Kremlin hawks. Who and how guards the residence of the President of the Russian Federation from the air? Eagle Filya and the Kremlin Ornithological Service At the service in the Kremlin

Ornithological Service of the Moscow Kremlin, which included specially trained interceptors falcons and hawks, was replenished with another wise and skillful fighter - an owl named Phil, which is often affectionately called Philya.

The duties of a unique flying detachment include the protection of the Kremlin cathedrals from crow, damaging the gilding on the domes and spiers of cathedrals with their claws and destroying nightingales and other songbirds on the territory of the main fortress of Russia.

In addition, winged predators drive away flocks of city pigeons, which eat away at historical buildings and monuments.

The commandant of the Kremlin, Lieutenant General of the FSO Sergei Khlebnikov told RIA Novosti that The ornithological service in the Kremlin has existed since the 1970s, and, as practice has shown, the use of natural enemies of crows is much more effective than the use of noise complexes and other technical means to repel pests.
General Khlebnikov noted that: “Even in ancient times, the practice of falconry existed at the princely court. And today, the use of birds in the fight against crows is a tribute to those traditions that arose back in the days of the ancient Russian state.

Interestingly, falconry in Rus' was considered a subtle and refined art, and the great empresses Anna Ioannovna and Catherine II were fond of it.

Gray crows have lived on Borovitsky Hill since ancient times. Alexander Garden is a traditional roosting place for crows. The place near the Kremlin has always been the warmest in the city.
Every evening, huge flocks of crows (several thousand individuals) hung over the Kremlin towers.

Having circled with dreary cries over the fortress, the birds descended to spend the night on the trees in the Alexander Garden. In the morning, a flock of crows left the Kremlin with an unimaginable noise, and most of the birds went to feast in the country dumps.

"Feathered wolves", as the raven was called by the people, literally overcame priceless historical buildings, tearing off the precious gilding from the domes with their claws and beaks and causing much more damage than the harsh climate and urban smog.

According to ornithologists, crows in their mating dances usually move down the slopes of roofs, and shiny and slippery golden domes attract these strong and intelligent birds as a special entertainment.

It must be said that the appearance of flocks of gray crows and their cries in Rus' since ancient times were considered a harbinger of troubles, hunger or wars. Unlike the famous black ravens in the Tower of London (eng. Ravens of the Tower of London), which are a symbol of the power and invincibility of the capital and the British Monarchy.

Hordes of crows have been fought in the Kremlin for a long time. During the time of V.I. Lenin sentries often fired at them with rifles, which prevented the leader from working. It was forbidden to shoot birds on the territory of the Kremlin. In addition, smart and observant crows quickly learned how far from the shooter to fly away from the shooter so that they would not be hit by bullets.

A protracted and painful war with the crows began: they tried to poison them - the crows ignored dangerous baits; birds were frightened by bright light reflections, but they quickly ceased to be afraid of flashes; began to use a variety of frightening noise effects, including the cries of birds of prey and the cries of danger of the crows themselves, but the crows quickly learned not to associate these noises with real danger and threat to their lives.

Then, clever mesh traps with food were placed against the crows in the Kremlin, where the bird could fly in, but was not able to get out. But this expensive experiment did not bring the desired results. There were more than 5,000 ravens in the Kremlin, huge funds were spent on the permanent restoration of the gilding.

The crows began to feel like real masters in the Kremlin, and during the mating season they were not afraid of anything at all and even swooped down on tourists in flocks, dirtied the cars of Politburo members and benches in the Alexander Garden.

There is even a legend that in the summer ravens flew through open windows into the offices of party chiefs and stole documents from the table.

That's when the patience of the commandant's office of the Kremlin finally snapped, and in the 70s it was decided to create in the Kremlin ornithological department of the special Kremlin regiment.

This task was also not at all easy - one trained fighting falcon costs about 20 thousand dollars at the same time, it is necessary to train the birds right on the spot for about two years!

Interestingly, in nature, neither falcons nor hawks are ever associated with strong and dangerous crows that can inflict serious injury on them. A flock of crows in general can quickly beat a predator to death.

On the eve of the Olympics-80, the then commandant of the Kremlin, Sergei Shornikov, finally matured a plan, according to which it was proposed to throw falcons to fight the crows. Specialists came to the aid of the restorers and the military, who literally created an entire ornithological station from scratch.

In the Tainitsky Garden, closed to visitors, overlooking the embankment of the Moskva River, not far from the guardhouse of the Kremlin regiment and food warehouses, two large enclosures were built, gyrfalcons and saker falcons were settled there (the two most combat-ready species of hunting falcons, reaching a length of 60 centimeters) and engaged in the training of flying fighters.

