Recently, in the 2020 Taishan Bird Diversity Survey, the Taishan Bird Love Bird Protection Volunteer Team photographed a species of finches in the bushes near the famous "Wuyue Duzun" carved stone in Daiding, which was confirmed to be a northern short-winged locust warbler of the locust warbler family. The discovery is a new record for Tarzan birds, adding a new member to the Tarzan wild bird family.
According to Professor Gong Xin, an expert in the behavioral ecology of birds in Shandong, the northern short-winged locust warbler is a summer migratory bird. Its distinguishing features: the mouth is dark brown and short and straight, the crown is brown, the eyebrows are white, and the throat is spotted. The upper body is ochre brown , the wings are short and broad , the underparts are off-white , and the thorax is black-brown markings that form a complete eye-catching necklace , with brownish sides. The undertail coverts are brown with jagged spots at the ends of the white feathers. The flesh of the feet is red. It mainly lives in low- and medium-altitude montane hills, forests in alpine areas and sparsely forested shrublands, especially in riverside forests with dense shrublands and grassland shrublands with the growth of old larch trees. Sexually active, alone or in pairs, often hiding in dense shrubs and grasses.
There are 6 subspecies of the Northern Short-winged Locust Warbler worldwide and 3 subspecies in China, distributed in Heilongjiang, Jilin, Liaoning, Inner Mongolia, Hebei, Beijing, Shaanxi and Hong Kong. The population is widely distributed and sparse, and Shandong is a northeast subspecies, and only Weihai has a recorded migration.
Wild birds are an important part of the natural ecosystem, play a virtuous circle role in the ecological environment, and are an important indicator of biodiversity. Bird diversity observation is the basic work and important means of scientific conservation and management.
Since 2016, the Bird Diversity Observation Project in the Taishan Sample Area has been implemented and has been carried out for 5 consecutive years. Taishan Bird Love Volunteers pass through 10 pattern lines set up in and around the Taishan Nature Reserve and at different habitat elevations.
Since the beginning of May every year, diversity surveys have been organized using weekends and holidays, and the diversity and distribution trends of common species and important protected species have been basically grasped.
In recent years, volunteers have discovered 2 new recorded species of birds in Shandong Province and 16 new species of Taishan bird in and around Taishan. The record of wild birds in Taishan reached 342 species, accounting for 72.6% of the total number of wild bird species in Shandong Province.
Contributed by: Scenic Forest Defense Station Li Xiufen
Photo: Liu Zhaorui, Sun Guiling, Zhang Hongyan Editors: Taishan Mountain Scenic Area Rong Media Center Liu Bei Review: Taishan Mountain Scenic Area Rong Media Center Fan Hongliang