Modern Express News (correspondent Zeng Fei, reporter Gu Xiao) In the past two days, on a high-voltage iron tower in Dachang Village, Jieshou Town, Gaoyou City, Yangzhou, after more than 40 days of hard incubation, the Internet celebrity national security couple "Xiangyun" and "Xiangrui" finally welcomed their little babies. A reporter from Modern Express learned that these Oriental white stork babies were born about three months earlier than the normal breeding period, rewriting the "Encyclopedia" of Oriental white storks.
△ Oriental white stork couple incubating eggs
Oriental white stork couple stayed in Yangzhou to nest and became "Internet celebrities"
Wang Wei, who works in the transmission and transportation inspection class of the power transmission and transformation inspection center of Gaoyou Branch of State Grid Yangzhou Power Supply Company, is an offline The closest person to this pair of Oriental White Storks. While inspecting the line, Wang Wei pays attention to the daily life of this "Internet celebrity couple" almost every day.
"This pair of Oriental white storks were resident birds last year. Starting from the end of September 2021, they began to prepare for the reproduction of the next generation. At that time, they flew back to a nest on the high-voltage tower and repaired the nest." Wang Wei introduced to reporters. According to reports, the renovation of the old nest of this Oriental white stork couple progressed slowly at first, and they brought back relatively few "building materials" every day. As they patiently built it day by day, their love nest gradually took shape, and the nest was also covered with soft grass.
The CCTV news client also launched a slow live broadcast of the Oriental White Stork couple building a nest on the tower, allowing them to gain many fans and become a veritable "Internet celebrity couple" on the Gaoyou high-voltage tower.
On December 9, 2021, in order to better protect this "national treasure" couple and more rare birds around them, the Gaoyou Branch of State Grid Yangzhou Power Supply Company launched a naming campaign to fans and called on netizens to come together to support the "national treasure" "The couple chose a name. The activity attracted the attention of many enthusiastic netizens and received many cute names. After careful discussion among many parties, the Wildlife Conservation Station of the Gaoyou City Natural Resources and Planning Bureau finally chose the two names "Xiangyun" and "Xiangrui" for the couple, which means auspicious clouds descending from the sky and auspiciousness sent by the stork.
During the Spring Festival, the baby was born three months early as he was busy hatching eggs.
html On January 12, staff from the Gaoyou City Power Supply Company of the State Grid discovered that a "national treasure" couple had laid a bird egg. According to Zhu Chunhua, director of Gaoyou Wildlife Conservation Station, "Normally, Oriental white storks are migratory birds. They go to the south to overwinter in autumn, fly back to the north in spring and breed in the north. The breeding time is April to May. And this pair of Oriental white storks The storks have stayed in Gaoyou and started hatching in January, more than three months earlier than the normal breeding period. "During the incubation period, one oriental white stork always stayed at home in the nest, while the other one went out to look for food. and "stand guard." "We have seen the nests of Oriental white storks, which usually have more than 20 centimeters of hay, but it is uncertain whether the temperature can meet the requirements for hatching in this season." Since the weather has been relatively cold recently, this pair of Oriental white storks Choosing to hatch in such weather made Zhu Chunhua very worried, as this would affect their incubation period.
"In the past few days, we have seen little heads poking out of the bird's nest, and the baby Oriental White Stork has finally been born." Zhu Chunhua told reporters excitedly that although the incubation period was longer than the normal, the baby bird was finally born normally. "About 3 months earlier than the normal breeding period, the 'encyclopedia' of Oriental white storks has been rewritten."
△ Staff from the Gaoyou branch of State Grid Yangzhou Power Supply Company built artificial nests for Oriental white storks
More and more Oriental storks The white stork has changed from a migratory bird to a resident bird
The Oriental white stork is known as the "Giant Panda in the Bird World" and is a national first-level protected animal with a global population of about 3,000. In 2003, adult Oriental white storks first appeared in Gaoyou, and the number has grown to more than 200 today, and dozens of them "settle" in Gaoyou every year.
Why did the Oriental White Stork, a migratory bird, become a resident bird? Yang Xiaohong, director of the research office of the China Biodiversity Conservation and Green Development Foundation, said that this is due to the sufficient fish and shrimp food provided by the good ecological environment, the joint efforts of the government, enterprises and the public to protect it, and the timely and thoughtful rescue from all walks of life.
The reporter learned that the nest of the Oriental White Stork is built on a high-voltage iron tower. In order to ensure the safety of power supply and protect the lives of Oriental White Storks.The Gaoyou Branch of State Grid Yangzhou Power Supply Company has installed protective baffles and built artificial bird nests for Oriental white storks. For more than 10 years, line workers of the power supply company have also recorded the living habits and nesting time of Oriental white storks during line inspections, which has provided valuable information for conservation work. At present, Gaoyou has become the second Oriental White Stork protected area in the country.
(photo provided by correspondent)