At the same time, conscripts and officers of a special Kremlin regiment began to teach the tricks of falconry.

Completely unprepared birds got into the Kremlin. They took a special hunting course already in the fortress according to a unique methodology developed by the FSO employees themselves for feathered fighters.

Capricious and touchy falcons were patiently tamed, and it was forbidden to punish vindictive birds of prey. Finally, the birds learned, on command, to take off and land on a falconer's special leather gauntlet (gaiter), and then, on command, to rush at the victim.

Members of the detachment say that each of the birds has its own character and characteristics in communication, each has its own favorite trainer. Birds feel the shades of human mood and love to be treated confidently, without fear and with respect.

Soon the soldiers and officers of the ornithological service began to clear the territory of the Kremlin from crows, several times a day patrolling the vast territory of the main fortress of our country - 28 hectares.

This is the hard work that the precious fighters of this winged detachment do, however, according to experts, it would take much more money to clean up the territory and ancient monuments, restore gilding on the domes of the Kremlin churches by other methods.

Now Moscow specialists are working on the restoration of the population of birds of prey listed in the Red Book in the natural conditions of the urban environment. Peregrine falcons are perfect for this. They nested in cities in ancient times, and in modern megacities they feel quite comfortable.

According to the Kultura TV channel, until 1928 falcons lived on the bell tower of Ivan the Great, and until 1938 - on the Trinity Tower. The architecture there, with a lot of niches, is very reminiscent of a mountain landscape, that is, the place where the peregrine falcon could nest today.

Peregrine falcons in Moscow also often nested on "Stalin's skyscrapers" - the building of Moscow State University, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the skyscraper on Kotelnicheskaya embankment.

Scientists hope that soon the peregrine falcon population in Moscow and Russia as a whole will be restored.

Note. This article uses photographs from open sources on the Internet, all rights belong to their authors, if you think that the publication of any photo violates your rights, please contact me using the form in the section, the photo will be deleted immediately.

On April 1st, the world celebrates not only the famous April Fool's Day, but also the International Day of Birds. And the companions of man throughout his history were not only stupid laying hens and canaries, but also noble predators - hawks and falcons. Falconry in Russia reached its peak under Tsar Alexei Mikhailovich, father of Peter the Great. But the ancient entertainment is not forgotten: not everyone knows that these beautiful birds of prey are still in the service of the Kremlin and airports, protecting the lives of passengers from crows that accidentally get into the engines. You can get acquainted with the ancient fun in the museum-reserve "Kolomenskoye".

Predator Fitness

Every day falconers from Kolomenskoye Viktor Mikhailovich Fedorov and Vladimir Skripkin walk with their wards - falcons and hawks. It is necessary to walk so that the falcon does not lose its flying skills, and its muscles do not atrophy. The bird is taken out into the wild, the “hood” cap covering its eyes is removed (by the way, “pull up” comes from this word) and freed from the fetters - the ropes by which the falconer holds it. Now the falcon can fly wherever it wants.

"It's spring now, hormones are playing, theoretically a bird can fly away," Fedorov warns. However, this rarely happens, although from time to time falconers have to go to the other side of the Moskva River, then to residential areas near the reserve.

"Each bird has its own character, no worse than that of a dog or a person," says Viktor Mikhailovich. One bird is calmer, he calls the other "a wayward lady": "She is a fool, she can shy away in the face."

Hunting instincts are drowned out in Kolomna birds, but it happens that nature takes its toll - it happened that Kolomna falcons caught a cat from neighboring houses or a duck from Kolomna ponds. It is not easy for falcons to live in the park in general - falconers are in conflict with local residents who walk with dogs: falcons are afraid of dogs. From fear, the bird may not return to the owner after a walk. However, falcons themselves are dangerous for small dogs.

Fedorov carefully looks into the sky, at the soaring bird. It seems that she has already walked up: she flies slowly, her beak is opened - shortness of breath. It's time to call home. From the "tidbit", a bag for meat, the falconer takes out a gutted mouse. It's a well-deserved lunch for a "lady." The mouse is attached to a lure - a special leather piece for baiting a falcon. Wabilo is called so from the verb "vabit" - to invite. He is known to us by the word "got used to" - this is how they say about a person who was invited once, and he liked it so much that he keeps coming and coming.

The falconer begins to "invite" the bird - he swings the lure like a lasso. “The falcon sees two kilometers,” he comments. “The predator is accustomed to the lure and understands that this is a source of food.”

