Three-toed birds. Three-toed woodpecker (Picoides tridactylus)

Medium-sized woodpecker (slightly larger than a starling). It has only three toes on its feet. The general color tone is dark. There is no red color in the plumage. The cap of males is golden yellow, while that of females is whitish or gray-haired. The sides of the head and the back of the head are black. A white stripe runs from the eye, merging with the white field on the back of the neck. A second white stripe runs parallel to the first from the corners of the mouth and under the eye; from below it is limited by black "mustache". From the neck along the back there is a wide white field, sometimes with black spots. The rest of the back is black. The belly is dirty white with transverse black streaks, especially noticeable on the sides of the body. In young birds, these streaks are thicker. Forechest with longitudinal dark strokes. The undertail is white or mottled white. The flight feathers are black with white spots on the outer webs. Inner flight feathers with large oval white spots. The rudders are black, but the 3 outer pairs have white transverse stripes. Legs gray or lead grey. The beak is dark horn, blackish at the end. The lower jaw is colored lighter. The iris is bluish-white or pearlescent. Male weight 63-69 g, female 51-59 g. Body length (both sexes) 23-25 cm, wingspan 37-43 cm.

Inhabits large deaf massifs of coniferous and mixed forests of the northern type. Prefers a forest stand dominated by spruce, pure spruce forests, spruce-pine and spruce-deciduous forests. Especially loves shady, damp, sometimes swampy areas, often settles in floodplains. It finds no less favorable conditions in burnt areas, where there is a lot of dead wood, in old clearings with numerous stumps and deadwood. Typical nesting habitats in Poozerye are moist coniferous and mixed forests of the taiga type, especially in floodplains and on the outskirts of swamps. In southwestern Belarus, it inhabits dark coniferous and pine forests along the edges of swamps, black alder forests, mixed forests with dead trees. Prefers pure spruce forests, spruce-pine and spruce-deciduous forests.

The area of the pair's nesting area in Poozerye ranges from 10 to 30 ha. The highest nesting density (0.10-0.15 pairs/km²) was noted in mossy and sphagnum plantations (Rossony district).

The mating games of the three-toed woodpecker begin in the third decade of March - the first decade of April. However, the first signs of mating behavior are already noted in February, when males show increased motor activity, shout excitedly and emit drumming, which subsides only by the end of May. The construction of hollows coincides with the period of intense current.

Pairs are formed in late March - early April, but individual pairs have been observed since autumn. Breeds in separate pairs. Nests are arranged in hollows, which are hollowed out in rotten or dry trunks, high stumps of spruces, less often pines and other trees. The height of the hollow is usually low, 2-5 m, sometimes below 1 m and, as an exception (in other parts of Europe), 15 or even up to 20 m. ), pines (33%), aspens (15%), at a height of 1-6, more often 2-3 m. 0.7–6 m (average 3.6 m). Nesting in hollows in living trees is not typical: only one case of nesting in the last year's hollow of Dendrocopos major, made in a damp-growing aspen, is known in Poozerie.

Letok is rounded. At the bottom of the hollow there is a significant amount of wood dust (a layer up to 5-6 cm thick), on which the eggs are located. Notch diameter 4.0-5.2 cm, hollow depth 26-30 cm, width in the middle part 10-13 cm. Nest tree trunk diameter at the hollow level 14-32 cm (average 27 cm).

The usual clutch consists of 4-5 eggs, occasionally only 3 or 6-7. The shell is pure white, shiny. Egg weight 4.6-5.4, average 5.1±0.2 g, length 23.5-26.3 mm, diameter 18.0-19.6 mm (average 24.9x18.8 mm).

The bird starts laying eggs in the first half of May and even later. One brood per year. The male and female incubate for 14-15 days; the chicks leave the nest at the age of 24 days. In Poozerye, chicks hatch in the last days of May and in the first ten days of June. Departure of young from hollows occurs, as a rule, in the second half of June. Embryonic mortality is 14.3%, postembryonic 8.3%. For south-western Belarus, other dates for the departure of chicks are indicated - the end of June - the beginning of July.

After the breakup of the broods at the end of June, the molt begins, which proceeds during August and September. Broods at first keep together, in the third decade of July in southwestern Belarus the young are already kept alone.

The migrations of young and adult three-toed woodpeckers in the autumn-winter period within large forests are clearly expressed and are well confirmed by mapping of encounters. The radius of winter migrations noticeably increases, especially in the first half of winter. Nomadic birds are more often observed in copses, forest edges and overgrown clearings.

It feeds on xylophagous insects, it is especially useful for the destruction of bark beetles. It is estimated that in a short winter day, a three-toed woodpecker is able to peel off the dead bark from a shrunken old spruce and eat up to 10,000 bark beetle larvae. In addition, stem pests, caterpillars of various butterflies, hymenoptera insects, and spiders are harvested. Food is usually obtained close to the nest. Having found a tree damaged by pests, woodpeckers process it for several days in a row.

