There is a bird called "Long-necked Waiting Bird"...so what is it waiting for?

I believe that people living in Beijing are familiar with the kind of bird that Tadpole is going to introduce today. Especially in winter, they often "station" in the reeds and on the ice in various city parks.

In the winter in Orsen, the sight of a group of large birds standing on the ice forms a beautiful landscape, which is very similar to the scene of a fight on the ice in the movie "Mr. Six".

Please see the picture (Ocean South Park Aohai), photography: Totoro

This not-so-mysterious but somewhat magical bird is the Grey Heron (Ardea cinerea), commonly known as the long-necked and always-waiting bird. So what is it waiting for?

The answer is: wait for the fish!

The heron itself, image source: GBIF

The name sounds harmless, but if you have seen it hunting, you will look at it differently. Fish are indeed the main food of herons, and they will not even let go of the koi fed by the grandpa and aunts in the park.

Of course, this is nothing. In addition to being a master fisherman, it can also sneak attack duck nests or other small animals. Its movements are very skillful and cruel. It picks up the prey with its mouth and then stuffs the head of the prey into the water. When the prey slowly loses strength or suffocates to death, it swallows it again.

When eating fish, the small ones will swallow it raw, while the big ones will beat it on the shore, pierce the fish's body with their mouths, and then tear it apart to eat...

Of course, this is far from enough to prove that it eats everything. There are many video records that it also preys on frogs, weasels, rabbits...

Sometimes, they can't eat the food raw, so they will spit out some undigested hair, bones, etc.

It's time to show my skills

Because it often likes to stand in shallow water with its neck stretched out to observe when catching fish, and can stand there for a long time, it is commonly known as the long-necked old waiter.

But don't underestimate herons, they are a very ancient group, first appeared in the early Tertiary period (65 million to 2.6 million years ago), but archaeologists have found very few heron fossils. It was not until more than 7 million years ago that birds that are very similar to modern herons appeared.

The earliest classification put the Ardeidae under the Ciconiiformes because they share a common temperament in terms of morphological characteristics. However, with the development of molecular biology in recent years, DNA sequence analysis has gradually matured, which has made up for the lack of information on bird morphological characteristics. A few years ago, the IOC's World Bird List classified the Ardeidae and Ibis families, which once belonged to the Ciconiiformes, under the name of Pelecaniformes.

The sun is out and the wings are drying. Image source: GBIF

From the appearance point of view, many people often confuse it with the god of wetlands - the crane. In fact, the temperament is completely different. Although herons have long necks like cranes, they usually form an "S" shape when hunting, which looks a bit funny.

Moreover, when they fly, their necks will fold into a "Z" shape, which is also a very cool identification feature of them. They are not as elegant as cranes.

In addition, there is another more powerful difference, that is, the three toes facing forward of cranes are well developed, and the thumb facing backwards is elevated and degenerate, while the four toes of herons are all well developed and slender. This is why you can often see herons climbing trees, while cranes always stand low-key by the water, because the developed thumb is conducive to grasping.

Flying with the neck tucked in, Image source: GBIF

Herons are widely distributed and are common in waters across China. They can also adapt to city life, so they can often be seen by the water in some busy city parks.

Even so, they have been included in the Red List of Endangered Species, and their living environment is not optimistic due to the destruction of wetland ecosystems.

They are also vulnerable to parasitic trematodes, which live in the throat and esophagus of herons. Parasitism causes herons to become listless, grow slowly, become emaciated, and in severe cases, die.

They are also birds that deserve our protection.

END

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Editor/Heart and Paper