Local resident Aizhan Atakeeva said: “I noticed a hoopoe near the melting snowdrifts. The bird looked active and quickly hopped from place to place when I tried to approach it. How could it end up in the Chui region at such an early time?”
Ecologist Alexander Sosnovsky, who commented on this event, noted that the hoopoe belongs to the order Upupiformes and has bright plumage reminiscent of tropical birds. Given its unique structure, some researchers classify hoopoes in a separate order along with hornbills.
Sosnovsky emphasized that the appearance of a hoopoe in February is unusual. This bird leaves Kyrgyzstan first at the end of August and returns only in early May. This is related to its dietary habits: the hoopoe has a curved soft bill designed for searching for insects in crevices and under stones. As the temperature drops, insects disappear, leaving hoopoes without food.
Hoopoes prefer to nest in tree hollows and burrows; however, in Kyrgyzstan, they more often build their nests in the crevices of human structures, in piles of stones, and in voids beneath them. Predators usually do not disturb them, as hoopoes defend themselves by spraying foul-smelling droppings and the caustic contents of their uropygial gland at attackers,” added the ecologist.
