"The Beauty of Biodiversity in the Qinghua Sea" Black-winged Kite: A little expert at catching rats

vertebrate. Black-winged kites Elanus caeruleus

Vertebrates, ornithischia, Hawks, Eagles. The black-winged kite, a smaller, day-moving bird of prey with a body length of about 30 cm, is a national level II key protected wild animal.

The main color of the body of the black-winged kite, which has a black block on the shoulder when resting, can be clearly seen that the wing end and trailing edge are black when flying, which contrasts with the gray-white body, which is very appropriate to the name of the Chinese "black-winged kite". Adult birds have red irises, dark spots around the eyes and eyes, yellow legs and feet, and black beaks. When stopped, the wing tip exceeds the tip of the tail, and the tail is shorter, flat-tailed, slightly concave in the middle, and shallowly forked. The black-winged kites are hermaphroditic and hermaphroditic, and the winged fingers are not obvious.

Birds of prey are at the top of the food chain, and their long evolution has allowed them to evolve traits associated with hunting for food: strong and powerful feet with bent claws and hooks in order to catch prey; their mouths are thick and sharp to tear food apart. They are larger than the average bird, stronger, more ferocious, and fly more quickly and flexibly in order to catch up with prey.

The main diet of the black-winged kites is a variety of rodents (rodents, rabbits) and small reptiles (lizards, stone dragons), and sometimes also preys on small birds and large insects. Hovering in time and space is its special skill. When hovering, the wings vibrate rapidly and the tail feathers unfold to maintain balance in the body. After aiming at the target, swoop down like an arrow. The moment you approach your prey, both speed and impact slow down. It only needs to stretch out two feet, and its sharp claws will easily grab the prey, and the tip of the claw will penetrate deep into the flesh of the prey.

Most birds of prey in the hawk family find prey by circling, and only a very small number of birds like the black-winged kites have evolved difficult movements such as "flapping wings and hovering".

The black-winged kites inhabit open sparse forests, meadows, wetlands and surrounding areas with trees and shrublands. It often rests on treetops or power poles during the day, and the tail often swings up and down during the stop, and likes to move alone during the non-breeding period. Their activity can be monitored at various times of the day, but foraging is more frequent at dawn and dusk. Black-winged kites are common local birds, mainly distributed in southwest China, south China, east China, in recent years its distribution has shown a northward expansion trend, the northernmost recorded in Zhangjiakou, Hebei.

For the black-winged kite, the male must have excellent predatory skills in order to impress the object of his choice. Entering the breeding season, the success of the male black-winged kite's courtship has a lot to do with the food it offers to each other. For the female black-winged kite, a delicious wedding feast is nothing more than a fat mouse. The black-winged kites who have successfully courted will build a nest together. They generally nest on trees, and the nests are relatively simple, made of some dead branches, and are relatively loose. Both the incubation and brooding are done by the black-winged iris couple. The chicks are late-growing, can leave the nest for about a month, and are similar in color to adult birds, but tend to be dark brown and have whitish wing margins.

Since April this year, a pair of black-winged kites in Qinghuahai National Wetland Park has been monitored and found that when females incubate and brood, males also catch mice, lizards, stone dragons and other prey for females to enjoy.

Source: Baoshan Qinghuahai National Wetland Park