The reed warbler came to the insect and fed it to the cuckoo baby, who was several times larger than himself. In the Back Lake of the Beijing Agricultural Exhibition Hall, a photography enthusiast recently photographed such an interesting scene.
In a group of photos taken by Mr. Qiu, a citizen, two birds stand affectionately on the branches. The thin one is the "adoptive mother" of the large reed warbler, who is feeding the child with a small green insect; the big one is the "adopted son" of the cuckoo, whose mouth is wide open and is greedily enjoying the mother's feeding.
The great reed warbler and the cuckoo, which are both different families and different genera, how can they be flooded with love? "This is a parasitic phenomenon in nature, and the mother of the reed warbler mistakenly thinks that the cuckoo is her own child, so she carefully nurses it." Li Li, the director of the Panther Wildlife Conservation Station, said that the cuckoo, also known as the "cuckoo", has a gentle and moving voice, but it is really a lazy guy. Every spring and summer, other birds are busy building nests to support their families, but the cuckoos always wander around the pond and the reeds, and when they see the nest of the big reed warbler, they quietly fly in to lay eggs, and then fly away without doing anything.
This parasitic ability comes from the nature of the cuckoo. Cuckoo young birds will first break out of the shell of the reed warbler cubs, and then arch the eggs of their adoptive parents out of the nest to enjoy the parental love of the reed warbler. Li Li told reporters that the unlucky ones are not only the reed warblers, but also other passeriformes, such as willow warblers and gray magpies.
Near the Third Ring Road, the story of "wrong love for a lifetime" in nature is staged, which is a beautiful footnote to the improvement of the ecological environment in Beijing. The HouHu Lake of the Agricultural Exhibition Hall was formed by a kiln pit that burned bricks to extract soil from the late Qing Dynasty to the Republic of China, and was divided into three lakes in the north, middle and south, with a total area of about 48,000 square meters. After the renovation in previous years, it is surrounded by willow trees and reeds, making it a paradise for birds.
Photo by Qiu Haoping