How do we differentiate between storks, cranes and herons, all of which are very elegant?

Recently, the Oriental White Stork, known as the "Chinese Treasure Bird", appeared beside a reservoir in Nanping City, Fujian Province. As a national first-class key wild protected animal, the Oriental White Stork is a large and rare migratory bird, distributed in Fujian, Shaanxi, Inner Mongolia and other places in my country. Although the number of individuals is small, there have been many reports of their sightings in the media in recent years, which has attracted widespread attention.

The Oriental White Stork is a type of stork. Storks are similar in appearance to cranes and herons, and are both elegant and relatively large wading birds, so many people throughout history have been confused about the difference between them.

01

Endangered "Chinese Treasure Bird"

Wading birds are one of the six major ecological groups of birds, mainly referring to birds that live near water for a long time. According to their body size, wading birds are divided into three categories: large, medium and small. Among the large wading birds, one of the most beautiful and representative water birds is the Oriental White Stork.

As the name suggests, the Oriental White Stork refers to a stork that lives in the eastern part of the earth and has a mostly white body. Currently, they are mainly found in two countries, namely China and Russia. They mainly live in shallow water areas near ponds and lakes, and sometimes fly to trees to perch . They feed on small animals such as frogs, small fish, and insects.

The beautiful Oriental white stork (Photo source: Science Xiaoquan.com)

The Oriental White Stork has a graceful body. When it is an adult, it has three main colors : red eyeliner and long legs (different shades), pure white feathers, and black wings. Its appearance is mainly characterized by five "longs" : long beak, long wings, long feathers, long legs, and long claws. The body is black and white, and the beak is long and strong, which are the main characteristics of the Oriental White Stork's appearance.

The number of Oriental White Storks is extremely small, with about 9,000 in the world (Beijing Daily), and it is listed as an endangered species in the world. Although it is distributed in most provinces and cities in my country, only one, a few or a dozen are found each time. Therefore, the Oriental White Stork is listed as a national first-class key protected wild animal and has the reputation of "China's Treasure Bird".

0 2

Elegant, so elegant!

The Oriental White Stork is one of the 19 members of the stork family. Storks are a general term for water birds in the order Ciconiiformes, family Cirri, and ancient people also called them "stork birds". Storks mainly live near lakes, rivers, ponds, etc., and feed on fish, snakes, frogs, etc.

Storks are large wading birds. The largest stork is the African marabou, with an adult reaching 1.5 meters in height. The smallest stork is the American bittern, with an adult reaching about 0.3 meters in height.

Storks are distributed in Asia, Europe, Africa and other continents. There are three main species in China, namely the Oriental White Stork, the Black Stork and the White-necked Stork. The White-necked Stork is a new record for Chinese birds and was first seen in Yunnan in 2011.

The precious water bird stork has become a beautiful image in the hearts of the ancients with its beautiful body and elegant posture. The working people of my country have known storks for more than 5,000 years. The painted pottery painting "Stork Fish Stone Axe" unearthed in Yangshao, Henan, shows that people in the Neolithic Age knew that storks could catch fish. Lu Ji, a scholar of the Wu Dynasty in the Three Kingdoms period, explained in "Mao Shi Cao Mu Niao Shou Chong Yu Shu" that "stork is a stork, similar to a wild goose but larger." In the Tang Dynasty, the five-character quatrain "Climbing the Stork Tower" by the poet Wang Zhihuan made the world know about this beautiful water bird. Later, people called storks "carrying gold", meaning that they fly on a sunny day as if they were carrying the sun on their backs, to refer to precious birds.

Painted pottery painting "Stork, Fish and Stone Axe" (Source: Art Newspaper Network)

03

Stork, crane, heron, can't tell them apart?

There are two other types of wading birds similar to storks: cranes and herons. They are similar in size, appearance, and habits, and their main features are the "three longs" - long beaks, long necks, and long legs. How do you tell them apart?