Some falcons react immediately, obstinate "ladies", on the contrary, pretend that they do not notice the lure. Finally, from somewhere above - you do not have time to notice from where - the bird rushes to the bait.

Upon returning from a walk, another important ritual is to weigh the bird. So they monitor her physical condition. The bird should not lose much weight - because then it will be weak. But it should not gain weight either - after all, a well-fed bird can simply run away from its breadwinners.

Biological weapon against predator

It is in "Kolomenskoye" - the former royal estate, and now a museum-reserve - that you can look at real hunting falcons and get some idea of ​​how falconry looked like in tsarist times. The exposition "Falconry of Tsar Alexei Mikhailovich" was created here, because Kolomenskoye was one of those places where the tsars were engaged in falconry.

There is on the territory of the Dyakonova Gora reserve. In Soviet times, excavations were carried out on the hill and the remains of a certain gazebo were found. Scientists suggest that the gazebo was used during the "tasting" of falcons. Predators were examined by training on pigeons.

Now 11 tamed birds live in the reserve - goshawks, long-legged buzzard, saker falcons, and even one eagle owl. Two falconers work in Kolomenskoye - the experienced Viktor Mikhailovich Fedorov and the neophyte Volodya Skripkin.

Viktor Mikhailovich's position is officially called "head of the bird section of the Kolomenskoye park-estate." It is clear from his jacket torn by bird claws that he is a professional.

He is a little over 50, a techie by education, but he became interested in birds even before the army. “I climbed trees, sat there for days to take a picture or record a voice ... I went to the toilet in a jar so as not to go down,” he recalls. Then Fedorov worked at the Research Institute of Nature, at Izmailovo he entertained tourists with falcons. He is often invited to international exhibitions and to hunt in Europe or the United Arab Emirates.

Vladimir Skripkin, 38, is a rookie. All his adult life he worked as a process engineer. But a year ago, I accidentally met a friend with a raven on the street, and became interested, and then fell in love with birds. He soon changed jobs and is now a "bird care worker".

Volodya's favorite bird is the buzzard Lada. Buzzards, as the smallest hawks, are considered easier to handle, so beginners start with them. Therefore, Volodya drags her everywhere with him and came up with a nickname for her - Lada. "I am her parent," he says. "And she is an imprint" (an animal that takes the first moving object seen after birth as a parent). The buzzard is called that because the bird "buzzes" - it makes a characteristic sound all the time. "Well, don't cry," Vladimir soothes the bird.

Recently, an incident happened with the buzzard Lada - she chased after a rowan thrush, and he, don’t be a fool, took and used a secret weapon: simply speaking, he pissed her off. Ironically, this "biological" weapon works flawlessly: the buzzard Lada has lagged behind the thrush. The point is not the squeamishness of the birds, but the fact that the enemy droppings stick together the feathers of the predator. He cannot catch up with the victim, and in general it is dangerous to fly like this: you can fall. Instead of hunting, the bird has to urgently take care of its appearance.

Why does the falcon need "boden"

Falconry is a beautiful and complex process, Victor Fedorov tells the visitors of the exposition. The kings went hunting with whole armies - hounds in front, horse hunters follow them. On the shoulder or arm of the king and other hunters is a bird.

Dogs track down prey, but a bird - for example, a partridge - is in no hurry to take off. Then the drums come to the aid of the hunters - they are beaten to scare away the bird. The partridge rises into the air. The king lowers the bird. She rises into the sky and circles there - "stands in the air", as hunters call it: she tracks down prey and "waits for slaughter", that is, the moment when it will be possible to attack.

“This is a very beautiful process,” Viktor Mikhailovich says enthusiastically.

Finally, seeing a bird or a hare, the falcon falls down like a stone. For example, a peregrine falcon develops a speed of up to 80 meters per second.

A falcon falling from a height strikes its prey like a rocket. The speed of his fall is such that he literally breaks prey.
The falcon hits its prey with its paws. One of the falcon's claws set back, resembling a human thumb, is called "boden" - from the word butt.

But a bird of prey is not a faithful dog. She does not bring prey in her beak to her master. And she doesn't even come back. She can still fly somewhere or land somewhere.

The prey is picked up by dogs.

After that, it remains only to pick up the falcon itself. To do this, bells are tied to his paws - to hear. Modern hunters use radio tracking devices for this purpose, and eastern rich people use helicopters from which they follow birds.

patron saint of falconry

Among the Slavs, falconry has been known since antiquity. For example, in Veliky Novgorod they found a tie with a hawk bone and a hood of the 12th-13th centuries. And on the seals of one of the sons of Alexander Nevsky, an equestrian falconer was depicted.

