A small crab pond, crabs are invisible, and the surface of the water is full of large and small egrets. Some netizens laughed and said that for a while it was a little unclear whether they were raising fish and crabs or egrets?
Many farmers have seen this scene, but there is no way, after all, every egret here is protected by law and cannot be touched.
Although the gathering of so many beautiful birds can also attract some tourists, in general, the damage caused by the egrets is not small.
Could it be that egrets are also flooded like wild boars? So what should farmers do?
National protected animal - egret
The crab pond as a "buffet restaurant" is precisely the national protected animal - the egret.
Many people think that the egret is a bird that is completely white, in fact, the egret is a genus, it has a total of 13 species of birds, of which the great egret, the middle egret, the little egret, and the snow heron are all white.
Some people will distinguish them by body type, which is also one method. However, sometimes it is difficult to distinguish the species of these egrets without a reference.
We can judge from some details: large and medium egrets have yellow beaks, while small egrets have more black beaks.
Then judging from the chest feathers, in order of development, they are small egrets, middle egrets, and great egrets.
In addition, you can also observe from their movements: the behavior of great egrets is more elegant, and with their slender and slender necks, they are really no less than swans.
The little egret is more lively and likes to play in the water, just like a lively and active child; And between these two life habits is the middle egret.
But if you come across someone who is all white, has a head feathers that resembles a "punk head", and has a yellow beak, congratulations! It was not an ordinary little egret, but a very rare yellow-billed egret.
In addition to the above four egrets, there is also a heron that looks like them, called the snow heron. To say the difference between the appearance of the snow heron and the egret, it is actually really difficult to distinguish.
But one of the most obvious points of distinction between them is habitat: great egrets, middle egrets, and little egrets are found in Asia, Europe, Africa and Oceania.
Snow herons can only be seen in the Americas, where they breed mostly in the interior of the United States.
The three kinds of egrets are all protected animals of the state, while the rare yellow-billed egret is a first-class protected animal, no matter which one, it is protected by law.
No matter what kind of herons, they are just as much loved by people. In ancient times on the mainland, there was a classic poem about egrets "Two orioles chirping green willows, a line of egrets on the blue sky", which shows Bai Juyi's love for them.
Flocks of egrets come to eat, and farmers are bitter and can't tell
Previously, there was a lot of news that egrets often came to the fish ponds in groups to feed, which caused many farmers a headache.
In 2017, reporters spotted flocks of egrets hovering over a fish pond in Nanjing's Pukou Riverside Wetlands, waiting for an opportunity to fish.
In response, nearby farmers complain that a white egret can eat a pound or two of fish in the blink of an eye, not to mention how many of these thousands of egrets can eat, which will bring a lot of losses.
In 2021, a fish pond in Hezhou City, Anhui Province also arrived with a group of "distinguished guests". One farmer complained that the egrets came to eat fish during the day and rest nearby at night after eating and drinking, recuperating their batteries and foraging the next day.
The arrival of these egrets has greatly reduced the amount of fish ponds of farmers, and they cannot be driven away, which makes farmers very headache.
Recently, a similar situation has happened: flocks of egrets looking for their favorite "restaurant" and then becoming "regulars", allowing these farmers to lose thousands to tens of thousands of dollars in a matter of days.
It's fine if one egret comes to feed, but these egrets come in the hundreds. Some people wonder: why do these egrets come out in flocks to feed?
Egrets are social animals, and it is common for a dozen egrets to move together, especially when it comes to breeding.
Such social activities can help them communicate better between groups and facilitate their search for an optimal feeding ground.
At the same time, social activities can make them guard against various dangers. As soon as one egret spotted danger, it sounded an alarm to alert the other egrets to get out of danger in time.
The frequent presence of these egrets around the city is both a good thing and a cause for concern.
First of all, and most intuitively, the number of egrets has increased, which means that they are one step away from endangered species.
