First, the basic characteristics
Crested ibises (pronounced pì tī), because its name is both difficult to write and difficult to read, so we usually refer to it as "crested PT". It is the largest type of partridge, generally more than 50 cm long, but weighs no more than 1 kg.
Crested ibises have feet that grow almost at the ends of their bodies, so they are difficult to walk on land. They prefer to live in lakes with open surfaces and reeds and aquatic grasses, because they have flaps on the sides of their toes, are extremely watery, and are particularly good at diving. The time of each dive is generally 20 to 30 seconds, the longest underwater can stay for about 50 seconds, just it is still swimming in front of the eyes, but if you don't pay attention to it, it will disappear without a trace, when you are confused, it is exposed on the surface of the water ten meters away, as if deliberately playing hide and seek with you.
Crested ibises are not much different between male and female, so in the process of shooting, we always can't distinguish between males and females, so we have discussed them. Some people say that when they saw them stepping on the egg, the smaller one was on it, so it was judged that the one above was a male bird. However, according to Baidu entries, the male bird is larger than the female bird in terms of body shape and beak.
Crested ibises have short tails, only a few soft feathers, some so short that they are barely visible. Once, the male bird nagged a small fish ready to feed the baby, did not expect to accidentally drop the small fish on the female bird's small tail and stuck to the fluff, the male bird nagged for half a day to nag the small fish up, really let people worry about it.
Second, love
The breeding season of crested ibises is from May to July. Their courtship performances include sorting out feathers, diving, diving to bring back reeds, treading water vertically on the water, hitting the chest, opening the crown of feathers and shaking their heads to show love, moving fast and showing off their wings, etc. It is super ornamental and is a very popular subject for photography enthusiasts.
Third, nesting
Once two partridges have established a relationship, they will nest in reeds or aquatic grasses not far from the surface of the open water, ready to breed the next generation.
Their nests belong to the floating nest, floating on the surface of the water, the nest material is the leaves of reeds or aquatic grasses, the floating nest can rise and fall with the rise and fall of the water level, generally will not be flooded, which fully reflects the wisdom of the partridge. Moreover, the wet grass they use to build their nests can also generate heat after fermentation, which is very helpful for the hatching of eggs.
4. Incubation
Incubation generally begins after the first egg is laid. Nesting, egg incubation and brooding tasks are taken over by the female and male parent birds. The incubation period is generally 3 to 4 weeks, and the length of time has a certain relationship with the temperature.
According to my observation, during the incubation of the eggs, they have a very tacit understanding when they take over shifts, and only one look is needed for the other party to understand. Whenever there is a transition or incubation period, the parent bird will turn over the eggs with its beak so that it is heated evenly.
When one parent bird incubates eggs in the nest, the other will not be idle, it will constantly nagging water grass to strengthen the nest; at the same time, the one in the nest will also sort out the nest grass from time to time to make the nest more stable, so that even in the face of windy weather, the nest will not be blown apart, thus ensuring the safety of the baby to be born.
5. Brooding
Crested ibises hatch from the first egg, so the timing of the birth of the chicks is also inconsistent, generally within two or three days one by one.
Chicks are early in nature and can swim in the water shortly after they emerge from their shells. But because the newborn chicks are very weak, they hardly go into the water, but climb onto the back of their parents and burrow under their wings to rest, which is warm and comfortable. Dad or Mom carries them on their backs to incubate younger siblings. When the parent birds take over, Mom and Dad stand up and shake their bodies, and they will fall down, which is particularly interesting.
Although crested ibises lay 5 to 7 eggs per clutch, I found that only 3 to 4 chicks usually hatch, and the chicks that do not come out of the shell are often abandoned by mom and dad.
After the chicks emerge from their shells, the parent bird will carry them out of the nest and into the water, and one parent bird with the baby on its back will stay not far from the nest or in the reeds and wait for the other parent bird to bring back food. Because the children are still too young at the moment and face more dangers, the parent bird will be highly vigilant at this stage, the eyes will constantly look around, and once there is a little wind and grass, it will quickly hide in the reeds with the baby on its back. So the reeds are their refuge.
As the saying goes, a crying child has milk to eat! For crested ibises, children who run fast have fish to eat. Every time the parent bird brings back food, the birds will stick their heads out from under the wings of the parent bird to ask for food, and I have found that almost every time the parent bird feeds the food to the baby with the longest head, unless it is full, it will be the turn of other babies. When they get a little older, when they find that the foraging parent birds have returned, they will scramble to get bald off the back of the parent bird and quickly meet them, and whoever swims fast can eat more. The chick that finally emerges from the shell is relatively weak and often faces the fate of being eliminated due to malnutrition. This should be the survival law of survival of the fittest and survival of the fittest in nature.
6. Unsolved mysteries
In the process of photographing crested ibises, I also found a particularly strange phenomenon, that is, the parent bird will feed the young birds with their feathers that fall off their bodies from time to time, and sometimes they eat their own feathers.
Why is that? I can't figure it out!
Crested ibises eat almost exclusively animal food, and they mainly eat insects, insect larvae, shrimp, lagu, crustaceans, mollusks and other aquatic invertebrates. Is eating feathers to supplement nutrition? But I quickly rejected this judgment, although the crested ibis's fluff was soft as silk, but the bird was difficult to digest and absorb.
There is also a saying that the crested cattail feeds the bird feathers, the feathers can wrap the fish bone to prevent the fish spine from hurting the intestine, but after careful analysis, it will be found that the bird stomach contents stay in the stomach for a short time, such a substance as feathers is too late to digest, and the hair mass wrapped around the fish bone cannot be discharged normally through the intestine, so it is impossible to protect the digestive tract in this process.
It has also been said that the feathers eaten in form a feather plug in the pylorus of the stomach, which helps to keep the bones of the fish in the stomach until they are digested. I don't agree with this statement. After all, the chicks after the shell are very weak in the first few days, the digestion ability of the stomach will not be too strong, and the parent bird will continue to catch small fish and shrimp to feed it, if those fish bones are stuck in the stomach, then how much can it store in its thin body?
Therefore, I am more inclined to the following statement, that is, there is no feather in the regular food of the catfish, and the role of the feather is to wrap the indigestible fish bones, snail shells, etc. that are eaten into the stomach into a pill similar to the kind of food that an owl spits out and vomit it out. Crested ibises have very fluffy hairs, long fibers, very small when kneaded into a ball, and there is no hard feather shaft, which is easier to swallow and vomit. Therefore, swallowing feathers may be to help the digestive tract empty the debris more effectively. However, in the long-term shooting process, I don't seem to have photographed the shots of adult birds or chicks reversing the vomiting pills, I wonder if you bird friends have ever photographed it?
As for the reasons for this, it remains to be further observed and analyzed in the future, and everyone is welcome to discuss in the comments section and put forward their own insights to solve this mystery as soon as possible.