In autumn and winter, birds feed on insects living under the bark or in wood, they get them by chiselling. In winter, in addition to insects, it eats a small amount of spruce seeds.

The number of the three-toed woodpecker in Belarus is stable, estimated at 3-5 thousand pairs. The data of counting the number at stations in Poozerye during the nesting period indicate its significant interannual fluctuations: from 0.2 pairs per 1 km² to complete absence, which indicates the variability of nesting sites.

The species has been included in the Red Book of Belarus since 1981.

The maximum registered age in Europe is 9 years 3 months.

In general, the three-toed woodpecker is a rare Red Book bird of the Moscow region. This is due to the fact that he prefers to live in dark coniferous forests (mainly spruce), so here he is on the border of his range. Although if we take its entire range, then it is quite wide and occupies a huge area from Western Europe to Kamchatka. But despite this, the population density of this woodpecker is quite small everywhere, because. he likes a solitary lifestyle, without a lot of competitors.

So imagine the Moscow region. Here and so the forests are left with gulkin's nose, so give this comrade spruce forests, moreover, dried up and so that there are more xylophages (bark beetles). So our region cannot boast of a large number of them, in contrast to, say, BPD. Here in the Red Book of the Moscow Region it is said that their number in the region is estimated at about 1000 pairs. Moreover, most of them live in the area of the Klin-Dmitrovsky ridge. And in the south of the region and in the near Moscow region, it is especially rare.

In connection with the above, each meeting of the three-toed in Elk Island was an event for me. I was especially glad when V.V. Solodushkin found his nest here in 2011. Apparently, this was the first recorded nesting of a woodpecker in Losiny Island.

The range of the three-toed woodpecker includes a large territory of Russia.

A small analysis showed that the nesting of the woodpecker in Losiny Ostrov coincided with the beginning of a big disaster in our forests - the invasion of the bark beetle-typographer. Many old spruce forests in the region perished, some of them fell under sanitary felling. There is a lot of information about this on the Internet. The outbreak of the bark beetle is associated with the drought of 2010, when the entire region was in smoke and fires.

Three-toed woodpecker biotope in Losiny Island

But for whom is trouble, and for whom is daily bread. So this winter, in the dried spruce forests, there was just a festival of woodpeckers: yellow, white-backed, BPD and, of course, three-toed. With such an abundance of food, it is not a sin to nest. And nested. In general, I will not muddy the waters, I found two nests in Elk Island. Been watching them all June. The chicks successfully hatched and left their native hut. I must say that two nests in Losiny Island, located a kilometer from each other, is good, it means the birds are comfortable here. I decided to present the details of observations and specific ornithological information about nesting in the form of an article in the Moskovka magazine, for those who are interested to read.

In addition to me, three-toed nests were found this year victor_tyakht and a_nikoros . If someone else found in the Moscow region - write, I will consolidate the data in one article.

In general, one of the nests was at a surprisingly low and convenient height for photographing - exactly 1 m. I wanted to shoot how they feed adult chicks so that they protrude from the hollow. But I did not calculate the date of departure and the chicks flew out earlier than I tried to implement my plan.

What I learned from my observations. Birds replace each other during incubation. The male usually fed the chicks. When disturbed, the male makes sounds similar to the sounds of BPD anxiety, which I have not heard from Veprintsev. Hollows are built strictly in dry trees, and not necessarily in spruce, but also in pine and aspen.

Well, here are some photos from observing their life (mostly on weekends).

Incubation stage. The female replaces the male.

When feeding very small chicks, woodpeckers climb into the hollow with their heads.

The female brought food.

Male at the nest

The male takes dust and sawdust out of the nest

yummy

See you in Elk Island.

Mainly living in rotten wood.

The species sometimes includes the North American population, which is considered conspecific with respect to the Eurasian one. However, genetic studies show significant differences between the two groups, and for this reason it has been customary to separate American birds into a separate species. Picoides dorsalis.

Description

Appearance

Voice

It is quite silent and, in comparison with other woodpeckers, has a poorer repertoire. The usual call issued throughout the year - a soft "bale" or "tic" - is lower than that of the great spotted woodpecker, but higher than that of the white-backed one.

When excited, it makes a series of similar sounds - quite fast, although slower than that of the great spotted and middle woodpeckers. At the beginning of the breeding season, it makes chirping or chirping sounds, quieter and softer than those of the great spotted woodpecker. Both sexes drum, the females to a lesser extent. The shot is more similar to that of the white-backed woodpecker and differs markedly from the shot of the great spotted woodpecker - it is longer and more energetic, reminiscent of an automatic burst.

