It calls eight times in one breath. 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.

Eight-note cuckoo photography by Ye Guolun

Essay appreciation .**** " A Different Azalea "

2023 Luojiang District Essay and Painting Competition

Author: Xu Minzhe, Class 602, Luojiang District Experimental Primary School

/ Instructor Du Yue'e/

I live near Luoyang Bridge, so watching egrets has become a daily routine. Walking on Luoyang Bridge, the morning breeze blows on my cheeks, and a cool feeling comes over me. All around me are the rushing Luoyang River and the lush mangroves. The breeze blows, and the river ripples. Suddenly, a few white dots come into view, like white flowers blooming among the green trees. Why are the little flowers moving? I look closely, oh! It turns out to be a group of naughty egrets.

"The moon at midnight shines on the courtyard just like snowy pear blossoms. The pear blossoms and snowy pear blossoms are so sad that the cuckoo cries blood." The cuckoo cries blood is a well-known story, and this is also the protagonist of today - the cuckoo.

The first time I saw a cuckoo was in the zoo. At that time, I knew nothing about it. It was not until this visit to the zoo that I had a preliminary understanding of the cuckoo: a small pointed beak, a pair of bright eyes, two thin yellow claws, and a long feathered tail. Its body is covered with dark gray feathers, except for its belly, which is white and clean.

What is different is that cuckoos never raise their offspring by themselves. They often give their offspring to other birds to raise, or directly place their eggs in other bird nests. This is a relatively rare behavior among birds - "baby care" behavior. They basically do not have an accurate place to settle down. They often "settle down" wherever they fly to. Not only that, cuckoos have a very strange habit, that is, they like loneliness very much. They are alone most of the time and rarely see their relatives. In terms of flying, cuckoos not only have a faster flying speed, but also often fly in a straight line, which is relatively rare in the bird world.

If someone asks me, "What is the greatest advantage of a cuckoo?" I will firmly tell him, "The greatest advantage of a cuckoo is that it can eat hundreds of pests that harm crops in one day. It can be said to be a great blessing for crops."

Later, I accidentally found a dark gray cuckoo on a branch. It held the tree trunk tightly with its feet and looked into the distance with its bright eyes. There seemed to be infinite light in its small eyes. Then, I thought of its many contributions to mankind, which made me like it. However, I thought of those "evil" people who deliberately hurt the cuckoo. I just want to ask them one question: "With all the contributions the cuckoo has made to mankind, is there any reason to hurt it?"

If the birds were gone from the mountains, the people would be gone from the paths. It is not just the cuckoo, but many other birds that play an important role in human survival and development. It can be said that without birds, it would be difficult for humans to survive on this earth. Because birds have so many benefits!

Birds also have lives on the earth. From today on, we should not harm birds anymore and let them live happily on this earth!

Paintings. "Me and the Birds" 2023 Luojiang District Essay and Painting Competition

Author: Chen Rongrong Class 501, Heshi Central Primary School, Luojiang District

/ Instructor Zhuang Peihui/

Popular Science Extension Eight-note Cuckoo

Scientific Name: Cacomantis merulinus

Cuculiformes Cuckoo family

The Eight-note Cuckoo is a gray-brown and brown cuckoo. Adults have gray heads and brown bellies without horizontal stripes , and orange-brown chests and bellies . Juveniles have brown upper bodies with black horizontal stripes, and white lower bodies with many horizontal stripes . They prefer open woodlands, secondary forests, and agricultural areas.

The eight-note cuckoo is more active than other cuckoos, often flying back and forth between branches. During the breeding season, it likes to sing, often singing all day long, especially on rainy days. Its singing is sharp and shrill , so it is called the mourning cuckoo and the rain cuckoo .

Like most other cuckoo birds, the cuckoo is also a nest parasite . It uses intimidation, driving away, lurking, etc. to take advantage of other birds that are hatching eggs to leave the nest, run to the nest to lay eggs, and then replace the original eggs of the parent bird. Because the eggshell pattern or color is similar, the parent bird generally does not recognize it, and then the cuckoo uses the method of " occupying the magpie's nest " to let the host complete the task of hatching and raising the eggs for it. However, cuckoo birds are fond of eating caterpillars that other bird species dare not eat, such as pine loopers and pine caterpillars, which is of great significance to the management of forestry pests and diseases.