Gaoligong Mountain, Yunnan, is a huge narrow and elongated mountain range, dense subtropical evergreen broad-leaved forest, both mysterious and full of primitive wildness. Above the forest, the forest eagle spreads its wings of 1.8 meters and slowly flies by, leaving a beautiful and mysterious figure.
The forest eagle, also known as the tree eagle, is black and brown throughout. In the raptor family, the forest eagle weighs a little weight, weighing about 1-1.6 kg, but the wingspan of the adult bird can reach 1.8 meters, the tail feathers are also quite long, and the body is lean and powerful.
<h1 class = "pgc-h-arrow-right" >01 males go out to hunt, and females stay in their nests</h1>
Forest eagles thrive in the forest, usually giving birth to only one in a nest, and occasionally giving birth to 2. Because the cost of brooding is large, raising a young bird is hard enough, and the forest eagle does not have the ability to raise a few so many.
In the dense forest of Gaoligong Mountain, the forest eagle couple nested on a tall tree and laid an egg. Lin Diao treats this egg as a treasure, guarding it at all times, if there is any idea that dares to beat the egg baby without long eyes, it will definitely be chased and beaten by Lin Diao.
The female incubates her eggs every day, and after a long period of two months, the baby is born. The female is relieved to see the furry little one born smoothly, but the male has to shoulder the responsibility of raising his wife and children, and the whole stage of brooding is very hard.
Every day after that, Lin Diao's father was either hunting or on the way to predation, and the rations of a family of three depended on it to find it. The mother of the forest eagle has to stay in the nest and watch for the young birds, in case they are caught and eaten by other predators.
The young birds are "only children" who are pampered and grow up under the care of their parents. Unlike the young birds of the golden eagle, because of insufficient food resources, "cannibalism" will occur.
<h1 class = "pgc-h-arrow-right" >02 Male birds feed through dense forests with damaged wing feathers</h1>
The wings of the sculpture are distinctive, appearing long and square when opened, and there are obvious seven wing fingers, and the finger forks at the end are very long. Such wings help forest eagles fly slowly and steadily over the forest, but they are not suitable for traveling through the forest to hunt prey.
When the forest eagle forages, it always flies slowly above, and when it finds prey, it swoops down, preying on arboreal squirrels, squirrels, etc., as well as birds, lizards, etc.
Although the business ability of forest eagle hunting is excellent, it is not always possible to successfully catch prey. When it saw a squirrel jumping between the treetops, it immediately swooped down and pounced into the canopy, but still slowed down a step and let the squirrel run.
The forest eagle had no choice but to flap its wide wings and fly back into the air to continue looking for prey. When it finally caught a squirrel back in its nest, the chirping young chirped excitedly.
Peck the prey away, feed it to the young birds in small pieces, and fly out again without resting, continuing to search for food in the vast forest sea. Adult squirrels and birds are difficult to catch, and the forest eagles set their sights on the bird eggs, chicks, and squirrel cubs in the nests of the trees.
It's too hard for a family of three to feed on it! As the small forest eagle grows up day by day, needing more rations, the father of the forest eagle can not find more prey in the air, so he has to frequently shuttle through the dense forest and go to the forest to hunt pheasant prey.
Hunting prey in the dense forest, the forest eagle's wide wings and long tail feathers were accidentally scratched by branches. In the late stage of brooding, the wing feathers and tail feathers of the male forest eagle were badly worn and looked very tired.
<h1 class= "pgc-h-arrow-right" >03 with a squirrel to guide the young birds out of the nest and learn to fly</h1>
The young birds of the forest eagle have grown wing feathers, and the father of the forest eagle is finally close to the end, but there is a final step, it must teach the young birds to fly and prey, and the small forest eagle can survive independently after that.
Xionglin Eagle went out this day, good luck, and it didn't take long to catch a small squirrel and return to the nest. But instead of giving food to the young birds as usual, it was circling around the nest with a small squirrel.
The young bird barked excitedly, but Lin Diao's father just didn't give it food and kept flying around in front of it. The young birds are extremely hungry, crouching on the edge of the nest, screaming in a hurry, and unconsciously taking a step outside the nest...
Lin Eagle Dad patiently and skillfully guided the young bird, let it take the first step, the body of the small forest eagle, instinctively flapping wings, can fly, but it is still very jerky.
Lin Diao's father quickly flew to the front, using his wide wings to guard the young bird and encourage it to try to fly. When the young bird behaved well, Lin Diao's father gave it a squirrel and let it peck at it by itself.
At this stage, the mother of the forest eagle will also circle in the air, teach the young birds to fly with the father of the forest eagle, and take the young birds to hunt. Slowly teach the young birds to fly and prey.
When the young birds learn survival skills, the forest eagles will leave the nest of the broods and fly into the wider sky to continue to live a wandering life in the forest.
< h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" > concluding remarks</h1>
Don't look at the forest eagle is always elegant and calm, in fact, it is a very fierce forest bird of prey. In order to raise a large young bird, the male forest eagle is more difficult than the female forest eagle, and survival is not easy!
Xuelinggu Nature Lab/Production
References: Man and Nature, CCTV, Beijing Window of Science Popularization, China Wildlife Conservation Association