Under Ivan I Kalita, the Russian tsars had a special department that was busy with falconry and everything connected with it - the Falconer's Way. Already by the very fact of creating a separate structure, one can understand the importance of this occupation for the Russian tsars. And after Ivan Kalita, the department was indicated in a separate line in the royal wills.

Birds of prey, especially gyrfalcons - the largest and most beautiful falcons - were highly valued. They say that when the falconer of Ivan the Terrible Trifon Patrikeyev, while hunting near the village of Naprudny (now the area of ​​​​the Maryina Roshcha metro station), lost his beloved gyrfalcon of the king, he gave Trifon the task - to find in three days, otherwise not to demolish, they say, heads.

Trifon went to look. All three days I searched and whistled in the "calling", but could not find it. Tryphon, resigned to his fate, went to bed somewhere in the area of ​​​​the modern Rizhskaya metro station. In a dream, his patron Saint Tryphon appeared to him with a gyrfalcon on his shoulder, and with the words "Here is your falcon!" gave the bird to Tryphon. The next morning, the falconer actually found a bird on a branch next to him.

To celebrate, Patrikeyev built a temple in honor of the saint. This small stone temple (falconers could afford to build from stone) still stands today - for more than 500 years. In Soviet times, it had a children's clinic, and this saved it from destruction.

Well, Saint Tryphon on icons in the Russian tradition is now depicted with a falcon and is revered by hunters.

© public domain

© public domain

And time and hour for your favorite fun

Falconry reached its peak under Tsar Alexei Mikhailovich, the father of Peter the Great. Then the king had a collection of three thousand falcons and hawks. Why so many? Well, first of all, it was just prestigious. Secondly, each bird "specialized" in its prey - someone on birds, and someone on hares.

According to historians, Tsar Alexei was accustomed to this fun by his tutor, Boris Morozov, who generally had a great influence on the Tsar. To strengthen his position, Morozov even married Anna Miloslavskaya, the sister of the Tsar's wife Maria.

Samuel Collins, an English doctor who served at the royal court, wrote about the king: “His fun is falconry and dog hunting. He has more than three hundred falcon keepers and has the best gyrfalcons in the world, which are brought from Siberia and beat ducks and other game ... When he leaves, the Eastern gate and the inner wall of the city are locked until he returns. He rarely visits his subjects ... When the King goes out of the city or to the field for pleasure, he strictly orders that no one disturb him with requests.

The king was proud of his collection of birds. For example, the ambassador from the German state of Saxony, August von Meyerberg, was given a great honor - he was given a chance to see some birds. I must say that in those days in Russia they did not really trust the Europeans. It was believed that a Latin - that is, a follower of the Catholic Church - can jinx it. Therefore, neither women nor birds were shown to the arriving ambassadors. But the tsar was so interested in negotiations with the Germans that the ambassadors were nevertheless shown several of the most beautiful birds and were even allowed to sketch them.

Falcons generally served as an important tool of diplomacy. The king sent them as gifts to monarchs in the West and East. And it was a very valuable gift. And the Persian Shah Abbas specifically negotiated with the Russian crown so that our merchants would be allowed to sell birds of prey to foreigners.

Tsar Alexei, who was keenly interested in various sciences, personally took part in compiling a collection of rules for falconry called "The book, called by the policeman: a new code and arrangement of the order of the falconer's way." By the way, an amusing detail is connected with this book: in the preface to "The Officer" Alexei Mikhailovich personally made a postscript: "It's time for business and an hour for fun." Words have become winged, and we still use them, but that's just we understand differently than the king. Usually, by the word "time" we mean most of this very time, and by the word "hour" - a smaller one, and instead of the union "and" we put the particle "a", betraying the opposition to the expression. In fact, philologists are sure, the king did not even think about giving only an hour out of a whole time for fun. There is a time for everything: business and fun. And for such fun as falconry, the king was definitely ready to give most of his time. What time is it...

Dangerous profession

Under Tsar Alexei, falconers were in charge of the Order of Secret Affairs, or rather, a special order within the Secret itself - a falconer. Dressed up gyrfalcons - favorites of the king - royally. Their description, made by another Austrian diplomat, has been preserved: "The gyrfalcons were in new caps made of magnificent fabric and with long gold ropes on their left ankle boots. And the best of them had a gold ring with rubies of considerable size on the right ankle."

