The ‘Four Great Kings’ of Chongqing Residential Communities: Besides the Sparrow, Do You Know the Others?
Spring has come, and you may hear the sweet calls of birds at your windowsill. This week is Bird Lover Week. Chongqing Bird Expert and Chongqing Bird Watching Association General Manager Zhang Jiuyong introduced that in Chongqing's residential communities, there live the 'Four Great Kings'. Besides the common sparrow, the other three are the White Wagtail, the Grey-backed Thrush, and the Collared Dove.
Great King 1 White Wagtail
White Wagtail
The 'wheat master' that often stands proudly at the top of your tree and sings. The White Wagtail must be one of them. They are not big in size, just a little bigger than sparrows, and they don't look fierce, but they are quite brave, and they like to stand on high branches, with a melodious call.
White Wagtail is one of the most common birds in Chongqing, one of the 'Four Great Kings'.
Great King 2 Grey-backed Thrush
Grey-backed Thrush
You can find another 'Great King' in the bushes near your home. They like to sneak around in the bushes, darting back and forth. Sometimes they will jump onto the lawn to find food or perch on low branches. They are also very brave, and you can get close to them, and they don't care at all until they are only a few meters away, then they will flutter and hide in the bushes or low branches.
This bird is the Grey-backed Thrush, it combs its hair with a 'punk' hairstyle, and the white feathers on its cheeks are very obvious, a little like the face of a Peking Opera clown, some people say it looks like a bulbul, and also calls it 'soil bulbul', but its singing is completely ruined—its vocal cords are far less elegant and charming than the bulbul, and sometimes it can be very noisy.
Great King 3 Collared Dove
Collared Dove
The next guest is the one who often walks in your yard, in the community, and on the lawn. It is often mistaken for a pigeon, and its call is 'goo, goo, goo', just like a pigeon, but the Collared Dove's 'pearl necklace' after its neck is black and white, which makes it easy to distinguish from pigeons.
Collared Dove's nesting style is quite casual, it just assembles around forty tree branches, so they need to find places that are easy to insert branches, which may appear on a flowerpot in a balcony, or even a shoe drying on a balcony.
Great King 4 Sparrow
Sparrow
The sparrow that everyone 'knows' is actually not as common as the previous ones. The real sparrow is mostly brown, with a gray-white neck ring, and black spots on its cheeks.
The sparrow is small in size, but has a bad temper, it likes to jump up and down on the ground to find food, and it may fight with other birds for food or territory.
Zhang Jiuyong said, besides these few, there are many other birds commonly seen in Chongqing communities and parks, such as the White Wagtail, the Common Kingfisher, the Hooded Crow, and the Sunbird. If you pay attention, you can see them.
White Wagtail
Common Kingfisher
Hooded Crow
Sunbird
These wild neighbors not only often show their beautiful voices, but also bring us more ecological value. For example, the (magpie) that is a master at dealing with locusts, the (owl) family can control rat plagues, and the Common Kingfisher, Sunbird, and other small birds are busy pollinating flowers between flowers. We should all start from ourselves, refuse to eat wild meat, and take practical actions to protect our wild neighbors.