There are subtle differences in appearance between storks, cranes, and herons. The beaks and necks of storks are very thick, especially the necks, which give people a strong feeling. When they are still, their heads and beaks remain drooping. The beaks of cranes and herons are relatively small, and their necks are also thinner. When they are still, the head and beak of cranes remain horizontal to the ground. They are taller than ordinary storks, so they are said to "stand out from the crowd". When they are still, the necks of herons are usually bent into an "S" shape, which is an important sign to distinguish cranes from herons.

The biggest difference between storks, cranes and herons lies in their toes. The hind toe (i.e. the fourth toe) of storks and herons is long and bendable, and can hold the front three toes together; the hind toe (i.e. the fourth toe) of cranes is short and high, and does not touch the ground, so it cannot hold the front three toes together. The difference in the hind toes determines the different lifestyles: storks and herons can hold branches and live in trees because their hind toes can hold the front three toes together, but cranes cannot.

Cranes cannot live in trees, so why are there so many scenes of white cranes standing on pine trees in Chinese paintings?

In fact, this is just a way for Chinese people to express their beautiful emotions through cranes and pine trees. From this, we can know that the scene in the famous work "Pine and Crane Prolong Life" can only appear in Chinese paintings, and it is unlikely to appear in photographs.

Traditional Chinese painting "Pine and Crane Prolong Life" (Source: Chinese Painting Network)

The difference in sound is also one of the main bases for distinguishing storks, cranes and herons. From a physiological structure perspective, storks do not have a syrinx, so they can only make a "da da da" sound by quickly hitting their beaks. The syrinx of a crane is long and curved, so the sound it makes is high-pitched and complex . This is the origin of the idiom "the cry of the crane is nine days long". The cry of a heron is very crisp, pleasant and pleasing to the ear , and is often used to describe the beauty and mystery of nature.

In terms of the way they fly, storks, cranes, and herons are also slightly different. When a stork flies, its head and legs are slightly drooped; when a crane flies, its head, legs, and body are in a horizontal line, which is very beautiful; when a heron flies, its neck shrinks and its legs extend backwards, forming a diagonal line. The neck shrinks until it disappears, which is the main feature that distinguishes herons from storks and cranes.

It is worth mentioning that egrets, especially white egrets, fly in a rather chaotic manner, just as described in Li Qingzhao's poem "Ru Meng Ling", "Striving to cross, striving to cross, startling a flock of gulls and egrets". Not only do white egrets fly in a chaotic manner, not in a row, but they can only hover at low altitudes. Therefore, the "white egrets" in Du Fu's poem "A line of white egrets fly up to the blue sky" should be "white geese". White geese, also called white swans, belong to the family Anatidae. When flying high in the sky, they must line up in a formation, either in the shape of a "one" or a "person", and they will not fly randomly.

In order to effectively distinguish between storks, cranes and herons, the author has specially created the following table for readers' reference.

Although it is difficult to distinguish between storks, cranes and herons, the indisputable fact is that they are all precious. Whether it is the Oriental White Stork, a "Chinese Treasure Bird", or wading birds such as the Black Stork, Red-crowned Crane, Yellow-billed Egret, and Rock Herons, if you encounter them in the wild, please take extra care of them; if you encounter someone trying to harm them, be sure to stop them or call the police.

Protecting rare animals and maintaining ecological balance is everyone’s responsibility!

Can you tell the difference between the stork and the crane in the picture? (Photo source: Bird Network)

References:

1. "Current Status of Oriental White Stork Research", author Zhao Hongxia, "Theoretical Observation" No. 2, 2011

2. "Field Identification of Herons, Cranes, Storks, Spoonbills and Other Birds", by Gao Yuren, Nature, No. 5, 1998

3. "Karyotype Study of 8 Species of Ciconiiformes and Gruiformes", author Bian Xiaozhuang, Li Qingchuan, National Science and Technology Library and Documentation Center

Author: Wei Deyong

Member of Guangdong Shenzhen Writers Association