Text: Si Si Little Lord
Magpies have been loved by the Chinese people since ancient times, not only accompanying human beings for thousands of years, but also constantly appearing in New Year paintings, ancient poems, and folk stories, forming many unique images!
For example, two magpies facing each other are called "happy to meet"; adding an ancient coin to the two magpies is called "joy in front of the eyes"; a badger and a magpie looking at each other under a tree is called "happy heaven and happy land". Que Deng Mei Zhi, also known as "Hi on the Eyebrows".
Even at night, after Xin Abandoned Disease met the magpie, he left behind the cheerful poem "The bright moon does not startle the magpies, and the breeze chirps cicadas in the middle of the night"! In addition, the husband and wife returned from the expedition, "The magpie flying in this dynasty should be a madman returning!" When the official is promoted, "proud of the high branches, forget the shape of the tail and tilt the sky." Conceal sorrows but annunciation, but for promotion? ”
It can be seen that the auspicious image of the magpie has long been deeply rooted in the hearts of the people! In the legend of the cowherd weaver girl, Queqiao has been sung for hundreds of years! Even now, doing a happy event and encountering magpies is the biggest auspicious omen, and it will take the initiative to paste magpie window flowers on doors and windows!
The magpie's nest should be one of the most familiar bird's nests. In addition to the large size of the magpie nest, the weeds and branches all over the surrounding area are still fresh in people's memories, and even in the memory of many people, the nest of birds should be like a magpie's nest. But can a magpie's nest, which looks tattered on the outside, shelter from the wind and rain? You probably don't know that magpies are extravagant inside their nests, and they are a mansion among birds.
In this article, let's take a look at the magpie and its nest together!
Magpies are a species of birds in the genus Ornithopodium, with a total of 10 subspecies worldwide.
The body length is 40-50 cm, the head, neck, back, mouth, legs, and feet are all black, the wings and shoulders have a large white spot, and the ventral surface is all white with the chest as the boundary, and the whole front is black and white, which is very festive!
Magpies have a diverse habitat, omnivorous diet, and are particularly fond of roaming areas of human activity. So, you'll often see magpies' nests on the trees next to houses and on the branches of the fields! During the breeding period, magpies will prey on small animals such as insects and frogs, but more often, melons, grains, and plant seeds in human society are also its main food. Overall, eating insects that harm crops is a beneficial bird!
In addition to South America, magpies are almost all over the world, and China has four subspecies of magpies, which have been a symbol of auspiciousness since ancient times!
Magpies are a resident bird that does not migrate with the changing seasons, and many people believe that it is precisely because of a striking magpie nest that there is no need to fly to a warm place for winter! The magpie's nest looks tattered and covered with branches, but it is actually very luxurious!
Before elaborating on the magpie's nest, let's first ask a question: why are the nests of many birds open,, and how does this structure protect it from the rain?
In fact, most bird feathers have the ability to avoid rain in the process of evolution. They have a waxy nature in their feathers that allows rain to flow down the feathers instead of sticking to them. Therefore, most birds have no roof in their nests, and if you protect your chicks with your wings, you can avoid the wind and rain!
However, there are some bird nests that are more exquisite! They have gone beyond the basic subsistence line and have begun to pursue quality, such as magpies! Magpies will build their nests very comfortably, not only to cover the roof, the interior decoration is very exquisite, can be called villa level. Let the chicks in it be born with a warm home!
Specifically, magpies like to live on high floors, nesting at the top of the canopy, the nest forms an upright ovate, the largest can reach 80 cm high, very conspicuous, and most importantly, their "doorway" is not open upwards, but from the side to open a hole that can accommodate a magpie.
Don't look at the magpie's nest on the outside looks like a mess of branches, people have no holes in the inside, the magpie's nest is composed of three layers, divided into three layers of outer, middle and inner.
The outermost magpie's nest is made up of dead branches and weeds, the branches are used for fixation, and the weeds and dirt are responsible for bonding and wind protection!
The middle layer is made of thin and short branches, and the middle layer is carefully coated with saliva and soil to ensure that the nest is not airtight!
The innermost layer is a warm and comfortable layer of hemp, fiber, animal hair, and bird feathers carefully selected by the magpies!
These are just the materials, in fact, the magpie is very meticulous in building its nest, even no less than the requirements of the human mother-in-law for the daughter's house. They are built from the winter of each year (around November) and do not finish until the end of the following year's spring (around April).
The general magpie's nest will meet these architectural parameters: 7-15 meters from the ground height, the outer diameter of the nest is 48-85 cm, the inner diameter is 18-35 cm, and the height is 44-60 cm. Oval doors 11 cm × 10-15 cm open under the side. A small number of "artisan" magpies will even renovate and expand their nests continuously over the years, making them truly duplex buildings.
In the nest of birds, the nest of a magpie really deserves the word "mansion"!
After building their own house, the magpies will carry out the next spawning. In general, magpies have a nest of 5-8 eggs and an incubation period of less than twenty days. It is precisely because of the strong house that the windproof and waterproof house can reach so many.
Magpie nests are very sought-after among birds, and ancient people found that many birds that do not build nests will rob magpies of mansions, hence the idiom of "dove occupying the magpie's nest"! In real life, cuckoos and falcons will forcibly occupy the magpie's nest.
Even at some point, there will be cases where magpies have just finished nesting and are driven out by evil guests. But there are also many times when magpies abandon their nests for their own safety and are picked up by other birds. In short, for these reasons, the magpie's bird edge in the bird ring is actually very good.
In fact, for birds, the nest is more of a breeding habitat, so that their eggs and chicks have a safe place to live, rather than a nest where they sleep every day. This results in some bird nests becoming dirty, especially attracting parasites. If they are targeted by other animals, the nest will also become a cage and a target in the eyes of predators, and it is for this reason that most birds do not necessarily sleep in the nest!
They may be in the trees, they may be in the grass, they may be under the eaves, and they will temporarily inhabit them as long as they feel safe. Only the really top birds in nature rest in fixed nests for long periods of time.
Looking at the knowledge points of magpies nesting, it is not very curious, but do not climb the tree to see the end, in this case, the magpie may feel unsafe and no longer use this nest, which is likely to make it miss the best breeding period.
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