It is the right time to watch birds in majiawan Wetland Park in Chaoyang District in summer.

In May, I wrote an article about bird watching in majiawan Wetland Park, Chaoyang District. From May, I went to majiawan Wetland Park once a week to watch birds, which lasted for two months. About majiawan Wetland Park, I have gradually gained some experience and shared it with you.

I won't go into details about the basic introduction of majiawan Wetland Park, just look at my previous sharing.

Majiawan Wetland Park is very big, but I think the golden area for bird watching is concentrated in this small wetland reed. This small area is a typical wetland reed habitat, rich in wild bird resources. Now is the best time to observe summer migratory birds.

From May to the end of June, I recorded 48 species, 14 orders, 29 families in this small wetland as a bird-watching area.

Today, I will talk about some common wild birds observed in majiawan Wetland Park in the past two months. Please correct me if there are any mistakes. The information comes from my own bird watching notes after each bird watching, and the information is summarized.

Rhododendron grandiflora

Rhododendron is an iconic bird in summer wetlands. There is a saying that "it is summer when the cuckoo calls". Their breeding season is from May to July. Rhododendrons don't have their own fixed nests, and they never build their own nests to hatch eggs. Instead, they lay eggs in the nests of birds such as brown-headed crows, grey magpies and northern red-tailed owls, and these birds hatch eggs for them. Is a typical "parasitic" bird.

Some British scholars have found that a female cuckoo can lay as many as 25 eggs in a breeding season. Of course, there is only one in each host's nest.

Black water chicken

Although the black water chicken has the word "chicken" in its name, it is more like a duck. Actually, it has little to do with chickens or ducks. It belongs to the order Crane and is a medium-sized wading bird. Like other wading birds, they also like to live near water sources, such as lakes, wetlands, swamps and ponds. It is better to have a shelter on the water, so that they can find it immediately when they are in danger.

Black water chicken is not only good at swimming, but also good at diving. Once they feel danger approaching, they will dive into the water. At this time, the black water chicken will only put its nostrils out of the water to breathe, and the rest of its body will be hidden in the water. When they feel safe, they will appear on the water again. In addition, black water chickens don't like flying very much, and only in case of emergency will they spread their wings and fly. Usually don't fly long distances. Flying is slow, flying is not high. They often fly very close to the water surface, and when they fly not far, they will fall into the water surface or aquatic plants.

Black water chickens are widely distributed, almost all over the world except Australia and Oceania.

Oriental reed warbler

Oriental reed warbler mainly lives in reeds, often sings in reeds, and likes to play hide-and-seek with people, so that you can only hear its voice, but not its shadow. In order to make the sound spread further, it occasionally jumps over the reeds to show you. Compared with other kinds of warblers in the reeds, the Oriental reed warbler is more generous, because it can always be seen singing hard on the top of the reeds and even on the willows above it.

Oriental reed warbler works hard. Every summer, it moves to the breeding ground and begins to weave cup-shaped nests with hay in reeds. Each nest lays about 3~6 eggs. Once the nest is parasitized by azaleas, it will lose all its children.

In late summer and early autumn, the oriental reed warbler began to move south again and finally flew to Southeast Asia for the winter.

Huang Wei mackerel

Huang Wei mackerel is a medium-sized wading bird. Most of them moved to the northern breeding grounds from April to May, and moved away from the breeding grounds at the end of September and the beginning of June at 65438+1October. Habitat in open waters, plains and low mountains are rich in waterside plants. I especially like to live in small and medium-sized lakes, reservoirs, ponds and swamps with open water and large-area emergent plants such as reeds and cattails. Sometimes it lives and moves in paddy fields, swamps and nearby grasses, bushes or small trees.

When hunting, Huang Wei mackerel often stands on reeds. Its classic action is to grasp reed stalks or leaves with its feet and stare at the water surface with its neck narrowed, waiting for its prey. When it found the target, its neck bounced off like a spring and instantly caught the careless prey in its mouth.

cattle egret

Cattle egret, as its name implies, likes to stand on the back of cattle. The relationship between cattle egrets and buffaloes is mutually beneficial and symbiotic, which is very interesting. Cattle egrets live on the backs of buffaloes, preying on parasites on the backs of cattle and insects that are disturbed and fly out because of buffalo walking. At the same time, the oxback heron can also serve as a guard for buffaloes and issue danger warnings. Besides the cow's back, it will stand on the backs of other suitable large mammals, such as horses and mules.

Cattle egret is the only egret that feeds on insects instead of fish. It also preys on spiders, Monopterus albus, leeches and frogs.

Cattle egrets are widely distributed in China, but we seldom see them on cattle backs, especially in Beijing.

Common kingfisher

When you hear a sharp whistle with metallic texture on a lake or river, you should take a good look at the water surface or surrounding shrubs in order to find the owner of the sound. Kingfishers' feathers are much brighter than those of other birds, but their whereabouts are always exposed by calls. Then, I saw a bird flying like a missile, flapping its wings and whistling in the wind. They fly so fast, as if a radar wave was thrown into the willow forest by the pond; They are so beautiful that your retina seems to feel the burning of this bright figure.

Few birds fly in a straight line like ordinary kingfishers, and no bird combines gorgeous colors with mini bodies like it. This is a petite bird: similar in size to a purple-winged starling, with a short tail and a disproportionately large head, and a prominent beak like a dagger. This bird's beak is too big for a bird.

If you get close enough, you can see their sapphire and turquoise shining upper bodies, reflecting the waves of the river below against the perfect background of white throat, rusty cheeks and chest and abdomen.

Ordinary kingfishers are closely connected with water all their lives. They dig deep holes in the beach to build their nests. Parents catch hundreds of fish every day to feed hungry chickens. The fishbones and food scraps piled up by this smell are not commensurate with their handsome appearance.

-From Bird Watching Season, Yilin Publishing House.

Simon Barnes, a famous bird observer and wildlife columnist, recorded his bird watching experience like this:

"How many skills do you need to observe birds? How much knowledge? How much scientific background? No, it's totally unnecessary. Birds are there, singing greetings to each other happily and leisurely, which is easy to be found. Bird watching is life, and everything an ordinary bird watcher sees is life.

Someone once asked me, how often do I watch birds? This question is wrong. Bird watching is a state of life, not a specific activity. Not to watch birds, but to watch birds all the time. Bird watching is not limited to places, equipment and certain specific purposes such as fishing. Bird watching is life and life. "

To capture the perfect moment of bird watching, what is really needed first is the desire to observe, not the specific bird watching skills, but the habit of observing things.

An ordinary birdwatcher first pursues pleasure and unexpected surprises. Under such a surprise, he will lead us to explore the world of birds and gain a deeper understanding.

Attachment: A brief introduction to bird watching in majiawan Wetland Park, Chaoyang District, Beijing.