Known as the "giant panda" among birds, it has a "pipa face"...

The Black-faced Spoonbill is a wading bird with a white body and the characteristics of "three lengths", namely a long beak, a long neck and long legs. The body length is usually between 60 and 80 cm. Its feathers are mainly white. During the breeding period, the adult bird has a long, hair-like yellow crest on the back of the head and a yellow collar on the lower part of the front neck. During the non-breeding period, the crest is not obvious and the color is light, and there is no collar. The forehead, throat, face, eye area and eye of the Black-faced Spoonbill are all black, and they blend into the black of the beak, forming its unique facial features. The Black-faced Spoonbill has a long, straight, black beak that is flat above and below, and the tip is expanded into a spoon shape, which is similar to the Chinese classical musical instrument pipa, hence the name.

The black-faced spoonbill mainly inhabits reed marshes from lakes, ponds, swamps, estuaries to coastal tidal flats. They often move alone or in small groups, are alert and avoid people, and are particularly active in the intertidal zones of the seaside, mangroves, and shallow waters near the shores of inland waters. The black-faced spoonbill often forages in tidal flat wetlands, which are an important source of food for them.

Black-faced spoonbills mainly forage on shallow mudflats and usually eat aquatic animals such as fish and shrimp. When hunting, they insert their flat beaks into the water or mud, stirring while moving forward, and use their sharp sense of touch to find fish, shrimp, crabs and mollusks hidden in the mud and sand. After catching them, I will clamp the prey tightly with my mouth, then lift my mouth out of the water and swallow the prey into my stomach. Sometimes, in order to change my taste, I will also eat some insects and aquatic plants.

Black-faced Spoonbills have a significant migratory habit. From March to May every year, they fly from their main wintering grounds, such as the mouth of the Zengwen River in Tainan City, to their breeding grounds in northeastern China, such as Zhuanghe City in Dalian, to forage and breed. This migration process is an important part of the life cycle of black-faced spoonbills, where they build nests, lay eggs and hatch chicks.

The black-faced spoonbill breeds once a year, from April to August each year. Its breeding grounds are mainly distributed in Dalian on the Liaodong Peninsula of mainland China, as well as some islands near the 38th parallel of North Korea and South Korea in East Asia. The Dalian Black-faced Spoonbill Nature Reserve, located in Xingrentuo, Shicheng Township, Zhuanghe City and Yuanbao Island, Wangjia Town, is the only known breeding ground of the black-faced spoonbill in mainland my country. The wintering ground of the black-faced spoonbill is mainly at the mouth of Zengwen River in Tainan County, Taiwan, and its number accounts for about half of the world's total. The black-faced spoonbill travels back and forth between the two sides of the Taiwan Strait every year. The exchanges between the people on both sides of the strait are developing in depth and breadth every year. The people on both sides of the strait are proud of having black-faced spoonbills, and at the same time feel that it is a great responsibility to protect the black-faced spoonbills. Everyone has a common wish: I wish the black-faced spoonbill population to continue to develop and expand, and fly freely on both sides of the Taiwan Strait.

The Black-faced Spoonbill is listed as a first-class protected wild animal in China and is also listed as an endangered species in the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. In order to protect the Black-faced Spoonbill and its habitat, governments and environmental organizations have established a number of nature reserves and wetland parks in the main breeding and wintering grounds of the Black-faced Spoonbill. These protected areas not only provide a safe habitat for the Black-faced Spoonbill, but also promote the restoration and sustainable development of the wetland ecosystem. The Shuangtaihekou National Nature Reserve in Liaoning Province, China, is one of the important breeding grounds of the Black-faced Spoonbill.

The Black-faced Spoonbill is not only an important member of the wetland ecosystem, but also a focus species for global biodiversity conservation. It is our common responsibility to understand its living habits, pay attention to the current status of the species, and actively participate in ecological protection. Let us work together to create a better living environment for the Black-faced Spoonbill and ensure that they can continue to fly gracefully in the wetlands in the years to come.

References:

[1]. With Pan Hao. The elegant and beautiful "black-faced angel" - the black-faced spoonbill[J]. Illustrated Science.

[2]. Su Dapeng. The return of the black-faced spoonbill to its hometown[J]. Economic Daily.

[3]. Cao Zixuan. “Black-faced Dancer” on Tiaozini Wetland—Black-faced Spoonbill[J]. Mysterious Nature.

[4]. Hu Yitian. The love story of the black-faced spoonbill[J]. Natural Life.