Recently, the staff of the wildlife protection department of Honghe Hani and Yi Autonomous Prefecture reported that the discovery of a national second-level key protected wild animal - the white-bellied falcon eagle in mengzi Changqiaohai National Wetland Park is a new record in Honghe Prefecture.
Wang Jian, an associate professor at the School of Life Sciences and Technology at Honghe University, said that after repeated identification, the bird of prey was a white-bellied falcon. After consulting numerous published documents such as "Birds of Yunnan", it was determined that the discovery was the first time in Honghe Prefecture.
What is the White-bellied Falcon?
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White-bellied falcon
The White-bellied Falcon is a large bird of prey with a dark brown upperparts, white wing margins, a long tail, and 7 not very pronounced black-brown wavy spots and broad black sub-terminal spots.
The adult has a white thorax and abdomen with fine longitudinal stripes in black. The juvenile has a slightly paler upperpart than an adult , a reddish-brown to brownish-red underparts , dark longitudinal stripes on the throat and breast , cinnamon and slightly dark spots on the underwing coverts when flying , brown tips , and a black wing band under the wings. The individuals found this time match the characteristics of young birds.
They all like to be in these places ↓↓↓
The white-bellied falcon prefers to inhabit the middle and low altitude mountains, hills, river valleys and other places with abundant water sources, and the cold season will also appear in open plains and even semi-desert areas. The white-bellied falcon mainly feeds on small and medium-sized birds such as rodents, rabbits, and juveniles. When facing the larger black stork, it also showed a fierce side and vigorously pursued it.
Why does it appear in the Mengziba area of the Red River?
Mengziba District is an important bird migration channel in Yunnan Province, and the Changqiao Sea and Datun Sea are listed by the International Bird Union as China's No. 264 Key Bird Area, especially in winter, many rare and endangered birds can be observed.
This winter, birds of prey such as white-bellied harriers, black-winged kites and barn owls have also been monitored.