Popularization of forest and grass

Altay region, where Altai Mountain in Xinjiang is located, is the intersection of circumpolar species, Tagalog species, mountain species and Eurasian grassland species. This area is not only rich in species diversity, but also distributed with many endemic species. Why does the author Liu use a few "birds, people and birds" to uncover the tip of the iceberg of Altay biodiversity for us?

Altai Mountain is a mountain system in Central Asia, which obliquely spans some territories of China, Mongolia, Russian and Kazakstan. Altay region in China is located on the south slope of the central Altay Mountain, which is the only region in the northwest of China bordering on Russia, and is located at the junction of Taijialin and grassland in western Siberia. The famous Kanas scenic spot is the pride of Altay region and a typical face of Altay.

Altay region is a perfect place with glaciers, snow-capped mountains, alpine meadows, virgin forests, lakes, grasslands, rivers, deserts, wetlands and karst landforms. There are seven autonomous forest parks and four national forest parks in the Territory. Various habitats have given birth to rich species diversity. Species distributed around the North Pole, Tagalog species, mountain species and Eurasian grassland species meet in Altai Mountain. There are more than 400 species of wild birds in Altay, which is one of the six bird-watching areas in China.

People really understand the rich birds in Altay, and they have to start with an old man. His name is Zhang Guoqiang, and he is determined to do something meaningful after retirement-promote Altay through photography. One day in April 2005, Zhang Guoqiang casually photographed a beautiful bird on the windowsill. He didn't want this photo of the gray-blue tits to be recommended by experts and published in the most authoritative bird picture book in China, which greatly encouraged Zhang Guoqiang. Since then, Zhang Guoqiang has embarked on the road of shooting birds. Zhang Guoqiang, 65, began to study computers and birds. During the period of 10, he climbed the snow-capped mountains, entered the dense forests, crossed the Gobi ... and ran nonstop on the bird-shooting road, with footprints all over Altay. He not only learned the identification methods of hundreds of birds, but also mastered the characteristics and habits of various birds. In 20 15, he published the Atlas of Wild Birds in Altay as he wished, which included 342 species of birds and published 94 pictures1piece, covering almost all bird species recorded in local data, including newly discovered or rare bird species in Xinjiang and China and dozens of species endemic to Altay.

Attracted and summoned by the album "Wild Birds in Altay", experts from all over the country who watch birds, shoot birds, love birds and related fields come in droves.

A group of local bird lovers, bird watchers and bird photographers have rapidly grown into experts in this field, and Tang Liming is one of them. During his investigation in the hinterland of Altai Mountain, Tang Liming photographed two rare Thunderbirds-willow Thunderbird and rock Thunderbird for the first time in China.

Earlier, some bird experts speculated that there might be Thunderbirds in Altay, but no one in China had taken photos and could not confirm it. Thunderbirds in China have a narrow distribution area and a small number. Liu Thunderbird and Rock Thunderbird are extremely strict about their habitats. According to the China Bird Field Manual, the willow Thunderbird is distributed in Heilongjiang River Basin, and the rock Thunderbird is distributed in Altai Mountain in Xinjiang. The geographical distribution of these two Thunderbirds in China is far apart, but they appear together in Altai Mountain. We speculate that this may be related to the special habitat of Taigarin in Siberia.

According to Tang Liming, he was trapped in the mountain at an altitude of 2500 meters by heavy rain that night. When he got off for air, a strange bird song caught his attention, and he recorded the moving figure. He speculated that it was a Thunderbird, but it was difficult to prove it. After going back for some time, he finally took a clear picture of Thunderbird.

There are snowy owls in Altay, which used to be just a legend. No one can come up with photos or relevant evidence. Snow owl is a famous animal around the Arctic, inhabiting frozen soil and tundra, and also found in wasteland and hills. They breed in the Arctic and Siberia, and can be found in parts of northern China during wintering, which is very rare. I firmly believe that there are snowy owls in Altay.

In recent years, I have spent almost all weekends and holidays looking for snow owls. One day, I returned to Habahe county from the countryside. It was getting late and the speed was not very fast. I found a white object not far from the front of the car, which suddenly took off about ten meters away from us and flew to the front of our car from right to left, scaring the driver to brake suddenly. Looking back on the passing scene carefully and consulting many experts, I am more and more convinced that it is the snow owl I am looking for!

Since then, my search has a general scope. I found that the news of snowy owls spread like wildfire, and many bird friends joined the search for snowy owls, but they were always looking for a needle in a haystack. ...

20 16 on new year's eve, I took my family and drove into nature. A few days ago, a heavy snow covered the earth with a thick quilt, and the sky was blue. Suddenly, I saw a white object standing motionless on a distant telephone pole. My first reaction was a snowy owl! I slowed down and drove past it slowly. Yes, that's it!

In order not to disturb it, I walked a little further before coming back, found a position that didn't disturb it and was suitable for shooting, and stopped to turn off the fire. It also cooperated with my shooting and kept posing in various beautiful positions there. Sometimes it flies with its wings slightly open, sometimes it opens its wings ... I was intoxicated by its beautiful heroic posture and kept pressing the camera shutter until my hand froze and the camera ran out of power.

In order not to be disturbed and to facilitate the follow-up, we three brothers agreed not to announce the news. It's a pity that I found that the news of snow owl still spread like wildfire, and people flocked to it. In order to get a good flight photo, some people chased after it crazily, which caused the snowy owl to keep flying and spit out everything it ate. Others regard shooting snowy owls as their way of collecting money, and begin to organize people to shoot snowy owls ... Snowowls disappear from people's sight again.

At that time, I felt like a sinner, which made the beautiful elves suffer so much because they met me. This profound lesson also made me recognize the birdwatchers. Some people observe and photograph birds out of the instinct of loving birds, in order to better protect birds, while others photograph and watch birds because they are driven by certain interests and satisfy their own desires, regardless of the life and death of birds, that is, people often say "wolves in sheep's clothing."

After accepting this lesson, I will only announce the common birds to the outside world, and will not reveal any news about some particularly precious birds that have not even been recorded in China before.

With the passage of time, the scar left by the snow owl in my heart is slowly being repaired. Those fly swatters who chase birds crazily, whether dead or alive, have also grown up under the criticism of bird lovers, eliminating all evils, promoting good and eliminating evil, and actively participating in the actions of advocating environmental protection and protecting wild animals, which is gratifying.

At present, the number of wild birds in Altay is also increasing year by year, especially since mid-March every year, a large number of migratory birds will fly to forests, rivers, lakes and wetlands in Altay. Dozens of rare birds, such as white stork, white-crowned pheasant, bustard, bustard, golden eagle and rock thunderbird, often appear in front of people and become a beautiful local scenery, making Altay a veritable national important bird watching base. (Source: Liu He, author of Forest and Human magazine, edited by Wang Qiang)