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Text: Vientiane hardcore
Edited by Vientiane hardcore
«——【Preamble】】 ——»
In November 2010, a flock of black birds circled aimlessly over Fort Smith Regional Airport, but when the planes pulled into the airport, the birds seemed to have found their target.
They formed a huge "bird cloud" and converged on the plane, and there was a serious collision between the two sides, but fortunately the plane was about to land, and the pilot was safe, but the plane was not so lucky.
The plane's engine suffered a major failure, and it is reported that the plane was worth $88 million at the time, and the accident suffered serious damage.
Why do birds appear in the sky in flocks, why do they "crash" into airplanes, and why haven't such dangerous aerial birds been solved as soon as possible?
However, this is not the first time that birds have actively attacked aircraft, and some of them have even caused casualties, and even affected the United States for more than 100 years.
More than 100 years ago, an avid Shakespeare fan sparked an "American catastrophe" with just 60 birdies, and it still leaves a legacy that has left Americans miserable.
«【Purple-winged Starling Invades the United States·】»
After immigrating to the United States, a bird enthusiast from Germany had a bold idea to introduce all kinds of valuable birds to the United States, and with his love for all kinds of birds, he even joined a non-governmental organization in the United States to concentrate on doing great things.
The purple-winged starling is one of this man's handiwork, so why did he choose the purple-winged starling, and what is the value of the purple-winged starling?
That is because people's ecological concept is still relatively weak, and the concept of species invasion is not clear, so there is no threshold for the introduction of "alien species".
And the reason why the purple-winged starling can enter the eyes of this bird lover is entirely because of his "fan" filter.
This bird lover was a great "die-hard fan" of Shakespeare, and in 1870 he had a whim, since he didn't know what to do, he could bring all the birds mentioned in Shakespeare's books to the United States.
Thus began this "great" program of species introduction, which was not completed until 1890.
Not all of these birds adapt to the climate and food of the United States after they are introduced, and many of them die out naturally for various reasons, as if they never came.
Another part is that although they have adapted to the living environment of the United States, there are also natural predators here, and their reproduction will be limited.
None of these will have a detrimental effect on the native ecology, but there is one "invasive species" that is not the same, they are adaptable and have no natural predators.
After being introduced, it was like arriving in a free paradise and began to breed unscrupulously, and the purple-winged starling was one of them.
Also known as the European starling, the purple-winged starling is native to Eurasia as well as parts of Africa and is now found almost worldwide.
Purple-winged starlings have a strong ability to imitate, they are like starlings, they can imitate human speech, and can also imitate the calls of other birds, which is vivid and vivid.
It also imitated a piano piece by the famous musician Mozart, and the important thing is that it was only listened to once, and then Mozart bought the starling, but it died within a few years, and Mozart gave it a solemn funeral.
They have a gorgeous appearance with black, green, and purple brilliance, and are dotted with white spots like pearls, so some people keep them as pets.
There were only 60 birds when they were first introduced, but no one expected that the vitality of the small birds would be so tenacious, and it had grown to 200 million in a hundred years, becoming one of the most difficult invasive species to eradicate.
Why did the purple-winged starling settle in the United States, even though the United States has killed millions of invasive starlings, but they do not seem to have a population crisis because of this, and they are still thriving, how strong is its reproductive ability?
«【·60 to 200,000,000 ·】»
From 60 to 200 million, it took more than 120 years for the purple-winged starling, not including the part that had already been killed by the Americans.
They can reproduce once a year, and in the northern hemisphere they breed from April to June every year, laying no more than 7 eggs at a time, with a minimum of three or four, and the eggs are light green.
Cubs can hatch in about half a month, and young birds can leave the nest to live alone in about a month, they have a long lifespan, and can naturally survive to about 20 years old when there is no heaven and earth in the wild.
In other places of origin, such as Europe, they have to hover overhead or chase eagles behind them, while in the United States they have no natural predators to worry about, so they have no worries about breeding.
Then the next most important thing is to eat, the purple-winged starling likes to forage in the open area, it is an omnivorous animal, locusts, moths, red pine leaf peaks, etc. in the field are their prey objects, and these are all pests in farmland or forests.
They are a "good bird" in this regard, but this is only in the summer when there are more insects, and in the autumn when their food source is reduced, they will go to eat the crops.
In the United States, they reproduce in large numbers every year, and food sources will be more scarce, and the rice and orchards in the fields will become the target of their predation, which is very destructive.
Purple-winged starlings are burrowing birds, they generally don't pick a place for nesting, but they are very domineering, they will grab territory, they will go up to grab the bird's nest, and the next time they see a better one, they will still rob.
In doing so, they squeeze the living space of other native birds, posing a threat to the survival of native species.
The United States costs $800 million a year, but that's not all, they are also known as "plane killers".
«【·“ Airport Killer "·]»
Purple-winged starlings are also nicknamed "airport killers" in the United States, and as the name suggests, their swarming behavior seriously hinders the normal operation of aircraft.
They tend to live in groups, ranging from 3,000 to 750,000 in a flock, and sometimes in the millions.
Wouldn't such a large group collide, and why could they maintain an orderly formation, and they could smoothly change various formations, which was quite beautiful in the air?
There is no such thing as a "leader" in their flock, they will adjust their position by the position of the seven birds around them, so as to maintain the overall coordination, and when the whole flock adopts the same standard, they will become uniform.
When danger approaches, they will immediately change formation, establish a protective line so that natural predators cannot attack, and at the same time will emit different sounds to transmit danger signals.
Although they are very good at imitation, even the most beautiful sounds can become noisy when put together, so their collective call is a very disturbing noise.
The reason why they repeatedly collide with the aircraft is probably because the roar of the aircraft makes them feel uneasy or irritated, and they will take the attack behavior.
The proliferation of the purple-winged starling has become one of the most problematic invasive species in the United States.
You must know that the world's purple-winged starlings have a wide distribution, the number is about 1.3 billion, but 200 million of them are in the United States, which is not a huge number.
The United States has taken various measures to control the infestation of purple-winged starlings, but they have had little effect, and nearly 10 million have been killed before and after, but in front of the huge base of 200 million, it is the tip of the iceberg, and it is still flooding.
Reference:
National Geographic Chinese Network "This bird flies in the sky in flocks, and the reason is still unsolved", 2021-4-2
The Paper "From 60 to 200 million, Domineering Starlings Invade the United States, Crash Planes, Eat Agriculture", 2020-3-11
Shanxi Evening News "Crazy Shakespeare fans release 60 birds in New York, and a hundred years later, it has become a disaster for the whole United States!"2022-2-4
China Daily, "Photos: U.S. Military Plane Surrounded by a Large Number of Birds at the Moment of Landing", 2010-11-18