"Horizon" Birds Song of Life

Birds The Song of Life

Wang Peng

In early summer, when the water and grass in the Qilian Mountains alternate between yellow and green, the earth provides delicious food for the plateau pika, which is the most common species in and around the wetland.

The black-necked crane, an omnivorous, was happy to have the opportunity to improve the menu, and its hard beak, supported by its body and neck, became a sharp knife that could pierce the pika's not thick body at will.

This is the most common biological chain relationship that occurs every day in nature, and it is all for the continuation of life and the reproduction of species.

Qilian Mountain Glacier, a water-scarce arid region on the planet, is the closest group of glaciers to frequent human activity, and it is also one of the fastest melting glaciers on Earth in the context of current warming.

The largest glacier in the Qilian Mountains, Laohugou No. 12 Glacier, is 10.1 kilometers long and has a romantic name - Transparent Mengke.

In the summer afternoon, the transparent Mengke Glacier will have several hours of ice and snow melting, and the meltwater volume of the Qilian Mountain Glacier has averaged nearly 1 billion cubic meters for many years, which is the source of life for the surrounding rivers and everything.

At the end of March, the cold wind mixed with a hint of warmth, the earth began to unseal. The black-necked crane flew more than 2,000 kilometers back to the Qilian Mountains, taking the lead in breaking the six-month-long tranquility of the wetland.

The black-necked cranes will continue to fight for territory for two months, and for the sake of the next generation, their winter population unity will be lost.

Birds occupy 200,000 hectares of wetlands, and black-necked cranes cannot nest in areas with deeper water levels, making this area a habitat for giant swans and spotted geese. They have always lived in groups and don't mind being huddled together. Spotted geese fight fiercely for mating rights, smaller green-headed ducks occupy the ice-water junction, and ordinary terns and egrets are only excluded to wander at the edge of the water. The brown-headed gull usually crowds among these birds, but when it's time to eat, it chooses to act alone.

This is the secret restaurant of the brown-headed gull, a must-see for migratory fish. The brown-headed gull ate 17 fish, large and small, in two hours.

Yanchi Bay, the northernmost habitat of the black-necked crane discovered by zoologists, is located in the northern part of Qilian Mountain National Park.

The black-necked crane is the overlord of highland birds.

The wetlands are bathed in a romantic morning mist, and the black-necked cranes that accompany each other enjoy the tranquility of the morning, and their enthusiasm can no longer be suppressed, and the black-necked cranes are ready to nurture the next generation. The mating of black-necked cranes lasted for about half a month, during which time their chirps rang out from time to time in the 800-kilometer-long Qilian Mountains.

As the mating season of wetland birds comes to an end, the noisy wetland gradually quiets down.

More birds nest, lay eggs and hatch in the grass, and the dense grass provides them with excellent shelter.

The Qilian Mountains are ready for a new life.

On day 31, the little black-necked crane came out of its shell. Ignorant of it, it faces a whole new world, a world full of crises.

Before Xiao He could get familiar with his surroundings, he was taken into the grass by his parents and hid. The grass completely covered the young body of the crane, and seemed to keep out many dangers. However, there is no place for absolute safety, the nest of ordinary terns is here, and the invasion of black-necked cranes threatens the ordinary terns who are hatching eggs, and they attack the black-necked cranes.

The attacks of ordinary terns did not stop for a moment, and the black-necked crane family was forced to leave the depths of the grass.

Spotted geese choose to lay their eggs and hatch on small islands. They come together to defend against possible dangers. But all the options were one or the other, and the Himalayan marmot became the most unpopular native of the spotted geese.

Spotted geese are strictly guarded against this Himalayan marmot, but this does not stop the Himalayan marmot. It is waiting for an opportunity to steal eggs, and only twenty or thirty days a year have the opportunity to enjoy nutritious bird eggs, how can the Himalayan marmot easily miss it.

The egg-fed Himalayan marmot is gone, and when it is hungry, it will come again.

Spotted geese have no better way to deal with Himalayan marmots than to chirp.

It is a cool summer that provides comfortable conditions for the birth and growth of new life. A nest of small spotted geese has finally come out of the shell, and the parents of the spotted geese who have survived for 28 days and nights are eager to take their children away from the island, and the first threat they face is not the Himalayan marmot, but the group of their kind.

