English and Romanian
The little owl (Athene noctua) is a bird that inhabits much of the temperate and warmer parts of Europe, Asia east to Korea, and north Africa. It was introduced into Britain at the end of the nineteenth century and into the South Island of New Zealand in the early twentieth century.
This owl is a member of the typical or true owl family, Strigidae, which contains most species of owl, the other grouping being the barn owls, Tytonidae. It is a small, cryptically coloured, mainly nocturnal species and is found in a range of habitats including farmland, woodland fringes, steppes and semi-deserts. It feeds on insects, earthworms, other invertebrates and small vertebrates. Males hold territories which they defend against intruders. This owl is a cavity nester and a clutch of about four eggs is laid in spring. The female does the incubation and the male brings food to the nest, first for the female and later for the newly hatched young. As the chicks grow, both parents hunt and bring them food, and the chicks leave the nest at about seven weeks of age.
Being a common species with a wide range and large total population, the International Union for Conservation of Nature has assessed its conservation status as "least concern".
Cucuveaua sau huhurezul de stâncă (Athene noctua) este o pasăre din familiaStrigidae, care viețuiește în mare parte în zonele temperate și calde din Europa, Asia și de nordul Africii.
Cucuveaua este de fapt o bufniță de talie mai mică (23–27 cm), cu un penaj cenușiu deschis, având ochii (irisul) de culoare galbenă. Are o coadă scurtă, fiind o pasăre care este activă și ziua și noaptea.
Există două tipuri de bufnițe: Strigidae și Tytonidae. Bufnița vânează insecte și mamifere mai mici, inclusiv unele păsări, cu toate că unele se specializează în a vâna pește.
Oul de bufniță este mai alb și are o formă aproximativ sferică. Aceasta poate depune de la câteva până la o duzină, depunerea lor durând între o zi și trei zile. Nu eclozează în același timp.
Cucuveaua trăiește în zonele cu climă temperată din Europa, Africa de Nord și Asia. Populația de cucuvele din Germania era în anul 2003 de circa 6000 de perechi, crescând în anul următor la aproximativ 7400 de perechi.
Pasărea preferă regiunile de pădure cu luminișuri sau regiunile stâncoase deschise, precum și grădinile cu pomi bătrâni. Are nevoie de scorburi sau găuri pentru cuibărit, locuri cu ascunzișuri și de pândă. Poate fi întâlnită și în clădiri abandonate sau adăposturi artificiale, acomodându-se ușor cu oamenii. Cucuveaua din Asia Centrală și Asia de Estare cuibul frecvent pe sol.
Cucuveaua nu este o pasăre migratoare, pe timpul iernii folosindu-se de un depozit de grăsime acumulat în corp în anotimpurile calde.
Speranța de viață a unei cucuvele este de 9 ani în sălbăticie și până la 18 ani în captivitate.
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English and Romanian
The bee-eaters are a group of near-passerine birds in the family Meropidae. Most species are found in Africa and Asia but others occur in southern Europe, Australia, and New Guinea. They are characterised by richly coloured plumage, slender bodies, and usually elongated central tail feathers. All have long downturned bills and pointed wings, which give them a swallow-like appearance when seen from afar. There are 26 different species of bee-eaters.
As the name suggests, bee-eaters predominantly eat flying insects, especially bees and wasps, which are caught in the air bysallies from an open perch. While they pursue any type of flying insect, honey bees predominate in their diet. Hymenoptera(ants, bees and wasps) comprise from 20% to 96% of all insects eaten, with honey bees comprising approximately one-third of the Hymenoptera. In the Hymenoptera order, the specific species Apis dorsata is commonly eaten by these birds. These bees attempt to congregate in a mass defense against these birds.
Before eating its meal, a bee-eater removes the stinger by repeatedly hitting and rubbing the insect on a hard surface. During this process, pressure is applied to the insect thereby extracting most of the venom. Notably, the birds only catch prey that are on the wing and ignore flying insects once they land.
Bee-eaters are gregarious. They form colonies by nesting in burrows tunnelled into the side of sandy banks, such as those that have collapsed on the edges of rivers. Their eggs are white and they generally produce 2–9 eggs per clutch (depending on species). As they live in colonies, large numbers of these holes are often seen together, white streaks from their accumulated droppings accentuating the entrances to the nests. Most of the species in the family are monogamous, and both parents care for the young, sometimes with the assistance of other birds in the colony, a behavior considered unusual for birds.
