On the weekend, I went to the Beijing Zoo to visit the animals, and after a morning of walking, I was a little tired. Just near the waterfowl lake, then sit down and rest.
On the southern half of the Beijing Zoo, Waterfowl Lake is a large area and is a popular leisure place for tourists. There is an island in the center of the lake with several large trees on it. I looked up, good fellow, it was densely packed with bird nests, and it wasn't the common crows and magpies that lived inside, and all the night herons squatting in the trees were.
Night heron (scientific name: Nycticorax nycticorax), belonging to the ornithischia, cranes, heron family, night heron genus, is a medium-sized wading bird, up to 60 cm long, weighing nearly one kilogram, much larger than the crow. The back feathers are gray-blue, the abdomen is white, the legs are relatively long, the mouth is pointed, and there is a pair of eye-catching red eyes, which looks quite beautiful.
Their main food is fish and shrimp and various amphibians and molluscs, and their original distribution range is mainly in the Yangtze River Basin, and in the north are migratory birds that appear in summer. But the zoo's superior food and safe environment allowed the night herons to stay.
As we all know, there are a lot of waterfowl in the waterfowl lake, from the big swans, pelicans to the small wild ducks, Mandarin ducks, every day all kinds of feed has to be fed two or three times, there are all kinds of big fish and small fish and minced shrimp and so on, the animals of the waterfowl lake never have to worry about food.
In order to take care of the living habits of waterfowl, the lake also breeds a lot of carp, crucian carp, small white strips, willow leaves and so on for them to prey on. Sitting on the edge of the lake, night herons can often be seen skimming over the water, flying triumphantly back to the nest with a prey in their mouths.
There is no one else on the island except the breeders, and there are no feral cats or other bird predators to disturb.
Originally, the night heron came out at night to forage, and its habits can be seen from its name, but in order to match the feed feeding time of the keepers, the night herons in the zoo have developed the habit of eating with their partners in the waterfowl lake.
When the lake freezes in winter, the night heron takes eating in the canteen as a matter of course.
Because the waterfowl lake is safe and oily, more and more night herons regard it as their home. Spring and summer are their breeding seasons. Night heron nests are not too delicate, but they are still very strong, they will fold fresh branches from trees to build nests, and the dead branches that fall are not used. Their nests are about half a meter in diameter, about the size of a crow's nest, but a little flattened. Night herons like to get together, so the trees on the island in the middle of the lake are basically occupied by them.
Night herons lay 3-5 eggs per clutch, usually 4. The eggs are about the same size as quail eggs and are blue-green. The parents and fathers of the birds are responsible for incubation together, and the incubation period is about three weeks.
When the birds first hatch, they have very little hair, and when they grow up, they will grow gray and white feathers, which are very similar to the color of the trunk. It's a protective color that makes it difficult for birds to spot by predators. After more than 30 days of careful feeding by the bird father and mother, the bird will shed its fluff, grow feathers, and leave the nest to live independently.
Night heron is a very common bird, from south to north in the country, and it is also distributed all over the world.
However, although there are many of them, night herons are national second-level protected animals and "three haves" animals, so it is better not to disturb them when seen in the wild.
Thank you for watching.