Spreading

area

The distribution area is a strip of coniferous and mixed forests of Eurasia from Scandinavia and Central Europe east to Kamchatka, Sakhalin, Hokkaido and the Korean Peninsula. In the central regions of Europe, the range is sporadic, mainly limited to mountainous areas. Small populations have been noted in the French Alps and western Germany; in Greece, Macedonia, Czech Republic, Slovakia, Latvia and Lithuania it breeds very rarely. Things are somewhat better in Poland - woodpeckers are quite numerous in the Carpathians and Belovezhskaya Pushcha, and also nest in small numbers in Augustowskaya Pushcha. The main part of the range is located on the territory of Russia, as well as in Scandinavia (about 80 thousand pairs) and Finland (23 thousand pairs). In Kazakhstan, it breeds only in the extreme east and southeast of the country in the Tien Shan and Dzungarian Alatau mountains. In Mongolia, it is distributed south to the southern slopes of Khangai and Khentei, in northeast China south to the Greater Khingan and Heilongjiang province, east to northeastern Korea. There is an isolated site in southern China in the region of southern Gansu, northern and western Sichuan, eastern and southern Qinghai, and northwestern Yunnan. To the east of the mainland it breeds in the Shantar Islands, Sakhalin and Hokkaido.

In the north, it is distributed to the border of woody vegetation - it settles on larch islands in the southern part of the tundra, in some places nests in the Arctic. Occurs north in Norway up to 70°N. sh., in Sweden up to 60 ° N. sh., in Finland up to 63 ° N. sh., on the Kola Peninsula to the mouth of the Kola, in the Pechora valley to 67 ° N. sh., in the west of Siberia to the region of the Gulf of Ob, in the basins of the Yenisei and Lena up to 68 ° N. sh., in the Indigirka basin up to 70 ° N. sh., in the Kolyma basin up to 68 ° N. sh., in the valley of Anadyr to 67 ° N. sh. Most common in the northern part of its range, but rare in many places.

habitats

Food

Most often, it obtains food from under the bark of trees, sometimes managing to peel off a large spruce in a day, where up to 10 thousand bark beetle larvae can hide. In summer, it also often catches openly crawling insects. Less often it hammers rotten wood or searches the surface of trunks and branches. If the tree is not completely cleared at once, return to it the next day. After the snow has melted, he examines the boughs lying on the ground and the rotten stumps covered with moss. Feeding on the surface of the earth is very rare. It usually feeds at a height of 1-3 m from the ground, giving preference to dead trees, often lopsided or lying on their side. During the nesting period, males, on average, forage slightly lower than females, preferring stumps and choosing larger trunks. On the other hand, females sometimes feed on living trees.

reproduction

Clutch contains 3-6 (rarely 7) oblong white eggs with a smooth shiny shell. Egg sizes: (21-28) x (17-21) mm. Incubation from the last egg; both birds sit, changing 5-6 times a day. However, only the male is in the nest at night. Naked and helpless chicks are born synchronously 11-14 days after the start of incubation. They are fed in turn by both parents, burping the brought food from beak to beak. Usually quiet and inconspicuous, after the appearance of offspring, woodpeckers become restless and more noisy; the grown offspring screams, leaning out of the nest. At the age of 22-26 days, the chicks leave the nest and begin to fly, but for about a month they stay near their parents, after which they finally disperse. In northwestern Russia, fledglings appear from late June to mid-July.

Systematics

The publication "Handbook of the birds of the world" identifies 5 subspecies of the three-toed woodpecker, not counting the North American population, whose status was previously upgraded to an independent species. Variability is manifested in the variation in the ratio of black and white on different parts of the plumage, in the nature and degree of development of dark and white patterns.

P.t. tridactylus(Linnaeus, 1758) - Northern Europe east to the Ural Range, south to the Grodno region, southern parts of Smolensk, Moscow, Tambov, Penza, Ulyanovsk regions. In Asia, the middle and southern taiga from the Southern Urals east and south to Altai, the southern slopes of Khangai, Khentei, Manchuria, the Ussuri valley and Sakhalin.
P.t. crissoleucus(Reichenbach, 1854) - northern taiga from the Ural ridge to the east to the upper Anadyr valley, the Penzhina valley, the northern and western coasts of the Sea of Okhotsk, to the south in Western Siberia to 57 ° N. sh., to the region of Novosibirsk, the northern part of the Eastern Sayan, the northern Baikal region, the northern Transbaikalia, the Stanovoy Range, the area of the village of Ayan.
P.t. albidior Stejneger, 1885 - Kamchatka.
P.t. alpinus C. L. Brehm, 1831 - mountainous regions of central, southern and southeastern Europe. In Asia, the Tien Shan, the northeastern part of the Korean Peninsula and Hokkaido.
P.t. funebris J. Verreaux, 1870 - southwestern China, Tibet.

