My 1995 Small Farm

  Chapter 497 Crane and Heron

  A bird's egg fell by Chen Baoshuan's feet. It was dirty and broken, and the broken eggshell was covered with mud.

   From the outside, it's hard to tell what kind of bird's egg it is.

  Chen Ling pawed at the broken egg twice, and the egg liquid had already drained away.

   It should have fallen from the tree during the heavy rain last night.

   Looking up and looking at the huge bird's nest spread out like a disc, Chen Ling thought of the large flock of egrets that flew into the farm in the morning, nodded and said, "This nest is the nest of egrets, that's right.

   However, it is not our egret here.

   These guys flew in from other places, and they were as big as Qingzhuang.

   It can be a circle bigger than our egret here. "

  The local egrets are indeed relatively small.

  And loners don't like clusters.

   Even if flocks of geese and cranes fly back every autumn, they only follow for a short time to join in the fun.

   Then continue to go it alone.

   Unless it is the breeding and mating period, they act alone at other times.

   Therefore, apart from looking for some fish and shrimps in the small river in the back mountain, I dare not even go to the canals in the orchard. I was driven away by dogs several times, and I was terrified.

   "It's not from our place? That is to say, it flew here with the cranes from our village?"

  Chen Baoshuan heard what Chen Ling said, and quickly realized it.

   Looking up at the huge bird's nest: "This guy, it seems that our place will really be a place of geomantic omen in the future, and everything will run here.

   I don’t know how this thing is different from our egret here.

   Does the meat taste good? "

   This is the most simple way of judging country people.

  First of all, check whether the meat is delicious.

  Let’s talk about whether it looks good or not.

   "No matter how big an egret is, it's also a water bird. The meat smells so fishy, ​​it's not very tasty..."

  Chen Ling chuckled, and at this time Wang Qingwen also followed, and the pack of dogs ran in front of him.

   came over and asked what was going on.

   Knowing the situation, he smiled and said, "Not necessarily, the meat of the cattle egret is not unpalatable."

   "Hey, brother, you are a teacher. The cattle egret is not a water bird."

  Chen Ling immediately joked.

   Cattle Egret.

   Just listen to the name and you will know it.

  A kind of egret standing on the back of a cow. It is smaller than an egret, and its feathers are yellowish. The local people like to call them herd cowherds.

   This kind of egret often follows the cattle, or stands on the back of the cattle.

   Pecking insects on grass startled by cattle.

   Or to eat the parasites on the back of the cow.

   That is to say, cattle egrets mainly eat bugs.

   Unlike other egrets that eat fish and shrimp in the water, they like to be by the water.

   This cattle egret doesn't like to stay near water.

  Look for bugs in drier places.

  So it is not a pure water bird.

  Their meat will naturally not have much fishy smell.

  But this kind of bird can deworm cattle, so it is considered a good bird.

   Unless the year is bad, people generally don't harm it.

   "I'm a math teacher, how can I understand this?" Wang Qingwen laughed.

   "Isn't the math teacher even better? I get scared when I see the math teacher."

  Chen Baoshuan had a frightened look on his face, and his words attracted a group of dolls to agree.

   "No wonder I was a little afraid to speak when I saw Uncle Qingwen. It turns out that Uncle Qingwen is a math teacher."

   "That's it."

   "Uncle Fugui's bird's nest is too big, shall I go up and have a look? I can't just have a bird's egg."

   "Yeah, one fell off, there must be more on the top."

   A group of little ghosts shouted, but they saw the eggs under the egret's nest, and even the little girl was eager to try.

   Village dolls are like this.

  When I saw the bird’s nests one by one, I couldn’t help but find a way to dig out two.

   Even if there are no eggs, you have to go up and see.

   Knowing that there are bird eggs is of course even more exciting.

   "It's better not to go up, I think this side is next to the cliff, it's a bit dangerous."

  Chen Ling glanced around.

