immediately swallow large prey, while on the ground, because of his small tongue, so he first he throws it over himself and swallows. If large bugs fall into his paws, he smashes their armor, hammering it with its beak.
Habitats
It inhabits the entire southern and central part of Eurasia, with the exception of the islands of Great Britain, the Benelux countries, the Scandinavian Peninsula and on the tops of the Alps, the Apennines and the Pyrenees. Less common in some parts of Germany and the Baltic countries. On the territory of Russia can be seen in some areas of the central part of the country, in the south, in Siberia, in Altai. In the Asian part of the continent, the bird can be seen almost everywhere, with the exception of desert areas and places with dense forest vegetation. In Africa, you can meet north and south of the Sahara. Also often live on island lands, for example, in Japan, Sri Lanka, and Taiwan.
There are birds that lead a settled and migratory way of life. Inhabitants of European lands fly to southern Africa for the winter. Some fly not so far and nest in the northern parts of the black continent or the Mediterranean islands. The inhabitants of Siberia and northern Asia go far to the south - to India, Indochina, and Indonesia. Dates of flights may vary. It depends on the habitat and the subclass of birds. Returns from wintering, mainly between February and May.And the period of departure - from the beginning of August to November.
The preferred nesting sites are plains, meadows or hills without dense and high vegetation, with rare solitary trees. In the mountains can nest at an altitude of 2 km. The most pleasant zone for them is the steppe and savanna. They make their nests in the hollows of trees, crevices, burrows, anthills and piece-like indentations.
Frequent bird species
Hoops have their own family and, depending on the size, color and wings, there are such types:
- Hoopoe ordinary. Can be seen everywhere in Eurasia, North Africa and many islands.
- Egyptian hoopoe. The main place of residence - Egypt, some countries in the south of the Sahara desert. The largest member of his family has an elongated beak.
- Hoopoe Senegalese. Can be seen in the west and center of Africa. The smallest species with much smaller wings.
- Hoopoe equatorial. As the name implies, it lives in equatorial regions of Africa from Tanzania in the east to the Congo in the west. It has a dark color.
- African hoopoe. The habitat is similar to the equatorial relativebut it differs from them in the red color of the plumage and the absence of light stripes on the wings and back.
- Hoopoe Madagascar. Lives exclusively on the same island. Quite large compared with the others, it has gray or dark-pale plumage.
- Hoopoe Eurasian. He lives in the Asian and Middle Eastern parts of the continent, in Russia. The difference in plumage is whitish belly and back.
- Hoopoe Ceylon. It lives in the south-eastern part of the Far East. It has a bright red color.
- Hoopoe Indian. Occurs in areas of India, China, Nepal and Bangladesh. One of the largest representatives, is distinguished by bright bright stripes on its wings.
The closest relative of these species is considered to be a member of the tree family of hoopoes, the forest hoopoe. The body of this representative reaches 30 cm in length, the plumage is black or dark in color without light stripes. Females are distinguished by the head of a light black or brown shade, the male may have a white or light brown color, sometimes green with shine. He lives in equatorial regions of Africa, especially in the forests.
Sex differences
Most types of hoops do not have gender differences in color or size. Only some subspecies may differ in small details in the color of some parts of the body.
Breeding
Birds reach sexual maturity at the age of one year. Nesting begin in early spring. Males are trying to be the first to take the best places and try to show themselves in every way. They make loud sounds, trying to attract the attention of females. Especially often they scream after sunrise and sunset. When the pair has been found, the male follows his female. And they both are looking for a suitable place for nesting. One pair of birds can nest in the same place for many years.
They try to make nests in hard-to-reach areas (old hollows, crevices, on the slopes of rocks or mountains, in the walls of abandoned buildings). If at the time of laying eggs they do not find a suitable place, then they make up on the ground in a hill of dried leaves or the remains of large animals. They do not line the nests very much, they only bring in some feathers of leaves or grass. If the nest is in the hollow of a tree, then wood dust or moss is used as a litter.
These birds never remove litter from their nests, and when they nest, they secrete a special liquid that has a sharp and very unpleasant smell.This is a kind of protection from predators, but because of this, people consider this bird as unclean.
In one nest there can be up to 9 eggs, they have an oval shape, dark gray color. Every day, the female tries to debug the egg. Only the female incubates eggs, the male at this time is looking for food for her. The incubation period is 25-30 days. Nestlings hatch blind with a slight red down, which is later replaced by pink or white, and becomes thicker. The chicks are fed by both the female and the male, mostly they give small bugs or worms.
Bird voice
The hoopoe has a deaf voice, the main cry makes in the form of several repetitive sounds, similar to "beats-beats." The name of the bird supposedly emulates these sounds. Frightened, they scream a piercing heart-rending cry. During the preparation of the marriage, or when they feed the chicks, they make long, loud sounds. Of all the members of the family, only Madagascar has a distinctive voice, his conversations are like a long deaf purr.
Natural enemies
Among the natural opponents of hoopoes are birds of prey, some mammals, and snakes.They often destroy their nests.
Population
According to the International Union for Conservation of Nature, it was a large species of bird. In recent years, the population in some natural areas has decreased, but the general population is quite large and therefore there is no point in classifying them as a threatened species. In the Red Book of the international direction is classified with the following mark - the minimum risk of extinction.
Interesting Facts
The bird quickly and deftly runs on the ground. In the case of a close threat, it falls to the bottom, opens its wings and raises its beak towards the sky.
The bird is depicted on the banknotes of the African country Gambia.
In 2008, the national bird election was held on the anniversary of the existence of the state of Israel, and most of the residents chose the hoopoe.
Since hoopoes often make nests in the remains of animals, the scientist Peter Pallas examined the nest of this bird in the human chest. The hoopoe was also chosen as the national bird of Russia in 2016.
Video: hoopoe (Upupa epops)
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