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Notes

Boehme R. L., Flint V. E. Five-language dictionary of animal names. Birds. Latin, Russian, English, German, French / Edited by Acad. V. E. Sokolova. - M .: Rus. lang., "RUSSO", 1994. - S. 200. - 2030 copies. - ISBN 5-200-00643-0.
Volume 7: Jacamars to Woodpeckers // Guide to the Birds of the World = Handbook of the birds of the world. - Barcelona: Lynx Edicions, 2002. - S. 494-495.
Ryabitsev V.K. Birds of the Urals, the Urals and Western Siberia: A guide-determinant. - Yekaterinburg: Publishing House of the Ural University, 2001. - S. 346-347.
ISBN 978-0-691-05054-6.
. Vertebrates of Russia. . Retrieved April 24, 2010. .
S. Cramp, K.E.L. Simmons. Vol. IV - Terns to Woodpeckers // The Birds of the Western Palearctic. - Oxford University Press, 1986. - S. 913-923.
Stepanyan L. S. Synopsis of the ornithological fauna of Russia and adjacent territories. - M .: Akademkniga, 2003. - S. 323-325.
Gavrilov E. I. Fauna and distribution of birds in Kazakhstan. - Almaty: Nauka, 1999. - 198 p.
Volume I, part 2. Birds. Non-passerines // Fauna of the European North-East of Russia. - St. Petersburg: Nauka, 1999. - S. 119-121.

Literature

Estafiev A. A., Mineev Yu. N., Kochanov S. K., Anufriev V. M., Demetriades K. K., Neyfeld E. D. Volume I, part 2. Birds. Non-passerines // Fauna of the European North-East of Russia. - St. Petersburg: Nauka, 1999. - 290 p. - ISBN 5-02-025945-4.
Ryabitsev V.K. Birds of the Urals, the Urals and Western Siberia: A guide-determinant. - Yekaterinburg: Publishing House of the Ural University, 2001. - 608 p. - ISBN 5-7525-0825-8.
Stepanyan L. S. Synopsis of the ornithological fauna of Russia and adjacent territories. - M .: Akademkniga, 2003. - 727 p.
Mullarney, Killian; Lars Svenson; Dan Zetterström & Peter J. Grant. Birds of Europe = Birds of Europe. - United States: Princeton University Press, 2000. - 400 p. - ISBN 978-0-691-05054-6.(English)
S. Cramp, K.E.L. Simmons. Vol. IV - Terns to Woodpeckers // The Birds of the Western Palearctic. - Oxford University Press, 1986. - 960 p. - ISBN 0198575076.(English)
Pechacek, Peter; Klaus G. Michalek, Hans Winkler, Donald Blomqvist.// Journal of Ornithology. - 2006. - T. 147, No. 1. - pp. 112-114. DOI:10.1007/s10336-005-0026-4 (English)
Winkler, Hans; Christie, David A. 2002. Family Picidae (Woodpeckers) in del Hoyo, J., Elliott, A., & Sargatal, J., eds. Volume 7: Jacamars to Woodpeckers // Guide to the Birds of the World = Handbook of the birds of the world. - Barcelona: Lynx Edicions, 2002. - ISBN 84-87334-37-7.

An excerpt characterizing the Three-Toed Woodpecker

“This one, it seems, was Natasha,” Nikolai thought, and this one is m me Schoss; or maybe not, but this is a Circassian with a mustache, I don’t know who, but I love her.
- Aren't you cold? - he asked. They didn't answer and laughed. Dimmler was shouting something from the rear sleigh, probably funny, but it was impossible to hear what he was shouting.
“Yes, yes,” answered the voices, laughing.
- However, here is some kind of magical forest with iridescent black shadows and sparkles of diamonds and with some kind of enfilade of marble steps, and some kind of silver roofs of magical buildings, and the piercing squeal of some kind of animals. “And if this is indeed Melyukovka, then it is even stranger that we drove God knows where, and arrived at Melyukovka,” thought Nikolai.
Indeed, it was Melyukovka, and girls and lackeys with candles and joyful faces ran out to the entrance.
- Who it? - they asked from the entrance.
“The counts are dressed up, I can see by the horses,” the voices answered.

