On the trunk of a dead tree on a square-top maple platform, a bird made its home! To say that this bird is not good, she is a famous black woodpecker!
The black woodpecker came five years ago, and she pecked the tree through a hole in the trunk and built her nest. Since the discovery of this bird, there are often bird shooters who come to the top of the four squares and sit under the tree to shoot, and one shot is a day. So, this woodpecker at the top of the square is very famous.
Woodpeckers are our common and well-known birds, famous forest birds, and they are resident birds. Resident birds are birds that live in an area all year round and do not migrate with the seasons. Birds that inhabit the breeding grounds in the Longwan Reserve all year round and do not migrate include magpies, sparrows, pheasants and so on.
The most widely distributed woodpecker species in China are green woodpecker and spotted woodpecker. The black woodpecker is a very rare species of woodpecker. The red crown is eye-catching and gorgeous, a black feather, the whole body of black and red matching, the image is very elegant and noble.
The black woodpecker (scientific name: Dryocopus martius) belongs to the order Plover, woodpecker family, is a large woodpecker, 45-47 cm long, wingspan 64-68 cm, weight 300-350 g, lifespan of 11 years. It is the largest of the woodpeckers. The whole body is a few pure black. The male has a scarlet forehead, the top of the head to the back of the pillow, and the crown is also scarlet. The ear feathers and upper back are black with slightly stained gray-green; the lower back, waist, and tail coverts, wings coverts, and fly feathers are grayish brown; the tail feathers are also black brown with metallic brilliance. The chin, throat, and cheeks are dark brown, and the rest of the lower body is dark brown. Wedge-shaped mouth; nostrils are feathered; 4 toes. The first primary flight feather is small, less than 1/2 of the second.
Females are similar to males , but have slightly lighter plumage and have a scarlet color on the back of their heads.
The breeding period is from April to June, and the nests are in tree holes, and the nests are mostly selected on tall dead trees and dead trees, rather than digging holes in living trees. The mouth of the cave is much higher than 5-15 meters from the ground, located in the middle and upper layer of the trunk; the mouth of the nest cave is rectangular, which is significantly different from other woodpeckers. The size of the cave entrance is 7.5-8.5× 12-14 cm, the inner diameter of the cave is 20-30 cm, and the depth of the cave is 42-48 cm. Nest holes are pecked by male and female birds. Each clutch lays 3-9 eggs, white, smooth and spotless, ovoid round, 27-30.5 mm in size. The eggs are incubated alternately by male and female birds for 12-14 days, and the chicks are late-growing and require 24-28 days of parent feeding to fly away from the nest. And during the brooding period, it is also the time when they eliminate a large number of pests.
The black woodpecker is found in dense forests in the northern Palearctics and is most widely distributed in Europe. It has also been found in northwestern, northeastern, Hebei, Shanxi, and southwestern China. It inhabits temperate and beech forests in the temperate eurasian continent, preferring large patches of coniferous or deciduous forests, including all forest species (beech, fir, larch, pine). Its natural habitats are primary coniferous forests and mixed coniferous and broad-leaved forests below 1800 m above sea level. It is also sometimes found in broad-leaved forests and marginal secondary forests.
The bird flies unevenly, in waves, often from one tree to another. When foraging, he often pecks at the trunk of the tree, and the sound of wood pecking and pecking can be heard from a distance. Staple food ants, which dig large holes when eating. Often alone. Later in breeding, they form family groups. It feeds mainly on tree hands, thick branches and dead trees, but also often feeds on the ground and decaying fallen wood. In the summer, it feeds mainly on adult ants, larvae, eggs, gold electrons, kowtows and other insects, as well as eggs and pupae. In winter, it feeds mainly on the larvae of the Celestial Bull that overwinter in the trunk. Because woodpeckers can kill pests under the bark, a woodpecker can eat about 1500 a day, and is the nemesis of harmful insects such as tianniu, giddings, transfiguration moths, and bugs; so she becomes a doctor who removes pests from the forest. Due to the large amount of woodpecker food and wide range of activities, in the 13.3 hectares of forest, if a pair of woodpeckers inhabit, more than 90% of the gidding insects can be pecked in one winter.
The woodpecker got its name to her mouth. Her mouth was as strong as a chisel; her tongue was long and retractable, with short hooks at the tip; the woodpecker climbed all day on an upright tree trunk, tapping and beating with its mouth to catch the insects hiding in it. Because of the insect-catching effect of woodpeckers, it does remove insect pests from trees, and from this point of view, woodpeckers are beneficial birds.
Therefore, we say that the star black woodpecker at the top of the quad has defended this four-sided top forest area and eradicated the diseases and pests of this forest. We must protect this "forest doctor" and "forest guard".
Text: Lin Yuan
Photography: Kang Liquan
Edit: Morning Morning
Editor: Han Jingcai
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