Haikou Wuyuanhe pair of chestnut-throated bee tigers with "show love". Photo by Mak Du Bin
Chestnut-throated bee tigers have a gorgeous appearance. Photo by Zhang Jianguo
Blue-throated bee tiger photographed in Sanya Linwang. Photo by Mak Du Bin
A chestnut-throated bee tiger that stays in the Eight Houses of the East. Photo by Zhang Jianguo
One of the resident birds of Parrot Ridge, the blue-bearded night hummingbird. Photo by Lu Gang
Chestnut-throated bee tiger in the Wanning Dong'ao Wetland. Photo by Gao Fangyong
Editor's Note
On May 22, the International Day for Biological Diversity, many bird watchers gathered in Haikou Wuyuan River, some focusing on bird photography, some through the network live broadcast.
In the spring and summer, everything grows. The number of bee tigers on Hainan Island is much higher this year than in previous years, and it can be seen in the east, west, south, and north.
Environmentalists and nature observers believe that this is because the habitat has become better and the food source is abundant, which is very conducive to the reproduction of bee tigers. Of course, there are more and more bird watchers, and naturally more humming tigers will be photographed and recorded.
Hummingbird – this sounds like a very "domineering" name, but it has nothing to do with the beast, but is the name of a bird.
From March to July every year, this little bird will fly from other places to Hainan to "live temporarily". "Our common bee tigers in Haikou are chestnut-throated bee tigers and blue-throated bee tigers. The main distribution areas of these two species of hummingbirds are in South China and Southeast Asia, winter in Southeast Asia, spring and summer will fly to South China to breed, and belong to summer migratory birds in Haikou. Cai Ting, an expert in the bird project of the Haikou Haolan Wetland Research Institute, said.
Hummingbirds are not only "transnational travelers", but also "bird beauty pageant champions", they have the reputation of "China's most beautiful birds": slender, graceful flight posture, and the most memorable thing is that they are wearing a neon feather coat.
Take the chestnut-throated bee tiger as an example, the color on its body is like the color of "A Thousand Miles of Rivers and Mountains", the tail wing seems to be refined with lapis lazuli that never fades blue, the wings and back are just the right green, coupled with a maroon throat, black eye lines... In the sunlight, these colors draped over the body appear brilliant.
Interestingly, the bee tiger's nest residence is in stark contrast to its ornate appearance. Unlike many birds, hummingbirds do not place their nests in trees, they specialize in chiseling earth into burrows and living a "cave life". For their habitat, hummingbirds have special requirements, they like sand dunes, waterholes, generally choose the soil soft and moderate sand dam or sand cliff section, spend 10-20 days, using the beak and claws to dig out a hole with a diameter of about 6 cm and a length of 1-2 meters, and then lay eggs in the cave and hatch young birds.
Wearing "Chinese clothes" and living in "earthen houses", the characteristics of the bee tiger are far more than this. "Bee tigers also have superb flying skills and predation skills, and live by flying insects in the air, especially like to prey on bees. They can quickly catch the bee and beat the bee on the branches with their beaks until they break the bee needles and bee needle liquid out, and then they will eat them. Cai Ting said that according to this habit, their English name is called bee-eater, that is, bee predator, which is also the origin of their Chinese "bee tiger".
In the current season, it is the time when the bee tiger "lives" in Hainan, where they fall in love, live and raise offspring, and most of their figures appear in the coastal wetlands of our province. "On April 15, as soon as we heard the news that there was a chestnut-throated bee tiger in Dongfang City, we immediately rushed from Sanya. Finally, the hummingbird was found on a sand dam next to a fish pond, and the birds rushed to make their nests here. Zhang Jianguo, a bird lover and bird photography enthusiast, shared his recent story of shooting humming tigers.
As a bird photography enthusiast with many years of experience in shooting, Zhang Jianguo has "met" bee tigers in many places in Hainan. "Last year, I photographed the chestnut-throated bee tiger in Haikou, this year I photographed the blue-throated bee tiger in Haitang Bay, Sanya, and there are two or three pairs in the Wanning Dong'ao Port Wetland every year." He said.
Cai Ting introduced that the beginning of May every year is the time when the largest number of hummingbirds is monitored in Hainan, and in the time to come, the number of birds monitored will decline due to the female birds laying eggs in the nest and hatching eggs. He pointed out that there are also bee tigers in Haikou Xinbu Island, Jiangdong New Area and other places, but the number is not much, and the largest number of bee tigers in Haikou City is currently in Wuyuanhe.
In early May, in the lower reaches of the Wuyuan River in Haikou, Cai Ting and his colleagues monitored the largest number of bee tigers in 72, including 70 chestnut-throated bee tigers and 2 blue-throated bee tigers. "The maximum number of monitors monitored this year has increased compared to last year, with the maximum number recorded last year being 58. This monitoring activity has been going on for three years and we will continue to do so in the future. Cai Ting said.
In the eyes of Cai Ting, Zhang Jianguo and others, the bee tiger is like an "old friend", and every spring and summer, he will come to Hainan regularly to go to an annual meeting.
At present, there are three species of hummingbirds observed on Hainan Island, the chestnut-throated humming tiger and the blue-throated humming tiger are migratory birds, and the blue-bearded night humming tiger, which is a resident bird in the central mountainous area. (Hainan Daily reporter Zhou Xiaomeng)