1, the shape of the egret
Medium-sized wading birds, with a body length of 52 ~ 68 cm. The mouth and feet are long, black, the toes are yellow-green, the neck is long, and the whole body is white. During the breeding period, two slender and soft spear feathers are attached to the pillow. There are also more and more withered feathers on the back and front neck. Let's start with pink eyes
The mouth, neck and feet are very long, and the whole body is white. There are two long, narrow and soft spear feathers on Stephane's pillow, which look like two braids at the back of his head; Withered long feathers, scattered feathers on the shoulders and back, extending backward to the tail end; The base of the feather stem is tough, the feather branches are slender and scattered at the tip of the feather; There are also long spear-shaped feathers under the front neck, which hang down to the chest. Winter feathers are also milky white, but the crown feathers on the head, the withering feathers or spear feathers on the shoulders, back and front neck have disappeared, leaving only a few spear feathers on the front neck. The iris is yellow, the mouth is black, the eyes are pink in summer and yellow-green in winter, the tibia and tarsometatarsal bones are dark green, the toes are yellow-green, and the claws are black.
2. Life characteristics of egrets.
Immigrants: some residents, some immigrants. The breeding population in the north of the Yangtze River is mostly summer migratory birds, which move to the south of the Yangtze River for wintering in autumn and to the northern breeding grounds in the middle and late March in spring. Most of the breeding populations south of the Yangtze River do not migrate, but are resident birds.
Habit: like to group, often in small groups of 3 ~ 5 or more than 10, active in shallow water near the water. At night, dozens, hundreds or even thousands of large groups are integrated in the habitat, and dispersed into small groups during the day. Often one foot is standing in the water, the other foot is bent under the abdomen, and the head is hunched back and does not move for a long time. Walking lightly and steadily, it looks leisurely. When flying, the head retracts to the shoulder, the neck bends downward into a bag, the feet are straight back, far behind the tail, and the wings slowly encourage flying. Every day after dawn, they fly from their habitat to their foraging places in droves, and the distance can reach dozens of miles. At night, they fly to the paddy fields and hillside trees near their habitats in groups to rest, and then enter the Woods and bamboo forests together in large groups. At night, they live in groups on the tops of tall trees in small dense forests, often beside houses or in gardens and bamboo forests, and sometimes with night herons and cattle egrets. Sex is bold and not afraid of people.
Feeding habits: feed on all kinds of small fish, Monopterus albus, loach, frog, shrimp, leech, dragonfly larva, grub, ant, grub, Coleoptera and Lepidoptera larva, aquatic insects and other animal foods, and also eat a small amount of plant foods such as grains. Feed during the day and rest at night. Often fly to the shallow water on the shore of the waters several miles to dozens of miles away from the habitat, sometimes wait for food somewhere, follow the activities of cattle or forage on the nearby grass, and occasionally see parasites pecking on the backs of cattle.