Now it's night heron's breeding season, tens of thousands of baby night herons have broken out of their shells, 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. Their species include novice heron, great egret, cattle egret and night heron.

Like most birds, night herons live in groups and even nest in a tree at the same time. Since night herons are similar in appearance to other herons, it can be difficult to tell which is the real night heron if you don't look closely.

Among the species of egrets, some are very rare and in urgent need of 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 the protection of human beings, although it will not become extinct, it will take a long time to regain its vitality. Now it has been listed as a first-class protected animal by the state, and humans can no longer hunt and kill 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 cannot sleep and the trees in the forest are damaged. They are night herons, a love-hate heron species.

About Night Heron

Night herons are not very big. Adult night herons are only 50-60 centimeters in length and only about 500-600 grams in weight. Although they are not large in size, their appetite is not small, whether it is a big fish or a small fish, they can prey on it.

During the brooding period, a night heron can eat dozens of small fish, which is really unflattering. No wonder the night heron makes the owner of the fish pond shiver, there is a reason. According to this way of eating, who would dare to raise fish easily!

In addition, the night heron likes to be active at night, even if the owner of the fish pond intends to drive him away, he is powerless at night. Especially in the early morning, the drowsiness of human beings is the strongest at this time, and there is no energy to drive it away.

Many night herons take advantage of this feature, and each time they return with a reward. Even if humans use various methods to drive away, such as knocking gongs, setting off firecrackers, and making fake people, the effect is minimal.

According to the owner of a fish pond, one-third of the fish in his fish pond were eaten by night herons, which really made him feel very helpless. If it is good during the day, humans can guard the fish pond all day, but at night they are more than enough.

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

Some fish pond owners have installed a protective net that slopes inward around the fish pond. They want to use this method to stop the night heron, but the night heron can still come and go freely in the protective net by taking advantage of its small size. completely unaffected.

But it has a great effect on other wading and fishing birds. However, night herons are different from other birds, because night herons do not enter the water at all when fishing. They are all waiting for opportunities on the trees. When the opportunity arises, plunge into the water, and it has been 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 a group, so that there are many night herons living in a group of trees. Hundreds of thousands, as many as thousands or tens of thousands are possible.

With so many night herons living in one place, their feces will fall to the point of large trees. Because their feces are corrosive, the surrounding trees and grasses cannot grow, even their nests. That tree will die because of it.

According to expert testing, under the trees where the night heron lives, the phosphorus content in the soil exceeds 100 times the normal value, and the excess nutrients in the soil prevent the trees from being able to absorb them, and will be corroded over time.

Just like the old tree outside Hehekou Township, Shankou County, Hebei Province, it died because many night herons built their nests in the tree. It can be seen that the damage of night heron's feces to trees should not be underestimated.

In addition to corroding the soil, the feces of the night heron are also very 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 protect them?

1. Protect the ecological balance: Although the night heron is flooding, it is only a partial flood, not many all over the country, so in order to protect the ecological balance, it is necessary to continue to protect the night heron. If the night heron is hunted on a large scale, it will certainly have a great impact on the entire ecosystem, and they may be at risk 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, so they can indirectly bring the energy in the water to the land, reducing the excess nutrients in the water. Because once there is too much nutrients in the water, algae will grow wildly, which will bring a lot of threats to fish.

Do night herons have natural enemies?

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

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