Pelageya Danilovna Melyukova, a broad, energetic woman, in glasses and a swinging bonnet, was sitting in the living room, surrounded by her daughters, whom she tried not to let get bored. They quietly poured wax and looked at the shadows of the coming out figures, when steps and voices of visitors rustled in the front.
Hussars, ladies, witches, payas, bears, clearing their throats and wiping their frost-covered faces in the hall, entered the hall, where candles were hurriedly lit. Clown - Dimmler with the mistress - Nikolai opened the dance. Surrounded by screaming children, mummers, covering their faces and changing their voices, bowed to the hostess and moved around the room.
"Oh, you can't find out! And Natasha is! Look who she looks like! Right, it reminds me of someone. Eduard then Karlych how good! I didn't recognize. Yes, how she dances! Ah, fathers, and some kind of Circassian; right, how goes Sonyushka. Who else is this? Well, consoled! Take the tables, Nikita, Vanya. And we were so quiet!
- Ha ha ha! ... Hussar then, hussar then! Like a boy, and legs!… I can’t see… – voices were heard.
Natasha, the favorite of the young Melyukovs, disappeared together with them into the back rooms, where a cork was demanded and various dressing gowns and men's dresses, which, through the open door, received bare girlish hands from the footman. Ten minutes later, all the youth of the Melyukov family joined the mummers.
Pelageya Danilovna, having disposed of the clearing of the place for the guests and treats for the gentlemen and servants, without taking off her glasses, with a suppressed smile, walked among the mummers, looking closely into their faces and not recognizing anyone. She did not recognize not only the Rostovs and Dimmler, but she could not recognize either her daughters or those husband's dressing gowns and uniforms that were on them.
- And whose is this? she said, turning to her governess and looking into the face of her daughter, who represented the Kazan Tatar. - It seems that someone from the Rostovs. Well, you, mister hussar, in which regiment do you serve? she asked Natasha. “Give the Turk some marshmallows,” she said to the bartender who was scolding, “this is not forbidden by their law.
Sometimes, looking at the strange but funny steps performed by the dancers, who decided once and for all that they were dressed up, that no one would recognize them and therefore were not embarrassed, Pelageya Danilovna covered herself with a scarf, and her whole fat body shook from the irrepressible kind, old woman's laughter . - Sachinet is mine, Sachinet is mine! she said.
After Russian dances and round dances, Pelageya Danilovna united all the servants and gentlemen together, in one large circle; they brought a ring, a rope and a ruble, and general games were arranged.
After an hour, all the costumes were wrinkled and upset. Cork mustaches and eyebrows smeared over sweaty, flushed, and cheerful faces. Pelageya Danilovna began to recognize the mummers, admired how well the costumes were made, how they went especially to the young ladies, and thanked everyone for having so amused her. The guests were invited to dine in the living room, and in the hall they ordered refreshments for the courtyards.
- No, guessing in the bathhouse, that's scary! said the old girl who lived with the Melyukovs at dinner.
- From what? asked the eldest daughter of the Melyukovs.
- Don't go, it takes courage...
"I'll go," Sonya said.
- Tell me, how was it with the young lady? - said the second Melyukova.
- Yes, just like that, one young lady went, - said the old girl, - she took a rooster, two appliances - as it should, she sat down. She sat, only hears, suddenly rides ... with bells, with bells, a sleigh drove up; hears, goes. Enters completely in the form of a human, as an officer, he came and sat down with her at the device.
- BUT! Ah! ... - Natasha screamed, rolling her eyes in horror.
“But how does he say that?”
- Yes, like a man, everything is as it should be, and he began, and began to persuade, and she should have kept him talking to the roosters; and she made money; – only zarobela and closed hands. He grabbed her. It's good that the girls came running here ...
- Well, what to scare them! said Pelageya Danilovna.
“Mother, you yourself guessed ...” said the daughter.
- And how do they guess in the barn? Sonya asked.
- Yes, at least now, they will go to the barn, and they will listen. What do you hear: hammering, knocking - bad, but pouring bread - this is good; and then it happens...
- Mom, tell me what happened to you in the barn?
Pelageya Danilovna smiled.
“Yes, I forgot…” she said. “After all, you won’t go, will you?”
- No, I'll go; Pepageya Danilovna, let me go, I'll go, - said Sonya.
- Well, if you're not afraid.
- Louise Ivanovna, can I have one? Sonya asked.
Whether they played a ring, a rope or a ruble, whether they talked, as now, Nikolai did not leave Sonya and looked at her with completely new eyes. It seemed to him that today only for the first time, thanks to that cork mustache, he fully recognized her. Sonya really was cheerful that evening, lively and good, such as Nikolay had never seen her before.
“So that’s what she is, but I’m a fool!” he thought, looking at her sparkling eyes and a happy, enthusiastic smile, dimpled from under her moustache, which he had not seen before.
"I'm not afraid of anything," said Sonya. - Can I do it now? She got up. Sonya was told where the barn was, how she could stand silently and listen, and they gave her a fur coat. She threw it over her head and looked at Nikolai.
"What a beauty this girl is!" he thought. “And what have I been thinking about until now!”
Sonya went out into the corridor to go to the barn. Nikolai hurriedly went to the front porch, saying that he was hot. Indeed, the house was stuffy from the crowded people.
It was the same unmoving cold outside, the same month, only it was even lighter. The light was so strong and there were so many stars in the snow that I didn’t want to look at the sky, and real stars were invisible. It was black and dull in the sky, it was fun on the ground.
"I'm a fool, a fool! What have you been waiting for until now? Nikolay thought, and, running away to the porch, he walked around the corner of the house along the path that led to the back porch. He knew that Sonya would go here. In the middle of the road stood stacked fathoms of firewood, there was snow on them, a shadow fell from them; through them and from their side, intertwining, the shadows of old bare lindens fell on the snow and the path. The path led to the barn. The chopped wall of the barn and the roof, covered with snow, as if carved from some kind of precious stone, gleamed in the moonlight. A tree cracked in the garden, and again everything was completely quiet. The chest, it seemed, was breathing not air, but some kind of eternally young strength and joy.
From the girl's porch, feet pounded on the steps, a loud creak creaked on the last one, on which snow had been applied, and the voice of the old girl said:
“Straight, straight, here on the path, young lady. Just don't look back.
“I’m not afraid,” Sonya’s voice answered, and along the path, in the direction of Nikolai, Sonya’s legs screeched, whistled in thin shoes.
Sonya walked wrapped in a fur coat. She was already two steps away when she saw him; she saw him, too, not in the same way as she knew and of whom she had always been a little afraid. He was in a woman's dress with tangled hair and a happy and new smile for Sonya. Sonya quickly ran up to him.
"Quite different, and still the same," Nikolai thought, looking at her face, all illuminated by moonlight. He put his hands under the fur coat that covered her head, hugged her, pressed her to him and kissed her lips, over which there were mustaches and which smelled of burnt cork. Sonya kissed him right in the middle of her lips and, holding out her small hands, took his cheeks on both sides.
“Sonya!… Nicolas!…” they only said. They ran to the barn and returned each from their own porch.