In addition, egrets are known as birds that detect atmospheric and water quality conditions, and their appearance means that the ecology of the surrounding environment of the city is improving, the green content has increased, and egrets have begun to become familiar with urban life. After all, the water is clear and attracts these egrets to settle.
But their frequent presence around cities may also mean that their natural feeding grounds in the wild are also declining; It could also mean a decrease in the number of their natural predators, eagles.
However, there is no specific number at present, and further research is needed to find out.
In order to drive away the egrets, the farmers made every effort
Because egrets are protected animals, and in recent years, the country has continuously improved the national animal protection law, so its illegal hunting will be punished accordingly.
The severity of the punishment depends, depending on the circumstances, and is set to fixed-term imprisonment of not more than five years or criminal detention, in order of seriousness of the circumstances; fixed-term imprisonment of not less than five years but not more than ten years; The penalty shall be fixed-term imprisonment of not less than 10 years.
The legislation was intended to protect intentional individuals who deliberately hunted protected animals, but sometimes it took the pain on farmers.
Many farmers are also distressed to see them swaggering and eating in the fish ponds they have worked so hard to farm, but they can't do anything themselves.
The foraging of these egrets is not only to drastically reduce the amount of fish in the pond, but also to cause farmers a large loss.
What's more troublesome is that these egrets forage more casually, and may mistakenly eat some poisonous shrimp and crab fish, and then it will throw residues and feces into healthy crab ponds, infecting the already healthy shrimp and crab fish, causing them to cause diseases.
In order to be able to drive away these egrets, these farmers have resorted to a lot of tricks.
The simplest is to tie a scarecrow, which has a deterrent effect in form; If the farmer has the energy, he will regularly bang the gong and set off firecrackers to drive them away in sound effects.
Although these soil methods are not tired, egrets are also intelligent creatures, and over time they will find out the way and will continue to come to forage even knowing that these methods will not harm them.
For this reason, farmers also have to "upgrade" their equipment and use some methods of water surface nets, but this does not guarantee that all crab and shrimp fish cannot be harmed.
Even some farmers have prepared automatic lasers, because birds are very sensitive to vision, this device will emit a green laser with a wavelength of 532nm, which can simulate the conditions of visual reflection of organisms to achieve the effect of driving birds.
In addition to laser devices, there is also shock wave sound pressure voice bird repellent technology, which is a comprehensive bird repellent device integrating impact gun technology, cluster strong sound technology, rolling frequency ultrasonic technology, etc.
This device can solve the problem that the large area of the fish pond cannot fully drive away birds, and is said to be effective in preventing more than 90% of egrets from coming to feed.
There are also some smart farmers who will turn their shortcomings into advantages, since there are many egrets around, so as to change to a new business opportunity: open a nearby farmhouse, featuring egrets, so that more users can come to watch. Being able to see egrets and make money can be described as killing two birds with one stone.
But in fact, these methods cure the symptoms rather than the root causes, and the most important thing is to restore their natural enemies as soon as possible, protect their habitats, and let the ecological chain circulate effectively and in full connection.
Although these egrets have caused some damage to humans, they are originally a part of nature, we have invaded their original life, so we cannot blindly dislike these innocent birds.
There are good and bad sides to everything, so we also need to develop a policy based on local conditions in order to find a way to protect egrets and avoid disturbing farmers.
This world originally belongs to animals, we humans are just a passerby, only in harmony between humans and animals, can we go further.
Bibliography:
[1] Sina.com The ecological environment is good, and the egret occupies the fish pond to talk about a love triangle
[2] Global Network Flocks of egrets "dive" into fish ponds to catch fish
【3】Popular Science China Why the great egret likes to live in groups
【4】Species library How to distinguish the great egret, middle egret, little egret and yellow-billed egret?
【5】Zhihu A disaster in aquaculture - egrets, how to effectively prevent it!
[6] Xiaoma Kan Agriculture Uncle crab pond has a trick to prevent birds, planting rice in crab ponds, and earning 3 copies of money per acre