Red-crowned crane is a swamp waterbird, which lives in shallow water with reeds almost all the year round. It has no webbed toes, and belongs to the migratory birds related to birds. Every year around the vernal equinox, they fly from the southern wintering area to the north in groups; After staying in Zhalong Nature Reserve, I sang and danced for my spouse, then occupied the land and led the grass. The size of the nest is about one meter, which is 15-30 cm above the water. They lay eggs in mid-April. The eggs are bigger than goose eggs and have brown spots. After laying eggs, male and female cranes hatch in turn, about 3 1 day. By mid-May, the young cranes were hatched with yellow and brown fur and no red crown. After three or four months, the young crane eats a lot, eating two or three kilograms of fresh fish every day, growing rapidly, with a height of 50-60 cm and a weight of 10 kg. After August, the feathers gradually became rich, the physique became strong, and the wings flew high. After late autumn and early frost, they still fly to the marshland of Jianghuai Lake, or cross the sea to spend the winter in the southern islands of Japan. Nesting, spawning and breeding near the original site of Zhalong every year. Young cranes turn white after one year, mature sexually after three years, with a red crown, and generally live for 50 to 60 years.
Red-crowned cranes are not afraid of cold. The main reason for its migration is that the rivers and lakes in Zhalong Nature Reserve freeze in winter, so it is difficult to find food, so it has to move south for the winter. It is a cold-tolerant omnivorous bird, which provides convenient conditions for artificial domestication and reproduction. Zhalong Nature Reserve has mature experience in this respect.
Due to the continuous development of large-scale wetlands in East Asia, the living environment of red-crowned cranes is shrinking day by day, and the existing number is small. There are about 700 in China, less than 300 in the Soviet Union, and there is a non-migrant population in Hokkaido, Japan, with a population of about 400.
White crane, also known as Liao crane and Siberian crane, is a national first-class protected animal and an endangered crane. White crane is a very beautiful and elegant crane. Except the primary flight feathers are black, the others are white. The front of the cheek is bright red and the surface is covered with underdeveloped feathers. The rest of the head is surrounded by "red face", like a Roman Catholic nun winding a white hat on her head, so German is called "nun crane". Its pink mouth is straight and strong, and its legs and toes are pink. The body length is about1.30m..
It is recorded in historical documents that white cranes breed in the northeast, but their eggs and nests have not been found in recent years. There are two breeding populations of crane, which are 1900 km apart. The eastern population in the Soviet Union, including the Male River Delta in northern Siberia, the lower reaches of Lena River and Yakutia tundra of Modijikal River, migrated through Zhalong Nature Reserve and Beidaihe, and wintered by Poyang Lake in Jiangxi, China. This population is 1953. The population in the western Siberia of the Soviet Union is in the forest tundra at the intersection of Ceng He and Qihe River, with a migration distance of about 6,200 kilometers. It passes through the Hindu Kush Mountains in Afghanistan and Lake Abie Asta, and overwinters in Iran and India. There are 27 species of animals in this population.
At the beginning of June, white cranes began to breed, generally laying 2 eggs, and the incubation period was 30-35 days. In early July, the cranes hatch one after another. After 1-2 days, they can walk with their parents. Generally, only one of the two chicks can survive, and the other one is eliminated because of competition between them or changeable bad weather. If the climate is cold in June and the swamp is not thawed, the breeding period of the white crane will be postponed.
Although cranes are omnivorous, their eating habits are basically specialized. It mainly feeds on the roots, stems and buds of liverworts, and also omnivores rodents and insects.
The Soviet Union established a research center for breeding white cranes in the Oka Nature Reserve near Kiev. In 1977 and 1978, the Soviet Union obtained seven fertilized eggs and four cranes from the International Crane Foundation, and hatched the first crane in a cage in 198 1 year. During the period of 1990, scholars from the Soviet Union, the United States, China and India drafted a plan to study the use of white cranes at the International Crane Foundation: to carry out field experiments of captive white cranes and to cooperate in studying the genetic differences between the eastern and western populations.
White-pillow crane, also known as red-faced crane, is commonly known as earth crane. It is an elegant crane slightly smaller than the red-crowned crane. The body feathers are blue-gray, the abdomen is deep, the back is shallow, and the cheeks are red, especially in the breeding period; The back and upper back of the head and neck are white. The body length is about1.14m.
