Yesterday, the staff of the Black Panther Wildlife Conservation Station, which is patrolling the Guanting Reservoir at the junction of Beijing and Hebei provinces and cities, found that a "ring swan swan" appeared in the whooper swan and swan group. For five consecutive years, migratory birds wearing rings have been photographed, indicating that the Guanting Reservoir has become a fixed supply station for migratory birds.
Ring mark is a kind of ring sign worn on the body of migratory birds, with the name of the country, unit, code and other marks on it, which is used as the basis for studying the migration law of migratory birds. On November 27, 2023, in the Guanting Reservoir, a whooper swan wearing a ring around its neck was photographed by a ranger. Yesterday, at the same spot on the way back from the wintering ground, another ringed swan was photographed.
More than 90 whooper swans landed in the reservoir on the 25th, and with the new landing on the 26th, there are currently more than 240 whooper swans and whooper swans in the six monitoring areas of the Guanting Reservoir. Li Li, head of the Black Panther Wildlife Conservation Station, told a reporter from Beijing Youth Daily that due to the recent unstable temperature, only part of the ice in the waters in the Guanting Reservoir has melted, so whooper swans and whooper swans will compete for territory and there will be mixed herds.
Surprisingly, a ring was found around the neck of a whooper swan. The whooper swans wearing rings "singing" with their necks stretched out among the birds, and the rings on their necks look obvious, so they are spotted by rangers.
Li Li believes that because the ** rate (referring to the birds released with rings and recaptured) is not high, even less than one percent, so not many migratory birds wearing rings are found. Counting the ringed swan found in 2024, migratory birds wearing rings have appeared in the Guanting Reservoir for five consecutive years, mainly migratory birds and wading birds.
In the process of migrating back and forth from wintering grounds to breeding grounds, birds such as whooper swans have used the Guanting Reservoir as an important supply station, which also shows that the biodiversity here is becoming more and more complete. Li Li said that according to the pattern of previous years, the swan population will continue to migrate to the breeding ground after resting for a period of time.
Text: Reporter Dong Zhenjie.
Photo by Li Li.
Beijing Youth Daily).