When everyone drove back from Pelageya Danilovna, Natasha, who always saw and noticed everything, arranged accommodation in such a way that Louise Ivanovna and she sat in the sleigh with Dimmler, and Sonya sat with Nikolai and the girls.
Nikolai, no longer overtaking, was steadily driving back, and still peering into Sonya in this strange, moonlight, in this ever-changing light, from under the eyebrows and mustaches, his former and present Sonya, with whom he had decided never to to be separated. He peered, and when he recognized the same and the other and remembered, hearing this smell of cork, mixed with the feeling of a kiss, he breathed in the frosty air with full breasts and, looking at the leaving earth and the brilliant sky, he felt again in a magical kingdom.
Sonya, are you okay? he occasionally asked.
“Yes,” answered Sonya. - And you?
In the middle of the road, Nikolai let the coachman hold the horses, ran up to Natasha's sleigh for a minute and stood to the side.
“Natasha,” he said to her in a whisper in French, “you know, I made up my mind about Sonya.
- Did you tell her? Natasha asked, all of a sudden beaming with joy.
- Oh, how strange you are with those mustaches and eyebrows, Natasha! Are you happy?
- I'm so glad, so glad! I've been angry with you. I didn't tell you, but you did bad things to her. It's such a heart, Nicolas. I am so glad! I can be ugly, but I was ashamed to be alone happy without Sonya, Natasha continued. - Now I'm so glad, well, run to her.
- No, wait, oh, how funny you are! - said Nikolai, still peering into her, and in his sister, too, finding something new, unusual and charmingly tender, which he had not seen in her before. - Natasha, something magical. BUT?
“Yes,” she answered, “you did well.
“If I had seen her the way she is now,” Nikolai thought, “I would have asked a long time ago what to do and would have done whatever she ordered, and everything would have been fine.”
“So you’re happy, and I did well?”
– Oh, so good! I recently got into a fight with my mom about this. Mom said she's catching you. How can this be said? I almost got into a fight with my mom. And I will never allow anyone to say or think anything bad about her, because there is only good in her.
- So good? - said Nikolai, once again looking for the expression on his sister's face to find out if this was true, and, hiding with his boots, he jumped off the branch and ran to his sleigh. The same happy, smiling Circassian, with a mustache and sparkling eyes, looking out from under a sable bonnet, was sitting there, and this Circassian was Sonya, and this Sonya was probably his future, happy and loving wife.
Arriving home and telling their mother about how they spent time with the Melyukovs, the young ladies went to their place. Having undressed, but not erasing the cork mustache, they sat for a long time, talking about their happiness. They talked about how they would live married, how their husbands would be friendly and how happy they would be.
On Natasha's table there were mirrors prepared by Dunyasha since the evening. – When will all this be? I'm afraid never... That would be too good! - said Natasha, getting up and going to the mirrors.
“Sit down, Natasha, maybe you will see him,” said Sonya. Natasha lit the candles and sat down. “I see someone with a mustache,” said Natasha, who saw her own face.
“Don’t laugh, young lady,” said Dunyasha.
With the help of Sonya and the maid, Natasha found a position for the mirror; her face took on a serious expression, and she fell silent. For a long time she sat, looking at the row of departing candles in the mirrors, assuming (considering the stories she had heard) that she would see the coffin, that she would see him, Prince Andrei, in this last, merging, vague square. But no matter how ready she was to take the slightest spot for the image of a person or a coffin, she did not see anything. She blinked rapidly and moved away from the mirror.
“Why do others see, but I don’t see anything?” - she said. - Well, sit down, Sonya; now you definitely need it, ”she said. - Only for me ... I'm so scared today!
Sonya sat down at the mirror, arranged the situation, and began to look.
“They will certainly see Sofya Alexandrovna,” Dunyasha said in a whisper; - and you're laughing.
Sonya heard these words, and heard Natasha say in a whisper:
“And I know what she will see; she saw last year.
For three minutes everyone was silent. "Definitely!" Natasha whispered and did not finish ... Suddenly Sonya pushed aside the mirror that she was holding and covered her eyes with her hand.
- Oh, Natasha! - she said.
- Did you see it? Did you see? What did you see? cried Natasha, holding up the mirror.
Sonya didn’t see anything, she just wanted to blink her eyes and get up when she heard Natasha’s voice saying “by all means” ... She didn’t want to deceive either Dunyasha or Natasha, and it was hard to sit. She herself did not know how and why a cry escaped her when she covered her eyes with her hand.
- Did you see him? Natasha asked, grabbing her hand.
- Yes. Wait ... I ... saw him, ”Sonya said involuntarily, still not knowing who Natasha meant by his word: him - Nikolai or him - Andrei.
“But why shouldn’t I tell you what I saw? Because others see it! And who can convict me of what I saw or did not see? flashed through Sonya's head.
“Yes, I saw him,” she said.
- How? How? Is it worth it or is it lying?
- No, I saw ... That was nothing, suddenly I see that he is lying.
- Andrey lies? He is sick? - Natasha asked with frightened fixed eyes looking at her friend.
- No, on the contrary - on the contrary, a cheerful face, and he turned to me - and at the moment she spoke, it seemed to her that she saw what she was saying.
- Well, then, Sonya? ...
- Here I did not consider something blue and red ...
– Sonya! when will he return? When I see him! My God, how I fear for him and for myself, and for everything I am afraid ... - Natasha spoke, and without answering a word to Sonya's consolations, she lay down in bed and long after the candle was put out, with her eyes open, lay motionless on bed and looked at the frosty, moonlight through the frozen windows.

