A large reed warbler that is building a nest.
On July 9, 2021, at the edge of the wetland in Kunming's South Park, two wild birds with unrelated nature formed a "mother-child" relationship, intimate and intimate, composing a vivid and bizarre story in a few days.
Every feeding of the mother is conscientious, and the parasitic bird lives a life of eating and opening its mouth.
The great cuckoo is a bird of the genus Rhododendron in the rhododendron family, medium in size, about 32 cm long, and widely distributed, throughout Europe, Africa, Asia, Southwest China, East China, South China, North China and other places. The great reed warbler is a bird of the genus Reed Warbler in the family Passeriforme, less than 20 cm long, distributed in a wide area from Europe to Central Asia, and distributed in Xinjiang, Yunnan and other places in China. These two bird species are beneficial birds, crop guards, eat all kinds of insects, especially the great cuckoo likes to eat pine caterpillars and five poisonous moths that other birds dare not peck, etc., and the amount of food is large, which plays a considerable role in eliminating insect pests. These two bird species are not unfamiliar to many people, spring and summer in the forest, ditchside reeds can be seen, in the past heard the myth of "Wangdi Chunxin to cuckoo" and "dove occupy the magpie's nest", about the cuckoo bird.
The petite reed warbler was busy from morning to night after becoming an adoptive mother.
On the edge of the wetland, there is a lush reed, and there are several large trees above and around the reeds. From May to July every year, it is the breeding season for birds. After about ten days of hard work, the nest is built in the reed bush and fixed on the reed pole 50 cm from the surface of the wetland, the nest is cup-shaped, and the inner cushion is easily soft with feathers; the inner diameter of the nest is 10 cm and the depth is about 7 cm. All this was stared at by the great cuckoo, which hid and peeped in the lush foliage.
Large reed warblers bring small fruits, and parasitic birds flap their wings to sell cuteness.
Two different bird species, different shapes, different sizes, different plumage, and the ability and way to survive bring them together. The great cuckoo does not nest or hatch, but does live. It not only looks at the nest of the big reed warbler, but also wants the big reed warbler to be the "adoptive parent" for its children. When the big reed warbler husband and wife are building a nest, the big cuckoo flies on the edge of the reed bush, jumps on the tree above the nest, so that the big reed warbler often sees itself and relaxes its vigilance, and when the big reed warbler lays its eggs in the nest and goes out to hunt at noon, it quickly flies to the nest to lay its own eggs, and the big cuckoo uses its own eggs and the eggs of the big reed warbler to be roughly the same in size, shape, and color, as well as the general similarity of the incubation period, as well as the love of the son, so that the big reed warbler is willing and willing to work hard to become the "adoptive parent".
The parasitic birds are eating more and more, hiding in the shade of the trees and shouting at their mothers to keep looking for bugs.
The egg size of the big cuckoo and the big reed warbler is about 18 mm × 23 mm, and the eggs have brown spots and gray spots, and the incubation period is about 14-15 days, and the nesting period of the chicks is about 12 days. The reed warbler lays 3-6 eggs per nest. In the past 4 years, I have seen two nests of large cuckoos, and each nest has only one large cuckoo chick. In June 2017, shooting a nest of red-billed blue magpies, the magpie's father and magpie mother kept feeding food, this chick turned out to be a big cuckoo, and at noon the next day, I saw the old bird of the big cuckoo in the woods, called a few chicks and flew away and never came back. From the past bad deeds of the big cuckoo to analyze, the big cuckoo laid an egg and one of the eggs of the big reed warbler was broken from the nest to the outside of the nest, the number remained unchanged, the big reed warbler was unaware, it is also possible that the big cuckoo chick broke the shell first, the chick has the innate ability to break the shell of the big reed warbler chicks that broke the shell later to the outside of the nest and fall to death, enjoying the nest and nurturing resources, so later only saw a big cuckoo chick.
When the large cuckoo chicks appear, the double feathers are full and gorgeous, and they are carefully fed by the large reed warbler.
From morning to night, or alone or in couples, the big reed warbler shuttles and jumps between the reeds and grass stems, holding spiders, ants, etc. in their mouths, and sometimes grabbing some small fruits, smart and sensitive to find the location of the big cuckoo chicks. The big cuckoo chicks are alert, often changing positions, hiding either behind large tree poles or in dense leaves, easily exposed to the outside, and making a sound everywhere they go to tell the big reed warbler that I am here. The great cuckoo chicks are many times larger than the adult reed warbler, and when the mouth is opened, it is as if the big cuckoo chick can swallow the big reed warbler. Sometimes, the insects from the big reed warbler are too small, and the big cuckoo chicks are not happy to eat it, and the big reed warbler drives it to catch the insects quickly. This time when the big cuckoo chicks appeared, it was already a bird, and after three days of careful feeding by the big reed warbler, the big cuckoo chicks flew away, and the distant sound of "cuckoo, cuckoo" came, which was the joyful cry of the chicks meeting with the mother, but the big reed warbler was still flying up and down with the insects.
Yunnan network correspondent Yang Xuefei photo report