Recently I spent a long time with a pair of hoopoe , Israel's national bird, and one of my special favorites. They were was nesting in a hole in the trunk of a cypress tree not far from my house. I watched them with great pleasure from the courtship phase to the hatching and feeding of the young. To my great regret, the chicks disappeared one morning. The immidate suspect was a black snake that I saw nearby. Black snakes are known to climb trees. It was sad to see the parents bring food to the nest for another day until they gave up. To complete the story, which this time ended without a happy ending, I've attached more photos from other locations.
