(Photo by Yang Zhonghua of the Chinese crested tern "ZC9" that "occupies a place" in the breeding farm of China Railway Dunyu)
At present, Tiedun Island in the Xiangshan Jiushan Islands National Nature Reserve has gradually entered the peak period of tern attraction and breeding. "Look, it's here again!" On May 14, a Chinese crested tern that "occupied" on the breeding ground caught the attention of the monitoring volunteers stationed on the island: the iconic crested head, white feathers, black beak tip, swallow-like forked tail, and wearing a red ring numbered "ZC6" on its feet.
"'ZC6' is our old friend, and it has been monitored in China Railway Dunyu for three consecutive years." Wang Siyu, a librarian of the Zhejiang Museum stationed on the island, said that this year, the volunteers were stationed on the island a little earlier, and the time for the Chinese crested tern to officially arrive and breed and hatch eggs normally was about the same as last year. According to monitoring statistics, there are about 5,000 crested terns at the peak of the peak of the crested terns that are attracted to Zhongtiedunyu to breed, including 80 Chinese crested terns, and a total of 30 pairs of nesting and hatching eggs.
(Photo by Ding Peng, a Chinese crested tern who "settles down to hatch eggs" in China Railway Dunyu)
"It takes about 26 to 28 days to go from an egg to a chick, and it is expected that the island will welcome the first baby Chinese crested tern of the year in early June, and the next month or so will be very critical." Wang Siyu said that every day, "new faces" continue to fly to the breeding farm, and in the future, Tiedunyu will become more and more "crowded".
"The two of us plus the museum teachers are busy from five or six o'clock in the morning to ninety o'clock in the evening every day, and the living area, observation room, and monitoring room are 'three o'clock and one line', and sometimes we can't even take care of eating." Liu Jiaxin and Xing Hongjing, volunteers stationed on the island, admit that they have seen more and more crested terns coming to the island and successfully courting, laying eggs and incubating eggs...... I feel that "all the hard work is worth it".
(Photo by Ding Peng, a Chinese crested tern who "settles down to hatch eggs" in China Railway Dunyu)
It is reported that the Chinese crested tern is a critically endangered bird in the world and a national first-class protected wild animal. After 12 consecutive years of artificial recruitment, China Railway Dunyu has successfully hatched 179 Chinese crested tern chicks, becoming the world's largest Chinese crested tern breeding farm, with a total hatching and breeding of more than 80% of the world's total.
Source: Chao News client