Dahe Daily reporter Liu Ruichao photographed Bai Zhoufeng
Every morning, it's not the alarm clock that wakes you up, it could be the crows flying in the sky outside the window. Since the beginning of autumn, Zhengzhou city has welcomed back a group of familiar figures - crows.
Every morning, or in the evening, when the sky is dark, flocks of crows appear over the downtown area of Zhengzhou. Some citizens feel strange, even panicked, in fact, crows are not only "three haves" animals, but also have been in Zhengzhou for more than twenty years, in fact, familiar and beneficial.
【Phenomenon】Since late October, a large flock of crows has flown in the downtown area of Zhengzhou
"The wind blows the peach forest full of flowers, and the magpie branches are called slag." The lyrics that swept the Internet, when they arrived in Zhengzhou, were slightly changed and more practical, "The wind blows the leaves and leaves, and the crow branches are chirping."
Some citizens reported that since the end of October, a large flock of crows has appeared in Zhengzhou city. Every morning, or in the evening, a slice of black press. Among them, in the morning, calling friends to lead companions, flying in a circle, suddenly flashing wings to fly north; in the evening, dragging the family with mouths, calling friends and friends, flapping wings and flying south.
Especially when the twilight is clear, the sun sets, the sky dims, and the crows carry the sunset on their backs and fly high from the sky. They weave between high-rises overlooking the city. The Northern Song Dynasty Qin Guan has a sentence that reads: "Outside the sunset, the jackdaws are ten thousand points, and the flowing water surrounds the isolated village." "This mood is roughly similar.
The reporter of the Big River Newspaper observed and learned that the crow activities are more regular. They are more active in the morning and evening, appearing in groups, while they are hardly visible during the day.
They were group after group, chirping correspondingly, and their voices were hoarse. However, when a large group of crows hovered overhead, some citizens began to panic, thinking that the crows did not look like any auspicious birds, and this year's Zhengzhou disaster and epidemic situation had a very difficult time.
This group of crows has lived in Zhengzhou for more than 20 years in winter to overwinter in a warm urban area
So, is this group of crows appearing in Zhengzhou city really bring something bad as the citizens fear? For the city of Zhengzhou, are they raw faces or old acquaintances? And why is the activity so regular?
In this regard, Li Chang, an expert in birds in our province, a professor of biology at Zhengzhou Normal University and the director of the Zhengzhou Natural History Museum, said that in fact, he paid attention to these crows many years ago. Probably since the mid-1990s, they have appeared in the urban area of Zhengzhou. Their species mainly include large-billed crows, small-billed crows, bald-nosed crows, and Dauri jackdaws, of which large-billed crows are the main ones.
They have survived in Zhengzhou for more than 20 years and can be described as the "familiar faces" of Zhengzhou. According to his long-term observations, crows are mainly distributed in three places, one is near the intersection of Shangcheng Road on Renmin Road, one is jinshui Road between Xintong Bridge and Dashi Bridge, and the other is near Henan Agricultural University, where the forests are relatively dense.
So why aren't there such flocks of crows in spring and summer? He said that the spring and summer seasons are the breeding season for crows, which are carried out as a family unit, and the main task is to have children and raise daughters. However, in the autumn and winter, it is often the time when the population is the largest, and it is concentrated in the downtown area of Zhengzhou.
"In the autumn and winter, due to the heat island effect, the temperature in the urban area is 3-5 ° C higher than in the suburbs, so the crows choose to spend the winter in the urban area." Dong Chaowei, director of the Zhengzhou Wildlife Rescue Station, said that in the spring and summer seasons, they generally live in wilderness, mountains and plains.
【Habit】Tidal group activities every morning and evening The Yellow River beach is its daytime feeding ground
Dong Chaowei said they did not make special statistics on the number of crows. However, according to rough statistics, the number is at least 10,000, and the population is relatively large.
Crows are more regular in their activities. Li Chang said that every day at sunrise, around 7 o'clock in the morning, the crows would call friends and gather, and flock to fly north, to the Yellow River beach area, where there was more abundant food. At about 5:30 p.m., the crows will fly south from the Yellow River beach area and fly back to downtown Zhengzhou, where they will roost in areas with more trees at night.
"During this time, the leaves have not fallen, and the effect is not obvious. When the leaves are finished, the crows will fall tree by tree at night, looking like leaves. For the above statement of the expert, Mr. Bai, who lives near the Yellow River Road of Wenhua Road, said with deep emotion.
Dong Chaowei said that crows are not fierce birds and bad animals, as some citizens think. On the one hand, there is no scientific basis for this view, on the other hand, crows are omnivorous animals and can play a good protective role in agriculture, forestry and animal husbandry. They eat pine caterpillars, and when food is scarce, they also look for food in the garbage heap. Compared with urban areas, there is more domestic garbage in the suburbs, so crows basically move in groups in the Yellow River beach area and the northern suburbs of Zhengzhou during the day to fill their stomachs.
In addition, the crow also has the virtue of "respecting the old and loving the young", after the old crow raises the little crow, the little crow will assume the responsibility of supporting the old crow and serving his parents. This is what the Beginner's Bird Endowment says: "The chicks are strong and can fly, but they feed and feed back." ”
[Opinion] This flock of crows is not an ordinary resident bird, nor is it a winter migratory bird in the strict sense
The Reporter of the Grand River News learned that there are 36 species of crows, which are distributed almost all over the world. There are 7 species distributed in China, most of which are resident birds. Crows are also known as old eagles and crows.
So, the question is, since it is a resident bird, why is it that the spring and summer seasons are almost invisible, but in the autumn and winter, they appear in groups? In fact, as mentioned above, the heat island effect of the city causes crows to overwinter in flocks to warmer cities, and autumn and winter are not their breeding seasons, mainly social activities.
In fact, a similar situation has appeared in many cities in China. Industry insiders pointed out that in a strict sense, for Zhengzhou urban area, crows are winter migratory birds, because their breeding place is not in the urban area, but choose to winter in the urban area.
This leads to the distinction between winter migratory birds and summer migratory birds. Dong Chaowei said that birds are generally divided into four types: winter migratory birds, summer migratory birds, resident birds, and lost birds.
Migratory birds migrate regularly to change habitat as the seasons change throughout the year. Among them, those who fly to a certain place in summer to breed are summer migratory birds for the place, and the most typical is the large group of night herons on the "Tianshi Road" in Zhengzhou. Night herons are active in Zhengzhou from April to July every year, and fly south during other times.
Winter migratory birds are birds that fly to a certain place in autumn and winter to spend the winter, such as some geese and ducks, which will spend the winter in the Yellow River beach area, and the national first-class protected animal great bustard will also inhabit the Yellow River beach area of Changyuan, Fengqiu, Zhongmu and other places.
Resident birds are birds that live in one place all year round. For Zhengzhou, sparrows, magpies, doves, etc., are all resident birds, and they can be seen and heard at any time of the year. Lost birds, on the other hand, are birds that "deviate" during migration, and eventually get lost, not to the final habitat, but to the wrong place, to another habitat for wintering birds.
In this way, crows can not be seen in Zhengzhou city every season, but they are indeed resident birds in Henan and Zhengzhou. They are different from the general resident birds and the winter migratory birds in the standard sense, but for the city of Zhengzhou, they are indeed a group of "familiar customers" who come to winter.
Source: Dahe News Editor: Duanmu Fandong