Soon after Christmas, Nikolai announced to his mother his love for Sonya and his firm decision to marry her. The countess, who had long noticed what was happening between Sonya and Nikolai, and was expecting this explanation, silently listened to his words and told her son that he could marry whomever he wanted; but that neither she nor his father would give him blessings for such a marriage. For the first time, Nikolai felt that his mother was unhappy with him, that despite all her love for him, she would not give in to him. She, coldly and without looking at her son, sent for her husband; and when he arrived, the countess wanted to briefly and coldly tell him what was the matter in the presence of Nikolai, but she could not stand it: she burst into tears of annoyance and left the room. The old count began to hesitantly admonish Nicholas and ask him to abandon his intention. Nicholas replied that he could not change his word, and his father, sighing and obviously embarrassed, very soon interrupted his speech and went to the countess. In all clashes with his son, the count did not leave the consciousness of his guilt before him for the disorder of affairs, and therefore he could not be angry with his son for refusing to marry a rich bride and for choosing Sonya without a dowry - he only on this occasion more vividly recalled that, if things had not been upset, it would be impossible for Nicholas to wish for a better wife than Sonya; and that only he, with his Mitenka and his irresistible habits, is to blame for the disorder of affairs.

Three-toed woodpecker, or yellow-headed woodpecker (lat. Picoides tridactylus) is a bird of the woodpecker family.

A small bird with a rather large head and a sharp beak; slightly smaller than the Great Spotted Woodpecker, but half the size of the Lesser Spotted Woodpecker. Length 21-24 cm, wingspan 33-37 cm, weight 50-90 g. The plumage is black and white, but from the side it looks rather dark because of the predominantly black sides and wings. Red markings on the head and undertail, characteristic of other woodpeckers, are absent. Instead of them, the male and young birds of both sexes have a lemon-yellow cap on the crown, the female has a silver-gray cap with dark streaks. On the sides of the head there is an alternation of black and white stripes, one of which forms a narrow "mustache" from the angle of the beak, and the second stretches from the eye and descends along the side of the neck. A white stripe runs along the back from the neck to the rump - clearly visible in most forms and poorly developed in the alpinus subspecies inhabiting the mountains of Central Europe. The lower part is whitish with dark markings of a longitudinal, transverse or V-shaped shape; the intensity of these marks decreases from west to east and from north to south. There are 3 fingers on the foot - two pointing forward and one back. The fourth finger is reduced. The flight is fast and straight. The distribution area is a strip of coniferous and mixed forests of Eurasia from Scandinavia and Central Europe east to Kamchatka, Sakhalin, Hokkaido and the Korean Peninsula. Inhabits mature coniferous and mixed forests of the taiga type, often oppressed or dry. In Central and Eastern Europe, it settles in mountainous wooded areas between 650 and 1900 m above sea level, choosing hard-to-reach slopes overgrown with coniferous trees - spruce, pine, European cedar, or semi-marshy areas with ash and alder, as well as oak- hornbeam groves. In northern Europe, it breeds in mature and overmature forests dominated by spruce and fir. In Siberia, it is common in continuous dark coniferous taiga and larch forests. Everywhere it prefers low-lying flooded areas of the old forest, where there are many diseased and dead trees. Often found in burnt areas, clearings, on the outskirts of swamps. It feeds on insects, mainly larvae and pupae of xylophages. Among the beetles, bark beetles and barbels predominate, to a lesser extent it feeds on leaf beetles, gold beetles, weevils, ground beetles, pied beetles, narrow beetles and some others. Of the moths, it eats the larvae of scoops, moths, leafworms and woodworms. In addition to eating wood, it sometimes eats other invertebrates - ants, spiders, stoneflies, grasshoppers, flies, bees, even mollusks. From vegetable feed it feeds on tree sap, occasionally eats rowan berries. Cones do not hammer. Most often, it obtains food from under the bark of trees, sometimes managing to peel off a large spruce in a day, where up to 10 thousand bark beetle larvae can hide. In summer, it also often catches openly crawling insects. Less often it hammers rotten wood or searches the surface of trunks and branches. If the tree is not completely cleared at once, return to it the next day. After the snow has melted, he examines the boughs lying on the ground and the rotten stumps covered with moss. Feeding on the surface of the earth is very rare. It usually feeds at a height of 1-3 m from the ground, giving preference to dead trees, often lopsided or lying on their side. During the nesting period, males, on average, forage slightly lower than females, preferring stumps and choosing larger trunks. On the other hand, females sometimes feed on living trees.