Collected predators in the north - mainly in the Arkhangelsk region and in Siberia. Separately, the order of their transportation to Moscow was prescribed - they were transported in special boxes, upholstered inside with felt - so that the bird was soft. Pomytchiks (tax collectors) who accompanied the bird were ordered to "look after the bird in a good way", feed on time and not allow the drivers to go too fast.

And in order to feed the royal living collection, the peasants carried out a special pigeon duty, handing over two pigeons from the yard as a tax. Pigeons were brought to a special Pigeon Yard. Thousands of pigeons were kept there, destined to become food for predators.

Particular attention was paid to falconers - it was both an honorable and in its own way dangerous profession.

Each of the specialists in falcons, even an ordinary one, received a plot of land. But the demand from him was high.

The king, for example, had such a famous falconer named Ivan Gavrilov Yaryshkin son. Once Yaryshkin closed the shutters of the cage where the gyrfalcon lived badly. The wind flung open the shutters, and one of them fell and crushed the bird. Poor Yaryshkin was mercilessly beaten with batogs.

But when the "scientist" Yaryshkin - after all, in Rus' for a long time they gave two unbeaten for one beaten - they were ordained from a simple falconer to the initial (that is, to the chiefs), the tsar himself was present at the ceremony.

Traces on the map of modern Moscow

Since those times, many toponyms associated with falconry have been preserved in Moscow. The famous "Sokolniki" was one of the king's favorite places for falconry. There was also a settlement of falconers - hence the name of the area. Near the modern metro station "Semenovskaya" is Sokolinaya Gora - here was located another order, Poteshny, who was in charge of the tsar's leisure. That's really really "and fun hour." Well, in the Moscow region there is the village of Shiryaevo - according to one version, the tsar's favorite gyrfalcon named Shiryai was lost there, according to another, the village belonged to the falconer Semyon Shiryaev.

The palace of the Yusupov princes in Kharitonevsky lane was built on the site of the hunting palace of Ivan the Terrible.

But the Sokol metro station has nothing to do with hunting - it is named after the artists' village built in the 1920s.

Serving in the Kremlin

The son of Tsar Alexei Mikhailovich, Peter the Great, who inherited the throne, had other amusements. It was necessary to fight with the Swedes, with the Turks and with the Persians, he was no longer up to hunting. The livestock of the royal "collection" has decreased for natural reasons - after all, birds do not live long. And the falconers themselves were transferred to Peter's "amusing" regiments - the tsar asked why he needed so many parasites, because 300 people looked after his father's falcons at the same time. In his "amusing" shelves, they fit just right.

However, the ancient craft is not forgotten. Not everyone knows, but birds of prey still serve the Russian state. For example, in the Kremlin there is a whole division of the Federal Security Service, whose staff consists of falcons-balabans - their task is to drive away the crows and "regulate" the number of pigeons.

There are falcon units at some airports, in particular, at Domodedovo. Goshawks are bred here to drive away smaller birds - after all, they can get into the turbine of the aircraft or into the glass of its cockpit.

The staff list of the commandant's office of the Moscow Kremlin includes two feathered employees - interceptor falcons. In the language of special services, the duties of these birds are formulated as follows: organization of a biosecurity system for the territory and natural regulation of the crow population

The first thing that any foreign tourist pays attention to in Moscow is the dazzling radiance of the Kremlin domes. How do you manage to preserve their original grandeur? The point here is not only the skillful work of the restorers: the gilded roof of the Kremlin cathedrals is guarded by specially trained interceptor falcons. It turns out that the main enemy of precious gilding is not the harsh climate and urban smog, but ordinary crows. According to ornithologists, Moscow crows use the slippery, like ice, leaf domes of cathedrals as a kind of attraction - they move down from them, as if from a hill, tearing off the gilding with their claws. After a painful protracted war with feathered vandals, a solution was found: an ornithological special service was created in the Kremlin.

Birds. Almost like Hitchcock

Each new owner of the Kremlin contributed to its arrangement. Perhaps, Leonid Brezhnev went further than all his predecessors along this path, ordering in 1973 to allocate huge budgetary funds for the restoration work of the main residence of the state. True, after the overhaul, the Kremlin shone with domes for a relatively short time. The crows, attracted by their sovereign brilliance, flocked to the Kremlin in whole flocks, ripped off official gold leaf from the domes with their claws. The commandant's office of the Kremlin could not tolerate such an outrage.

The Kremlin's security forces have been unsuccessfully fighting the birds for several years. They tried to scare away the crows with the help of blank firing, all kinds of scarecrows and even the howl of a siren. In vain. Smart birds quickly got used to the anti-crow sanctions of the special services and continued to disfigure the domes. The military even designed a "weapon of retaliation": in the shortest possible time, trap houses with bait were built, where it was possible to fly in, but not to fly out. But the birds saw through this insidious plan.

