Only when you live in peace can you work happily, and the same is true for birds. The bird's nest built by Yining County in September 2021 for pink starlings has now attracted groups of pink starlings to migrate here to give birth to their offspring with peace of mind.
Walking into a pink starling nest at the foot of the mountain in the north of Kurusitai Village, Awulia Township, Yining County, you can hear the chirping of birds from a distance, one after another. Sometimes they stay outside the nest to communicate, and sometimes they fly to In the air, it adds a bit of excitement to the empty grassland.
Feces and eggs can be seen everywhere inside and outside the brick pink starling nest. Broken eggs can also be seen on the ground outside the nest. There are also rumors from time to time in another simple stone nest stacked nearby. They make a chirping sound and lay 4-7 eggs in each clutch. The eggs are white or light blue and are about 25-30 mm in size. After all the eggs are laid, the female bird will start incubating them one day apart. The incubation period is 14-15 days. The chicks are late adults. After hatching, they will be fed by their parents for 14-19 days before leaving the nest and learn how to catch locusts.
"Currently, this bird's nest has attracted more than 2,000 starlings and laid more than 10,000 eggs, 80% of which have hatched. This shows that the effect of our bird's nest is very significant." Yining County Forestry and Grassland Bureau Grassland Station Chang Hu Zhanchao said.
The pink starling is a national second-level protected bird. It feeds on locusts and is a migratory bird. It inhabits eastern Europe and central and western Asia in winter. From May to August, it migrates to western Xinjiang, China to breed. They first They settle in low mountain areas where food is abundant, and then swarm in stone piles, cliff gaps, etc. to select nest sites.
In order to "build nests to attract birds" on a large scale, Yining County has successively established 14 starling reserves in spring, summer and autumn grasslands from 1999 to 2021, covering an area of about 420,000 cubic meters. By setting up fences, stacking stone nests, Building water diversion nests, planting wild mulberry trees, etc. have attracted pink starlings to live and work in peace and contentment, and the occupancy rate has reached 100%. As pink starlings grow, their food intake increases dramatically, even more than that of adult birds. Each pink starling eats about 120-180 birds per day. Each pink starling can protect 2 acres of grassland from locust damage. (Yining County Rong Media Center reporter Chen Yongmei)
| Source: Yining County Rong Media Center