According to the classification of endangered species, the three-toed woodpecker is in the LC category - the risk of extinction is minimal.

Class: Aves = Birds
Order: Picariae, Piciformes = Woodpeckers, woodpeckers
Suborder: Galbulae = Yacamars, primitive woodpeckers
Family: Picidae = Woodpeckers
Species: Picoides arcticus = Black-backed three-toed woodpecker

Species: Picoides tridactylus Linnaeus = Three-toed woodpecker

The legs of this woodpecker are three-toed - hence its name. Of the three fingers, two are directed forward and one is backward, although it can turn to the side. The three-toed woodpecker is close in size to the thrush. The main color background is black and white, along which a transverse pattern is scattered on the sides, and sometimes on the abdomen. The undertail and upper back of the three-toed woodpecker are white. There are differences in the coloration of males and females; sexual dimorphism is noted. So, in males, the crown is golden in color, while in females it is white with dark streaks. The beautiful golden-yellow cap of the male consists of shiny narrow feathers, which he often raises with a ruff. The three-toed woodpecker looks darker than other spotted woodpeckers, especially in flight. And his flight is fast and straight.

The three-toed woodpecker is distributed almost throughout the entire forest zone of Russia, but it is more numerous in the north of its range. He prefers to settle in dense dark coniferous forests, where he mainly feeds on tree insects. To the south, in deciduous forests, the three-toed woodpecker does not enter. Therefore, in the European part of Russia, it does not nest south of the Moscow region and coniferous forests of the southern Urals. In Siberia, its range extends over the taiga region, including to Kamchatka and Sakhalin. This woodpecker is found both in Western Europe and in the north of the American mainland, and in the south of the Asian part of the range it penetrates into Mongolia and Dzungaria.

The three-toed woodpecker nests in coniferous and mixed forests, where in spring you can hear its quiet and short drum trill. To build a nest, he chooses shady and damp places, sometimes even swamps. It has also been noticed that the three-toed woodpecker settles even more willingly in conflagrations and burned areas, which is associated with the presence of a large number of dead trees in such forest areas.

The three-toed woodpecker builds its nest in the hollows of trees, like other woodpeckers. For this purpose, he most often chooses dry, rotten trunks of fir trees, placing hollows at a height of 1-6 m from the ground.

In the nest of the three-toed woodpecker, one can often find very abundant litter, the layer thickness of which can reach up to 60 mm. The diameter of the hollow used to build a nest in a three-toed woodpecker can vary between 60-140 mm, the depth of the hollow is 200-300 mm. At the same time, the size of the notch is smaller than that of the large motley woodpecker.

The mating season for the three-toed woodpecker falls in mid-spring, and females usually lay their eggs in May. The clutch usually consists of 3-5 white eggs, the sizes of which vary within the following limits: (21-28) x (16-19) mm. Incubation of eggs and feeding of chicks occur in June and the first half of July. Young birds flying out of the hollow can be observed from the second half of July. By the end of August - beginning of September, the young not only lead an independent life, but by this time they already have time to molt and change their nesting plumage to an adult plumage.

The three-toed woodpecker is a sedentary bird, which is one of our most useful birds that inhabit coniferous forests. Due to the fact that, unlike other insectivorous species, the three-toed woodpecker does not fly away for the winter, it diligently destroys forest pests all year round.

In non-nesting time, three-toed woodpeckers stay alone, slowly fly from tree to tree, search the bark of coniferous and deciduous trees, and crush soft rotten wood. In autumn, you can quite often see up to a dozen three-toed woodpeckers at the same time, silently flying from tree to tree, never uttering a cry.