On the eve of the Olympics-80, the then commandant of the Kremlin, Sergei Shornikov, finally matured a plan according to which it was proposed to throw hunting birds - falcons - to fight the crows. Specialists came to the aid of the restorers and the military, who literally created an entire ornithological station from scratch. In the Tainitsky Garden, closed to visitors, overlooking the embankment of the Moskva River, not far from the guardhouse of the Kremlin regiment and food warehouses, two large enclosures were built, gyrfalcons and saker falcons were settled there (the two most combat-ready species of hunting falcons, reaching a length of 60 centimeters) and engaged in the training of potential Kremlin orderlies. At the same time, conscripts and officers of a special Kremlin regiment began to teach the tricks of falconry.

Fortunately, very touchy and capricious falcons (it is strictly forbidden to beat or punish vindictive birds during "educational activities") were successfully tamed, and soon they habitually sat on the falconer's hand, clutching their claws into a special leather mitten. Success was not easy, although according to one version, birds were brought to the Kremlin that had already completed their initial hunting training, the full course of which usually lasts at least two years.

Be that as it may, the falcons soon cleared the residence of the unwanted bird element. In official language, this is called "organization of a system of bioprotection of the territory and natural regulation of the population of crows." Hunting technology is not much different from that used hundreds of years ago. Falcons soar sharply upwards, calculating the prey, "dive" under it on a steep turn and beat, sticking their claws into the enemy. Already on the ground, the feathered officers of the commandant's office mercilessly finish off the victim. Experts assure that in the crow community, news of the first losses in their ranks spread instantly, and the birds hastily retreated from the protected area.

Falcon worth its weight in gold

Despite the change of milestones in the Kremlin, the Soviet tradition of falconry has taken root. And today, together with the soldiers of the Kremlin regiment, two birds are in combat service in the commandant's office - they are officially on the staff list. This couple, as the employees assure, is quite enough to terrify all the surrounding birds. One falconry is enough for the crows to fly around the Kremlin for a whole week.

Flights are carried out only when high-ranking residents and visitors to the Kremlin museums leave the Kremlin. After all, no one can predict how an obstinate bird will behave towards strangers. And the hunting instinct of falcons is powerfully developed: foxes and even lambs become their prey in nature. So about once a week, when the Kremlin is empty, not far from the Spasskaya Tower, where the monument to Lenin used to be, the fighting falcons go to their difficult service.

The current combat units were provided to the commandant's office of the Kremlin by the Yakut nursery about seven years ago. The age of the hunter, as it is now customary to say in the Armed Forces, is "supercritical". According to the informal army classification, they are no longer even "grandfathers", but "demobilization." Why? Falcons in Russia, thank God, have not died out, but domestic ornithologists break the price and prefer to sell their pets to generous Arab sheikhs. However, just the other day, the Kremlin "hunting area" was replenished with several chicks of falcons and, for the first time, hawks, who have yet to go through the "course of a young fighter."

Falconry is not a cheap pleasure. In the East, the average period of service for falcons and hawks is no more than two years. And the price of one such nimble bird on the world market ranges from 10 to 150 thousand dollars! According to employees of the Kremlin nursery, the breed of falcons that would be suitable for keeping watch at the residence of the Russian president costs at least 20 thousand dollars.

Since the experiment with flights of interceptor falcons that scare away flocks of crows from a protected area has been recognized as quite successful, it is planned to allocate additional funds from the budget for these purposes in the near future. However, according to experts, the cleanup of the territory and ancient monuments, the restoration of gilding on the domes of the Kremlin churches by other methods would have taken much more money.

Denis Babichenko

All "fighters" are on the balance sheet of the Federal Security Service, and this structure is closed. But our correspondent was able to lift the veil of secrecy over the most unusual unit guarding the Moscow Kremlin around the clock from air attacks.

And it all started with crows. And for a long time: since the time Ivan the Terrible Borovitsky Hill, on which the Moscow Kremlin stands, was a favorite place for them to spend the night.

Gray beasts

If you believe the chronicles and memoirs of contemporaries, gray crows flocked here from almost the entire Mother See. And here is the result: either Oprichnina or the Time of Troubles... Peter I, as you know, moved the capital, and the crows remained in the Kremlin. After the Soviet government moved from Petrograd, they again took up their black, or rather, gray business. The Latvian riflemen from the guard tried to drive them away with rifle fire, but this greatly unnerved the presovnarkom Lenin. In the 1960s from a separate Kremlin regiment, an outfit of soldiers stood out, which was called "halkogons". The fighters climbed under the roofs of the 1st and 14th buildings, drove the ravens out of the attics, closed the windows and cracks, but the ravens each time found their way back.

