Now it is the breeding season of night heron again, tens of thousands of baby night herons have hatched, and the parents of the babies are frantically looking for food. According to statistics, there are about 400,000 night herons in Xiangshan Forest Park today, and their species include novice herons, great egrets, cattle egrets and night herons, etc.

Night herons, like most birds, like to live in groups, and even build nests in the same tree at the same time. Because the appearance of night herons is similar to other herons, if you don't observe carefully, it is difficult to identify which one is the real night heron.

Among the species of egrets, some are very rare and urgently need human protection. For example, yellow-billed egrets, because of their beautiful feathers, were often hunted by humans in the early years, resulting in a sharp decline in their numbers and even extinction.

After being protected by humans, although it will not become extinct, it will take a long time to recover. Now it has been listed as a first-class protected animal by the country, and humans can no longer hunt and kill it at will, otherwise they will bear legal responsibility.

Of course, among the heron species, there is also a kind of heron that is so numerous that the owner of the fish pond can't sleep, and it also destroys the trees in the forest. They are night herons, a species of heron that is both loved and hated.

About Night Heron

Night herons are not big in size. Adult night herons are only 50-60 cm in length and weigh only about 500-600 grams. Although they are not big in size, they have a lot of food, whether it is big fish or small fish, they can prey on them.

During the brooding period, a single night heron can eat dozens of small fish. This appetite is really not flattering. No wonder the night heron made the owner of the fish pond tremble, there was a reason for it. According to this way of eating, who would dare to easily raise fish!

In addition, night herons like to be active at night, even if the owner of the fish pond intends to drive them away, they are powerless at night. Especially in the early hours of the morning, human drowsiness is the strongest at this time, and there is no energy to drive it away.

Many night herons take advantage of this feature and return with a full reward every time. Even if humans use various methods to drive them away, such as beating gongs, setting off firecrackers, and making dummies, the effect is minimal.

According to the owner of a certain fish pond, one-third of the fish in his fish pond are eaten by night herons, which really makes him feel very helpless. If it's daytime, humans can guard the fish pond all day, but at night, they have more than enough energy.

It doesn't matter if you eat some, but one-third of the fish is eaten, which is a heavy loss for fish farmers. The fish that I worked so hard to raise turned out to be cheap for Yelu, and I felt angry when I thought about it.

Some fish pond owners have installed protective nets that slope inward around the fish ponds. They want to use this method to block night herons, but night herons can still come and go freely in the protective nets by taking advantage of their small size. Not affected at all.

But it plays a big role for other wading and fishing birds. However, the night heron is different from other birds, because the night heron does not go into the water at all when fishing, and they all wait for an opportunity in the trees. I plunged into the water whenever I had the opportunity, and it was tried and tested.

Why is night heron droppings a threat to trees?

Since night herons are also gregarious birds, they like to build nests in one branch, so there are a lot of night herons living in one branch tree. At least hundreds of thousands, as many as tens of thousands are possible.

So many night herons live in one place, and their feces will fall to the level of big trees. Because their feces are corrosive, the surrounding trees and grasses cannot grow, and even their nests That tree will die as well.

According to expert testing, under the trees where night herons live, the phosphorus content in the soil exceeds 100 times the normal value. The excess nutrients in the soil prevent the trees from absorbing them, and they will be corroded over time.

Just like the ancient tree outside Hehekou Township, Shankou County, Hebei Province, it was because many night herons nested on the tree that it died. It can be seen that the damage of night heron's feces to trees cannot be underestimated.

In addition to corroding the soil, night heron's feces are also extremely smelly, causing great harm to humans. Since the night heron is a national protected animal and cannot be hunted at will, many times the behavior of the night heron can only be tolerated.

Since night herons are so "terrifying", why should they be protected?

1. Protecting the ecological balance: Although the night heron is flooded, it is only a partial flood, not many in all parts of the country. Therefore, in order to protect the ecological balance, it is necessary to continue to protect the night heron. If night herons are hunted, it will definitely have a great impact on the entire ecosystem, and they may face the danger of extinction again.

2. Bring the energy in the water to the land: Because night herons fish in the water, but they defecate on the land, they can indirectly bring the energy in the water to the land, reducing the excessive nutrition in the water body. Because once there are too many nutrients in the water, algae will grow wildly, which will bring many threats to fish.

Do Night Herons Have Predators?

In nature, every species has natural enemies. Even ferocious tigers are afraid of wolves, and lions, the overlord of the grassland, are also afraid of spotted hyenas, so night herons also have natural enemies.

The natural enemies of night herons are mainly raptors and snakes, but they basically attack the young night herons, because adult night herons are very vigilant and difficult to be hunted.