Post #14496

Gray Heron: Like a wolf, but with wings. The orderly of our swamps and rivers Imagine: you are walking through the forest, raise your eyes to the treetops and see dozens of nests above you, from which meter-tall birds with long sharp beaks are silently looking at you. A surreal picture, isn't it? It is even stranger to realize that it is impossible to see it in the exotic tropics, where strange things abound. But in Russia - please! After all, this is what a colony of gray herons looks like. True, few have had the opportunity to see such beauty with their own eyes. Although the birds are widespread across Eurasia - they can be found from Spain to China and the Far East - truly large colonies are found far from human habitation, in the middle of swamps and along the shores of large lakes. But if you just want to look at the birds, then you can find 1-2 pairs anywhere: at the nearest pond, at a small river, on the sea coast, and even within the city - if you have a larger park. But it’s worth looking at them - where else will you see such a big thing? The gray heron is as thin as a knitting needle. With a height of one meter and a wingspan of two meters, she weighs well at 1.5 kilos. At the same time, the skinny bird manages to catch and eat amazingly large fish. For example, she was once caught eating a rainbow trout weighing 700 grams. And how does it fit inside? To get food, the heron uses simple but extremely effective tactics, which have only one drawback: the bird must have limitless patience. She has to stand for hours in the water or on the shore nearby, waiting until the fish gets used to it and decides to get closer. And then one quick throw - and the prey is already in the stomach, although she herself has not yet realized this. Gray herons have become such successful fishermen that even in the USSR, scientists wondered whether the birds were harming fish stocks? Surprisingly, neither we nor our foreign colleagues still have an answer to this question. On the one hand, a colony of voracious birds destroys tons of fish, giving preference to commercial species, and does not hesitate to look into fish farms. On the other hand, first of all they catch the sickest and slowest fish, preventing parasites and epidemics from spreading. So what does it mean, gray herons are river nurses? After all, they are so similar to forest orderlies, to wolves. After all, they also destroy thousands of ungulates, but they save them from epidemics that can claim millions of lives. Author: Yaroslav Ilyin 🏀 Hit the hoop and get an NFT gift — https://t.me/BasketbolX_bot