There are 4 155 wild white-naped cranes, which are national first-class protected animals. The breeding area of this crane is in the north of China, south of the southeast wind in Siberia, which almost overlaps with the breeding area of the red-crowned crane. These two kinds of cranes that breed in the same area live in harmony with each other and do not invade each other. Compared with the red-crowned crane, the distribution area of the white-naped crane further extends westward to the arid grassland in eastern Mongolia. Zhalong area in Qiqihar City is the breeding ground of white-naped cranes. According to the previous survey, there are about 65,438+000 cranes. However, in recent years, with the deterioration of the ecological environment, the number has dropped sharply, and it is now less than 50. The beautiful image of this crane can also be seen in Halahaidianzi, Yinhedianzi and Mangetu in Qiqihar City.
Every March, the white-naped crane flies back to the breeding ground from the south and moves in groups in the area where it will nest. From mid-April to early May, shallow dish-shaped nests were built three or four hours before spawning, and each nest produced three gray-white eggs with brown spots. During the incubation period, the parent birds are inactive, their appetite decreases, but their alertness is high, and they turn eggs for one to two minutes every 65,438+0 hours. The incubation period of white-naped crane is 29-30 days. Before the crane hatched, the egg gave a "yum, yum" cry. It takes 14, 5 hours from drilling to shelling. Young cranes can hobble in three hours and eat in eight hours.
Every year from June 5438- 10, the white-naped crane moves south, and most of the wintering occurs in the wetlands near the middle and lower reaches of the Yangtze River in China and Hequan City in southern Japan. China has set up a nature reserve in the wintering area of white-naped cranes, and Japan has set up an artificial breeding department near Hequan City. In addition, there are some saline-alkali beaches at the intersection of the Han River and the Imjin River in North Korea, and there are very concentrated wintering white-naped cranes in the southern part of the demilitarized zone every year.
White-naped cranes bred in northeast China fly to Japan for winter every year. The situation of white-naped crane is worrying, and more detailed protection measures should be taken.
The white-headed crane, also known as the pot crane, has more than 7,000 wild animals. It has been listed in the Red Book of Endangered Species in the world and is a class of protected animals in China. It is petite, Wen Ya, wary and timid, and difficult to tame. It is about 1 m high, weighs about 3.5 kg and is about 9 10 cm long. It has thick black bristles on its forehead and in front of its eyes, and white fur from head to toe. The rest of its feathers are slate gray.
White-headed cranes breed in the Vilyu River basin in Siberia, the Bijin River in the Soviet Union and the Wusuli River basin. According to the literature, there are a few white-headed cranes breeding in Manzhouli area and Songhua River basin in China, but no nests and eggs have been found in recent years. It mainly overwinters in the lower reaches of the Yangtze River in China and Japan, and migrates through Momoge National Nature Reserve and Korean Peninsula.
The crane nests in the vast moss-covered swamp, lays eggs from the end of April to the beginning of May, and hatches in early June. Dr George Archie Polder (President of the International Crane Foundation) studied the crane's behavior and found that its spouse ceremony was a wedding dance and a duet. The male crane barks twice, and the female crane barks one long and one short. When singing a duet, the three-level flying feather opens and the head and neck stretch repeatedly. The crane lays two eggs in each nest. Hatching is mainly done by the female crane, and the male crane hatches the female crane only at 1 hour in the morning and evening. In late May, young cranes hatch one after another. After shelling for 24 hours, the weight of the young crane is 85-93.5g.. After hatching for 3 days, the young crane can leave the nest 30 meters away. The male crane took one for a walk, and the female crane looked after the other in the nest. On the fifth day, two young cranes can walk 250 meters away from the nest with their parents, and on the seventh day, they can feed within 6 square kilometers. From late August to the end of September, they leave their breeding grounds and migrate to the south.
The white-headed crane eats a lot of cranberries in the breeding ground, especially Vaccinium uliginosum, a plant in the swamp. There are mosquito larvae and velvet aquatic plants in the stomach of the crane. Insects, frogs and giant salamanders are also eaten in summer, but the main food is plant food. In winter, we mainly eat grains such as rice, wheat and barley, as well as mollusks and insects. Sometimes the crane and the crane nest in the same area, and they migrate together. Although there is ecological isolation, hybridization can still be seen. 1965, 1 male crane and 1 female crane were observed in the overwintering area of Shuicheng, Japan. According to the observation of 1968- 1975 for 8 consecutive years, they have 7 batches of hybrid offspring.