Than just did not frighten the crows since then, for example, "repellent signals." A special car circled the territory of the Kremlin and emitted signals through the speakers that scared away the crows. But the crows quickly figured out this trick and stopped responding to it. By trial and error, they figured out that the best way to deal with birds is other birds.

Birds in uniform

The ornithological service appeared in the Kremlin in 1983. Then two saker falcons were hired. However, the falcon is a rare bird, listed in the Red Book. Soon they were replaced by more unpretentious goshawks. Here they are plus one eagle owl now guarding the Kremlin from the air.

The main task of the service is to ensure the biological protection of the territory of the Moscow Kremlin. The main enemy is the gray crow - a smart bird, in terms of intelligence it can even surpass predators. Ravens remember human faces and can count up to 5. They can tell if a person is holding a gun or a harmless stick. Gathered together, crows are able to recapture their relative from a not very large predator. At the same time, the sides of the predator can be cool, more precisely, the tail and wings.

The most unpleasant quality of crows is their flocking lifestyle. One or two vagrant individuals do not make the weather, but when there are a lot of birds, they begin to become impudent. They shit on ancient cathedrals, ride from their domes and rip off gold leaf with their claws, pull out flowers and greenery from flowerbeds, destroy songbirds that also live on the territory of the Kremlin. In addition, crows can be carriers of bird flu. In general, the gray crow, like an inveterate racketeer, squeezes territory from other bird species. And on the territory of the Kremlin live nightingales, robins, starlings, blackbirds. During the migration, there are woodcocks, long-eared owls, once even a snowy owl flew in, like Buckley from Harry Potter.

Hawk Alpha, Eagle Owl Filya

The goshawk is a natural enemy of crows in nature. Where the hawk is found, the crow is afraid to appear there and certainly does not build a nest and does not breed chicks.

The female goshawk Alpha is 20 years old. Given that in captivity hawks live up to 30 years, then Alpha is in the prime of life. Ornithologists laugh: "She is an honorary officer of the FSO, most of her life she has been at a combat post." The hawk is not a dog or a cat. Even if he knows a falconer (this profession has such a name regardless of what kind of birds the ornithologist deals with) for 5 or 10 years, he will not work out of respect for a person alone. Only for food and only when hungry. Both male and female hawks serve in the Kremlin. Males usually weigh 700-800 g, females are twice as heavy. If she beats a crow, then for sure. But the male is superior to the female in maneuverability. And together they practically do not leave the crows any chance. But this is during the day. And at night, the owl Filya is the owner of the Kremlin sky. The eagle owl flies completely silently and grabs sleeping crows, wherever they spend the night - on a branch, in a nest, under the roof of a house, in complete darkness. By the way, contrary to popular belief, he sees perfectly during the day.

After the owl has attacked the crow, the rest, frightened by its death cries, do not scatter in panic, but retreat in an organized manner, as befits a good army. They gather in a flock, warn their comrades by croaking: “Attention, an owl is working in the sky!” Only after that, having circled in the sky, the flock leaves the territory for a while or for good. However, there are so many crow flocks in the city that their endless migration will not leave predators without work.

Spring is coming!

Usually feathered defenders are brought to the Kremlin from a nursery. Filya, who will turn 7 on April 12, entered the service at the age of 2 weeks. At first he looked like a Persian kitten - the same fluffy gray lump. He treated people like his parents. Such birds, say the Kremlin ornithologists, must be taught the basics of hunting skills, there are special methods for this. But some get to the Kremlin already at a conscious age and know how to hunt. Such people need to be taught something else - cooperation with a person.

A bird, of course, can "choose freedom" - that's why it was given wings. Birds of prey, unlike domestic animals, are not permanently attached to humans. A falconer for a hawk or owl is more of a partner than a master.

What else is the difficulty of working with predators? A well-fed and heavy bird will not hunt, it has everything in chocolate anyway. But the hungry one will not fly after the crows either - she simply does not have enough strength for this. The main thing in the work of a falconer is to catch the “correct” weight of the bird, when there is both strength and a feeling of hunger that drives him to hunt. For this, birds in the Kremlin are weighed every day. Phil, for example, weighed 2.9 kg in the morning. Here he is, a handsome man, sitting on the right hand of his commander, grabbing his powerful claws (the owl's main weapon) into a thick leather glove. At the same time, it makes a wide variety of sounds - either hooting, or screaming, or naturally meowing.

