A forest elf, a trio of high-pitched songs, what kind of mysterious bird is this?

A bird's eye view of science

Quanzhou Association for Science and Technology

Quanzhou Bird Watching Society

Editor's Note

The ecosystem is like a grand and exquisite symphony. In this song of nature, birds, with their agile posture, colorful feathers and pleasant singing, have become one of the most eye-catching notes. Popular science protects the green home. Quanzhou Association for Science and Technology, together with the Quanzhou Birdwatching Society, has launched a new special science column "Bird's Eye Science", which publishes bird science knowledge from time to time, selects and broadcasts student essays and paintings, guides the public to participate in ecological education, pays attention to bird protection and research, and jointly maintains ecological balance. There are carefully drawn bird paintings, which outline their beautiful contours with artistic brushstrokes; there are high-definition and realistic bird pictures, showing them flying, foraging, and playing in the forest, interpreting the vitality and agility of life. Let us walk into the bird world full of wonders and surprises and explore their unique value in the ecosystem.

Great tit Photographer: Chen Wensen

Essay appreciation .**** "The First Song"

2023 Luojiang District Essay and Painting Competition

Author: Yang Chenxi

Class 601, Luojiang Campus, Quanzhou Experimental Primary School

/ Instructor Wang Yinghua/

Winter, like a beautiful and cold princess, pulls aside her mysterious veil, bringing gusts of cold wind, mixed with thick dust and sand flying all over the sky, hitting my face painfully. I can't help but worry about my "little friends" in my hometown - they are the tits that build nests and live in the pear tree in front of my grandmother's house!

"Tin... Qi... Weier..."

Where did the sound come from? It was so vague that it was almost inaudible if you didn't listen carefully. Looking in the direction of the sound, I saw a few skinny tits with sparse feathers hiding in the corner of my grandmother's yard. My cousin and I carefully brought them home and took good care of them. From then on, they became our "little friends". Speaking of this group of "little friends", they have been at my grandmother's house for three years. I remember the second year they came to my grandmother's house, my grandmother's house was to be renovated and rebuilt, and my grandfather wanted to cut down the old pear tree at the door, which had been a few years old, to expand the house. My grandmother was not happy, and she said: "It doesn't matter if the pear tree is cut down, but the tits living on the pear tree are your two granddaughters' 'darlings'. Although they are far away from home, what they care about most in their hearts are these tits! When it's cold, they are afraid that they will be frozen, and when it's hot, they are afraid that they will be exposed to the sun. The person on the other end of the phone always reminds us old couple to take good care of them. You cut down the pear tree and make the tits homeless. How can your two granddaughters be happy?"

My grandfather, who was unwilling to give up, called me and my cousin to hold an online video conference. As expected, my cousin and I rejected my grandfather's proposal, saying that we couldn't let the chickadees be homeless. My grandfather had to compromise and gave up the idea of ​​expansion. From then on, these chickadees became my "family" that I missed so much.

Last year, I went back to my grandmother's house to celebrate the Spring Festival. It was a very cold winter. The turbulent water in the past was frozen and stagnant. The earth and the forest were covered with a layer of white gauze, and the sky was gloomy and seemed to collapse. The biting cold wind was raging and violent, as if it was declaring its sovereignty to people, and it was the helmsman of winter.

The bad weather lasted for several days, and the "little friends" on the pear tree at the door suffered. They couldn't go out to find food for several days, and they must be starving. So my cousin and I discussed and opened the door to let the birds fly in. My cousin and I sprinkled grains on the ground at the door, put a lot of food crumbs on the dining table at home, and then hid quietly to observe the movements of the little guys. Probably because they were too hungry, the little guys flew in together. They have golden feathers, white fluff on their cheeks, and black stripes on their chests. They pecked at the food on the table as if no one was around. My cousin and I closed the door, and they lived in the house for a whole week, and no one disturbed them. They looked for food in the house, caught crickets, searched for flies sleeping in the cracks of the wooden boards, pecked at food scraps on the ground, and "cleaned" a clean environment for us. But the birds yearn for a life of flying freely in the sky, and it is not a solution to keep them locked up for a long time. So my cousin and I used plywood to make a shallow feeding trough on the pear tree. In bad weather like this, we would sprinkle grains into the trough so we wouldn't have to worry about them starving.

It was a cold day, but the sun was shining brightly. A clear song rang out in the yard. The song was sung by a titmouse. The song was simple and clear: "Jin-chi-weir! Jin-chi-weir!" These few simple sentences sounded so touching, as if these little cuties with golden breasts were telling us in their own language: "I am very happy, I am very happy, I have human friends who protect us!" At this time, my cousin and I looked at each other and smiled knowingly, saying: "Aren't you our friends too! You are contributing to the ecological environment of mankind!"

The sunlight shines through the fine shadows of the leaves, dyeing the earth a bright green. People can't help but marvel at the exuberance and vitality of life. The original song seems to ring in their ears again - "Jin...qi...weier..." Only, this sound is so crisp and so pleasant.

Painting work. "Dear Bird"

2023 Luojiang District Essay and Painting Competition

Author: Wang Yejun, Class 502, Heshi Central Primary School, Luojiang District

/ Instructor Zhuang Peihui/

Popular Science Extension : Great Tit

Scientific name: Parus minor

Passeriformes

The great tit is also known as the black chirping tit, the white-faced tit, and the black one . The great tit has a black forehead to the back of the neck, a wide black vertical stripe in the middle of the chest and abdomen, a blue-gray upper body, a black chin, throat and upper chest, and the rest of the lower body is white or slightly yellow. The iris is dark brown, the beak is dark brown, and the feet are dark brown. The male and female great tits are the same in shape and color, but the difference is that the female bird has a dull and dull body color, and the black vertical stripe on the chest is narrower.

The great tit inhabits a variety of habitats, including open deciduous woodlands, river forests, shrubs and gardens . It is an omnivore, feeding mainly on various insects, nuts and seeds. Because it eats pests, it is considered a beneficial bird and has certain ecological value. In the Quanzhou area, most of them are winter migratory birds , and very few stay in Quanzhou in summer .