Whiskered gulls fly over the wetlands
"The spring waves under the Rainbow Bridge are green, and it is suspected that the shadow is coming." The story of the Southern Song Dynasty poets Lu You and Tang Wan has been recited through the ages, not only because the story is moving, but also because of Lu You's wonderful brushwork and flowers. In the old days, ordinary Yum did not lack such stories, but because they could not make inscription poems, they would not be circulated. Moreover, the self-talk of the literati is more likely to trigger the sighs of peers. Originally, Cao Zhi's "Luoshen Endowment" had a huge impact, and almost everyone knew that "Fei Ruo Hong" was quoted by Lu You. When I was bird watching in the wetland in late spring and early summer, near the Rainbow Bridge, I found the nest area of the black-winged long-legged sandpiper, the red-billed gull and the spot-billed duck that did not move, when the wind was drifting with the waves, a group of whiskered gulls skimmed the water, so the poem "The spring waves under the sad bridge are green, once it was a shocking shadow", slightly tampered with, the mood is very different.
The whiskered floating gulls and white-winged floating gulls in Tuancheng Lake of the Summer Palace
This is the second time in recent times that the "glimpse" of the whiskered floating gulls. Last Saturday at the Summer Palace, I participated in the "Urban Green Island Tour" bird watching activity organized by the "China Bird Watching", and outside tuancheng Lake surrounded by "copper walls and iron walls", with the help of the newly opened bird watching window this year, I glimpsed 20 or 30 floating gulls near Tuancheng Island. At that time, because the distance was too far, it was only considered to be a kind of floating gull, and after taking pictures, it was found that there were originally white-winged floating gulls mixed in. Looking out over Green Island through the window, surrounded by blue waves, it constitutes an excellent ink painting. Green Island, dead trees, herons, night herons, still, only the water flowed, suddenly came a group of flying gulls, flying up and down, even the tower on Yuquan Mountain, it seems to have a life.
Tuancheng Lake
There are 3 kinds of floating gulls in China, the whiskered floating gull is also known as the gray-winged floating gull, and the corresponding other is the white-winged floating gull, and there is also a black floating gull, including Beijing, Tianjin and other places have fan bird records. Floating gulls are classified as the Tern family, and the characteristics of this taxon, the Field Manual of Chinese Birds, describe it as follows: "Terns and gulls are elegant marine birds with short legs, long and pointed wings, forked tails, thin beaks, light flight, often hovering on the surface of the water and then rushing into the water to catch small fish." In places where there are many fish, they form large groups for circling flights, often appearing along the coast, inland lagoons and waterways. Most species are migratory birds that breed in the far north or south. "The group seen in the Summer Palace, nearly 30, mostly bearded floating gulls, a few white-winged floating gulls, they fly in groups, which means that the choice of habitat and breeding site is relatively close, so there will be a mixed group phenomenon."
whiskered tern
In general, the distribution of the whiskered floating gull is closer to the eastern coast, and the white-winged floating gull can cross eastern China. In the northeast region and the Huanghuai Plain, the floating gull is a summer migratory bird, and other areas are basically traveling birds; while the white-winged floating gull is a summer migratory bird in the entire northeast region, north China and Mengxin District. So, they can go north to Beijing together and stay here at the Summer Palace. The habitat here is not suitable for them to reproduce, so they may continue to travel north. In the Wuliangsu Sea in Inner Mongolia, researchers have counted a huge breeding population, with 27,500 nests of floating gulls, with a nest spacing of about 4 meters, and the most recent is less than 1 meter. It can be seen that the population density in the breeding ground is very large. However, because the nest is based on aquatic grasses, floating on the surface of the water, encountering strong winds, it will drift away from its original position, if the nesting bird leaves, it is a test to accurately return to the nest.
white-winged tern
I remember the first time I saw the whiskered and white-winged floating gulls was in a lagoon closer to the coast, and it was a regular sample line survey on May 24. This time the glimpse of the wetland was on May 28. And the observation at the Summer Palace, the time is May 22. These 3 time points are so close, but the spatial distance is very different, 2 times on the coast and 1 time away from the coast. It shows that the northward migration of the whiskered and white-winged floating gulls is not concentrated at one point in time, but is reflected in the geographical space and can be hundreds of kilometers away. The Yellow Coast and Beijing are both passing places, but the latter are closer to breeding areas. The straight-line distance is hundreds of kilometers, and the migratory birds are especially good at flying like gulls, that is, overnight. So, when we see flocks of the same species of migratory birds in different places in different years, at the same time period, it's a very interesting thing.
People often lament that the so-called "things are not people", time passes, a birdwatcher travels east and west, as if it is a simple geographical space migration, in fact, it is also a time consideration. Between us and the migratory birds, a dislocation game of time and space is formed. This forms a perception, a cognition. The diversity of birds is not only a concept of the number of species, but also the diversity of time and space. The change of time marks the different periods of existence of living individuals and species, that is, the breeding period or the migration period, and the other expression is the summer migratory bird or the traveling bird, with different identities; the transformation of space, for an individual and its population, is the displacement of a point on a straight line or curve, and as far as this species is concerned, it is a state of flow of the whole life, from wintering to reproduction, which is another form of life. Life is fluid.
Whiskered floating gulls, white-winged floating gulls and red-billed gulls stop at lagoons
In a few days, the traditional solar terms are the mango seeds. Farmers and migratory birds are all reactions and utilizations of natural changes. The former is active, and the latter is not passive. Essentially, it's all an interaction with nature. From this, it will continue to live. Spring waves are green, and the shadow comes. The elegance of a flock of whiskered gulls swept across the crumpled water of the north wind, forming new ripples. At this time, traditional poets often lament that spring is no longer there, but in fact, early summer is just right, because this is a period of vitality. Migratory birds have successively arrived at breeding grounds, staging different versions of genetic replication and inheritance. The color difference on the wings of the grey-winged floating gull and the white-winged floating gull during the breeding period is only a significant sign. I don't know if you'll still recognize it when you get back.