On October 10, on a sunny day after the rain, a group of egrets hovered in the air in the Lingdong Village section of Waterfall River Yi County against the background of blue skies and white clouds. Surprisingly, a yellow-billed egret, a national first-class protected animal, appeared in the willow forest in the river.
Shi Jianfang, a photography enthusiast in Xushui District who has photographed birds for more than two years, said that this is the first time he has found a national first-class protected animal, the yellow-billed egret, in the Waterfall River in Yixian County.
Egrets flying in the air.
Not only are there egrets circling in the air, a group of cormorants on the willow treetops are combing and playing, and a cormorant in the river holding up a large fish caught is "showing off", a beautiful picture of the water village. The diversity of birds is emerging in recent years with the continuous improvement of the ecological environment.
This year, the rain is heavy, the amount of water in various rivers is increasing, herons, wild ducks, and egrets have become regular visitors to waterfall rivers and other rivers, and many birds that have disappeared in Baoding are gradually returning.
Cormorants inhabiting willow forests.
Shi Jianfang introduced that the difference between the yellow-billed egret and the egret is mainly in the front of the eye, and only the yellow-billed egret is yellow-green in front of the eye. Egrets are divided into great egrets, medium egrets and small egrets. The body length of the great egret is about 100 cm, the body length of the medium egret is about 70 cm, and the body length of the small white egret is about 50 cm.
The current rapid decline of the yellow-billed egret in the world is mainly due to the development of aquaculture along the beach and the exploitation and utilization of natural resources by humans, especially the over-reclamation of breeding grounds and wetlands and the coastal development of wintering grounds, which have seriously damaged the habitat of the yellow-billed egret; Shi Jianfang specifically mentioned that at the end of the 19th century, people collected and bought and sold the silky feathers of the yellow-billed egret, and the large number of hunting caused the number of yellow-billed egrets to decrease sharply, and it has not been able to recover its vitality so far.
With the implementation of China's Wildlife Protection Law, the population of China's yellow-billed egret has recovered, but it is still endangered. At present, the nature reserve of the yellow-billed egret has been established in many parts of the country, and in 2021, the yellow-billed egret has been listed as a national wildlife key first-level protected animal.
A yellow-billed egret resting on a willow tree in the middle of a river.
■ Related links
The yellow-billed egret, also known as the White Old and Tang Egret, is a rare medium-sized wading bird. The body length is 46-65 cm, the weight is 320-650 grams, the whole body is white, the mouth, neck and feet are long, and the eyes are yellow-green. Its natural habitats are coastal islands, coasts, bays, estuaries and rivers, lakes, ponds, streams, paddy fields and swamps nearby coasts. Individual, paired, or integrated small groups can be seen.
Photo of this article Shi Jianfang (reporter Ge Shuxia)