“It was he who began to talk,” the falconer explains, looking at his pet with understanding. - Spring is coming!

For more than twenty years now, there has been a "unit" in the Kremlin whose main task is to repel attacks from an external enemy, and this is not the Presidential Regiment at all.

His "fighters" are birds of prey, performing special duties on the territory of the Kremlin.

Manual goshawks are used to scare away pigeons and crows from the territory of the Moscow Kremlin and some airfields.

In 1984, birds of prey - hawks and falcons - settled in the Tainitsky Garden. They began to be called "Biological protection of the territory."

I repeat what problems crows create: Violation of the appearance of ancient monuments of architecture. Their favorite pastime is to roll down the domes of churches on their tails. At the same time, they ripped offgilded with claws, and furrows formed on the domes. -U they are so caustic droppings that its effect can be compared with hydrochloric acid - afterregular "irrigation" metal is destroyed.

D remains from crows even to public transport. Blame the original recipeeating nuts, which they use: having found a fruit in the Great Kremlin Square, they throw it from a height onto the paving stones andfreed nucleoli are picked up. But from time to time the fruits fall on those passing through the territory of the Kremlincars, decorating them with dents.

The local flora also suffers from crow pranks: they are very fond of cuttingwith a sharp beak, young shoots of flowers and other plants from the Kremlin flower beds. Another danger is that crows often visit landfills and therefore are carriers of a number of serious diseases. And if the government falls ill through their fault, then there will be a catastrophe.

Young birds, up to a year old, have already changed their downy cover to plumage, are brought to the Kremlin from nurseries.

Both imprints - birds fed by humans, and those that lived in their usual conditions and were caught in nature are suitable for solving our problems.

Both the first and the second have their advantages. Imprints are more accustomed to humans. But the caught birds have life experience: after all, they themselves have repeatedly hunted, so they have a very developed flight - they know how best to get close to potential prey.

The main criterion for selecting birds for the Kremlin is behavior. Or rather, interest in crows: some hawks are indifferent to them, and do not want to hunt these birds.

Now hunting birds live in special houses in the Tainitsky garden. They are also trained on the territory of the Kremlin - in various places.

First of all, pets sit on the glove. For this on bells are attached to the paw to hear where the bird flies. Then it is planted on a fence or on a low branch. In an ornithological legging - a glove made of double skin, which is worn on the hand, they put a piece of meat and call the hawk with the help of a whistle. Gradually increase the distance to 50-60 meters or more. At the end of the lesson, when the bird is already "flying apart" properly, it is let loose on the crows. If at this time they are not on the territory of the Kremlin, then the role of a bait for hunting is performed by a previously caught crow, which is planted on the ground.

There are subtleties in the war with the crows. These birds are very smart, they quickly adapt tochanging conditions. In addition, the hawk is a sprinter by nature, it canto catch a bird only at a short distance, if from it to the victim at the time of launch is somewhere from 5 to 15 meters.

A crows have a well-developed sound alarm, they warn each other very quickly. One shouted -and everyone scattered to a safe distance. Because of this, hawks are released only on those crows that are on the ground.

Violators of the order are dealt with in several ways. First, the ardor of the crows restrains the very presencepredators in the Kremlin - they feel the danger. Another method is training etching.

crows they see that a predator is hunting a representative of their tribe, and they try to visit the places where this happens asless often. And the most effective way to fight is hunting from cover. All described prophylacticactivities are held every day.

An important feature: while working with a hawk, you can not look into his eyes. The bird perceives this as aggression. She identifies the falconer who works with her by their appearance. Therefore, if suddenly a bird sees him not in everyday working uniform, as always, but in civilian clothes, then he may simply not recognize him.

Well, in communication between a hawk and a person, the main thing is intonation. Nicknames here exist only so that the birds are distinguished by specialists who care for them and train them.

He deserved a reward: a delicious mouse.

The sex ratio among Kremlin hawks is about half and half. Females are considered morebalanced. They are one and a half times heavier than males - two hundred kilos - three hundred kilos against 800-900 grams. PTherefore, they are superior in strength, and on the hunt they can catch larger prey. But males, due to their small size and weight, gain speed faster and maneuver more skillfully.

I insert a video where a fool wanted to fly over the wall of the Moscow Kremlin, and was caught by a manual hawk.

Another protector from crows has been brought to the Kremlin. But about him in the next topic.