Prigoriile sau meropidele (Meropidae) sunt o familie de păsări din ordinul coraciiformelor (Coraciiformes) alcătuită din 3 genuri și 26 de specii, răspândite mai ales în regiunea tropicală și subtropicală din Asia, Africa și Australia, ajungând însă și în Europa. Sunt păsări cățărătoare mici, cu penajul viu și divers colorat, picioare scurte, ale căror degete anterioare sunt concrescute la baza lor (degete de tip sindactil). Corpul lor este foarte alungit, aripile lungi și ascuțite și coada lungă. Ciocul lor este alungit, subțire și ascuțit la capăt, și puțin arcuit în jos. Sunt zburătoare iuți și rezistente. Vânează insectele, în special libelule și himenoptere (albine, viespi) din zbor; ele înghit himenopterele fără a le îndepărta acul, sau fără ca veninul acestora să le vatăme. Locuiesc în savană, păduri sau în regiuni deschise, în tufărișurile din deșerturi, de la nivelul mării până la 2600 m altitudine. Sunt păsări gregare, clocesc în colonii, săpându-și cu ciocul în maluri niște galerii adânci de 50-350 cm, care se termină într-un spațiu mai larg, numită vatră, unde-și depun ponta. După cuibărit puii zboară în grupuri, împreună cu adulții, pentru a vâna insecte.
În România trăiește o singură specie, prigoarea, care este migratoare.
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Sheepherding is among the oldest occupations, beginnin some 5,000 years ago in Asia Minor. Sheep were kept for their milk, meatand especially their wool. Over the next thousand years, sheep and shepherding spread throughout Eurasia. Henri Fleisch tentatively suggested the Shepherd Neolithic industry of Lebanon may date to the Epipaleolithic and that it may have been used by one of the first cultures of nomadic shepherds in the Beqaa Valley.
Some sheep were integrated in the family farm along with other animals such as chickens and pigs. To maintain a large flock, however, the sheep must be able to move from pasture to pasture; this required the development of an occupation separate from that of the farmer. The duty of shepherds was to keep their flock intact, protect it from predators and guide it to market areas in time forshearing. In ancient times shepherds also commonly milked their sheep, and made cheese from this milk; few shepherds still do this today.
In many societies, shepherds were an important part of the economy. Unlike farmers, shepherds were often wage earners, being paid to watch the sheep of others. Shepherds also lived apart from society, being largely nomadic. It was mainly a job of solitary males without children, and new shepherds thus needed to be recruited externally. Shepherds were most often the younger sons of farming peasants who did not inherit any land. In other societies, each family would have a family member to shepherd its flock, often a child, youth or an elder who couldn't help much with harder work; these shepherds were fully integrated in society.
Shepherds would normally work in groups either looking after one large flock, or each bringing their own and merging their responsibilities. They would live in small cabins, often shared with their sheep, and would buy food from local communities. Less often shepherds lived in covered wagons that traveled with their flocks.
Shepherding developed only in certain areas. In the lowlands and river valleys, it was far more efficient to grow grain and cereals than to allow sheep to graze, thus the raising of sheep was confined to rugged and mountainous areas. In pre-modern times shepherding was thus centered on regions such as the Middle East, Greece, the Pyrenees, the Carpathian Mountains, and Scotland...
Sheep can feed on rough pasture which is unsuitable for cattle or agriculture, including mountainous terrain. Seasonal herding along mountainous routes gave rise to what are now known as drovers' roads. A strong, multi-purpose stick can be used for balance, examining dangerous undergrowth and for defence against attack by predators.
The innovation of a hook facilitates the recovery of fallen animals by ensnaring them by neck or leg. For this reason the crook has been used as a religious symbol of care (particularly in difficult circumstances) such the badge of office for a Mithraic Pater and the Christian bishops' crosier. The shepherd's crook is also symbolic of the spiritual Kundalini energy described in Eastern religions, which rises up the spine and over into the Third Eye (pineal gland) and Crown Chakra (pituitary gland) when a being reaches enlightenment.
In modern times, shepherding has changed dramatically. The abolition of common lands in Europe in the eighteenth and nineteenth century moved shepherding from independent nomads to employees of massive estates. Some families in Africa and Asia have their wealth in sheep, so a young son is sent out to guard them while the rest of the family tend to other chores. In the USA, many sheep herds are flocked over public BLM lands.
Wages are higher than was the case in the past. Keeping a shepherd in constant attendance can be costly. Also, the eradication of sheep predators in parts of the world have lessened the need for shepherds. In places like Britain, hardy breeds of sheep are frequently left alone without a shepherd for long periods of time. More productive breeds of sheep can be left in fields and moved periodically to fresh pasture when necessary. Hardier breeds of sheep can be left on hillsides. The sheep farmer will attend to the sheep when necessary at times like lambing or shearing.