Spotted geese that fail to hatch have the strongest jealousy. The parents of the spotted goose must make a way for the safety of their new life.

In a corner of the island, a small spotted goose that has just come out of its shell is looking for its parents. It sensed the hostility of its neighbors and panicked even more. It rushed to a strange family of spotted geese, and the family of spotted geese accepted the panicked little spotted goose. Joining this family of spotted geese is currently the only option for little spotted geese.

The parents of the spotted goose took their children into the water and left, and the little spotted goose did not have the courage to continue to follow, after all, this is not its family. It calls out to its biological parents on the shore, but it attracts more attacks. Time is running out for it, and if it can't find its parents before dark, it's likely to die.

The careless parents of the little spotted goose appeared not far away, and the little spotted goose struggled to swim towards the parents.

Frightened children need reassurance from their parents. They went home, and this time their parents kept them at bay.

The parents of the spotted goose taught the little spotted goose more survival skills to face the greater storms of the present and the future.

In addition to migratory birds such as black-necked cranes and spotted geese, there are also some resident birds living around the wetland, and most of their next generations are born and grown in the spring.

On the hillside, a brown-backed black-headed owl vents its displeasure at a small bird with a longitudinal belly. The longitudinally striped owl cannot return its mouth, it clings to a moth, which is food for its children, and it has four young birds waiting to be fed.

This is the spirit of the plateau, with a cute attitude, and the mother of the longitudinal-bellied owl can only satisfy the appetite of the children by constantly running. Like other young birds, the small longitudinal owl has the behavior of monopolizing food, but the food competition between them is not fierce, because the capable mother will bring enough food.

It was a warm family, feeling that there seemed to be danger outside, and they would not let the youngest one out of the nest.

As a highland resident bird, this stone cliff slit is its fixed nest, which is strong and safe, sheltered from wind and snow, and the baby owl can grow up safely.

The longitudinal-bellied owls are able to spread their wings and fly with little practice, which indicates that the time is coming for them to leave home.

In addition to the longitudinal-bellied owl, the residents around the wetland also have a large formula of 70 cm in length, which is four to five times the size of the longitudinal-bellied owl, which is a real bird of prey.

The sky has changed, and the big formula rushes back to the nest. This big formula is going to be a mother. The rate at which the young birds have grown is staggering, and in just two months, they are close to their parents.

In the face of the highland pika, the young bird is somewhat helpless, and the strong brothers and sisters help it tear it apart, which is a warm scene in the animal kingdom. The parents of the big formula are constantly catching highland pikas for their young birds every day, and even so, the three young birds are still desperate for food, and they eat at least 9 plateau pika rabbits a day. When the young birds are hungry, they will swallow the highland pika directly, and their bodies will accumulate strength and are unwilling to be quiet.

The nest was overcrowded, and the young bird plucked up the courage to jump out of the nest. From this moment on, it will never come back.

This is the beginning of soaring into the sky. The little big formula circled a few times in the sky at the top of the nest, and then flew into the distance to start a new journey.

As Qilian Mountain enters a short autumn, new life either dies or grows up to leave its parents, and the scene of reproduction is about to come to an end.

The brown-necked snowfinches take their children in search of grass seeds that have been gathered together by the wind. During this time period, brown-necked snow finches come together from all corners of the Qilian Mountains, which is the only remaining hustle and bustle of the plateau wetlands.

Qilian Mountain National Park has a vast area of 50,200 square kilometers, and although the wetlands cover only 200,000 hectares, they regulate the ecosystem of Qilian Mountain and provide shelter for most birds.

In October, most of the migratory birds have flown south for the winter. At the end of the month, it was the last day of the south flight, and only a pair of black-necked cranes and their children were left in the wetland. This late-born crane is too small to fly.

In the Qilian Mountains wetland, every year, small black-necked cranes miss the days of flying south for winter because they are born late, and finally freeze to death in the harsh winter.

The cold wind gradually became cold, and its parents could not continue to wait, but could only leave.

The mournful cry of the black-necked crane resounded through the increasingly cold wetlands.

From this day on, Qilian Mountain entered winter.