Gray crane, also known as xuanhe and chitose crane, is a common crane widely distributed in Eurasia. There are two subspecies: one subspecies is distributed in eastern Europe and northern Europe, and reaches the Bojola River in the Soviet Union and Hurst in the United States in the east; The other subspecies is distributed in parts of Central Asia east of Assam. Every winter, a large group of cranes cross the central Himalayas and enter India for the winter. The oriental subspecies of crane can be seen in China, which breeds in Tianshan Mountain in Xinjiang, Hulunbeier in Inner Mongolia, Heilongjiang and Jilin. Migration passes through western Xinjiang, northeast China and north China, and overwinters in the middle and lower reaches of the Yangtze River, western Sichuan and southern China.
The crane's body feathers are gray, the back is slightly brown, the cheeks are gray to the neck, the front and back of the throat are gray, the mouth and feet are gray, and the flying feathers and covering feathers are black. The back of the head is hairless and red. Body length1.1-1.1.5m, with1.20,000 animals, listed as national second-class protected animals.
Gray crane is a kind of crane that people knew earlier. The ancient book "Notes on Ancient and Modern Times" contains: "The crane turns white at the age of one thousand and turns black at the age of two thousand, so-called Yuan crane is also". "Three Things" contains: "Those who have cranes in Leishan are as black as paint, and when they are 360 years old, they are pure black. Among these five festivals, there is a music festival. Yesterday, the Yellow Emperor was happy with Mount Kunhua, and there were cranes flying. " These records regard this bird as a god. In Europe, cranes have been mentioned in the Bible. The image of this crane is also found in Egyptian temples and prehistoric cave murals. Aristotle, who lived in 384-322 BC, accurately recorded the migration, rest, mating and hatching of cranes.
Gray cranes are very afraid of people. They breed in remote swamps. The bird's nest is built on reeds or grass covered with moss. There are two eggs in a nest. These eggs are green and brown with purple spots. The size of an egg is about 99×64 cm. The normal incubation period is 28 days, and males and females are hatched. Young cranes can walk out of the nest with their parents very early and eat from their parents' mouths, all of which are bugs and insects.
When this crane meets other cranes for the first time during the breeding season, they will be quite excited. The male crane and the female crane stand side by side and make noisy noises, which is its special habit.
The demoiselle crane, also known as the boudoir crane, is the smallest of the existing 15 cranes in the world, with a height of about 98 cm. Slim, about 96 cm long. Most of the body is blue-gray, the head, neck and chest are black, and a bunch of white fine feathers extend backwards. It is docile and can't compare with other cranes in Zhong Hequn.
The breeding grounds of demoiselle cranes range from Libyan Islands in southeastern Europe to Atlas Plateau in northwest Africa, western Heilongjiang in China and Mongolia, Ningxia, Gansu and Xinjiang. But now it has probably disappeared from Tunisia and Algeria in North Africa. Ornithologists have found about six demoiselle cranes that breed in spring near Reyes, Morocco. The demoiselle crane breeds on a large grassland in Qiqihar. Commonly known as "cormorant". During the migration in China, this crane passed through all parts of North China, Qinghai and Tibet, and arrived in South China, East China, Myanmar, India and East Africa for the winter. The existing number is 6.5438+0.6 million.
Demoiselle cranes live in the open plains and plateaus, fly back to the breeding ground from the wintering area in mid-March every year, and move in small groups in grasslands and swamps, and begin to occupy the area for breeding in late April. Instead of nesting, they lay their eggs directly on the bare dry ground, surrounded by reeds and sparse vegetables. Usually two eggs are laid, sometimes one. The egg is oval, with a solid shell and irregular spots of lavender and dark purplish brown. Eggs weigh about127g. The incubation period is 30 days.
"Song Shu Wu Xing" contains: "In October of the 4th year of Yongxi (AD 987), Zhirunzhou presented a crane with its neck hair hanging like a tassel." This is the only record of a demoiselle crane in history. China has listed this crane as a second-class protected animal. The demoiselle crane is easy to domesticate. Zhalong in Qiqihar City and Momoge National Nature Reserve in Jilin Province have been domesticated successfully.