   This place is at the northwest angle between the back mountain and the west mountain wall.

   next to the steep cliff.

   Not far from the place where the mountain donkey gave birth.

   Usually chickens don’t come to this place.

  Dogs don’t like to come either.

  So I didn't find out when there was an extra nest.

   "Let's go around the big lake on the other side of Yerengou and see if all the birds are hiding there."

  Chen Ling pointed in the direction of Yamanakako.

   "Okay, listen to Uncle Fugui, let's go to Savage Ditch, let's go."

  Liu Nier waved and ran over first.

  They followed Chen Baoshuan to the mountains to find mushrooms and ground ears.

   Where to find is not to find.

   You can also follow Chen Ling to see fun things.

  But I didn't go far. As soon as I came to the maple forest on the ridge by the lake, I saw that there were bird nests in the woods, and even in the rock caves in the cliffs.

   "My mother, there are so many bird nests, all of which are built by egrets. Now, Uncle Fugui, you are rich again."

   "What a fortune, this bird can't be sold."

   "Then eat bird eggs, eat bird eggs."

   A group of little children ran back and forth with their heads up and smiling, looking at the bird's nest on the tree.

  There are many camphor trees on the northern mountain behind the farm, and further west, there are maple trees.

  These trees are very tall.

  They are all old trees that have been built for many years, but they are very suitable for these egrets to build their nests.

  And there are still lush weeds under the big tree.

   Wet after the rain.

  Every short distance, you will find all kinds of mushrooms, large and small.

  But now adults and children are not in the mood to pick mushrooms, they are all looking for the eggs under the tree.

   "Ah, there are a lot of bird eggs here."

   "I have them here too."

   "I picked up three, and one of them didn't break."

   "Me too, I also picked up an unbroken one."

   It's a good thing Ruirui didn't follow, otherwise he would have been unable to hold back after seeing this scene.

   But it's a pity that most of these bird eggs were broken.

  So the little ones climbed up the tree excitedly one by one.

   I really saw egrets hatching eggs in their nests.

  When the group of little monkeys climbed the tree just now, they didn't move much, but just as they climbed up, they spread their wings and pecked ferociously.

  The little monkeys were so frightened that they screamed and evaded in a hurry, almost falling down.

  Chen Ling grabbed it off on his feet and put it down under the creaking nest. They refused to show weakness again.

   "It's so fierce, it's such a big bird, isn't it bigger than our egret here, dare to peck us, I'll hit it with a slingshot when I get home..."

   "Fuck you, honestly, it's autumn, and my uncle will take you guys to shoot them with guns."

  Chen Ling gave them a brainstorm.

  Chen Baoshuan followed suit and said, "Uncle Fu Gui is right, don't come here without adults following you."

   It's not that they are not allowed to dig out the bird's nest, but it is too dangerous here.

  The little monkeys are only interested in playing, they are not serious or important, and these bird nests will also attract some poisonous insects during the incubation period.

   If you are accidentally bitten, and the treatment on the mountain is not timely, you will die.

  So the two of them exhorted them severely.

   Then took them to the lake under the hillside.

   Few people came here, except for Chen Ling's family, or in other words, except for Chen Ling himself, no one would come here for nothing.

  So it seems to be more original than in the mountains and forests.

   But not desolate.

   Today, the sun did not come out after the rain, and the sky was gloomy.

  The surface of the lake was blown by the breeze, causing layers of ripples, and the bamboo forest on the opposite side swayed gently and rustled, bringing a refreshing cool breeze.

   There are also some reed calamus growing around the lake, and even a small amount of lotus root.

  Many of them were thrown by Chen Ling in the spring of last year. They are growing well, and now they are blooming pink flowers.

  Listen carefully, among these reeds, there is a rattling sound.

  Hearing this voice, the adults were all refreshed.

   "Good guy, there are also by the lake, and it seems that there are quite a few."

   One by one, they hurriedly slowed down, trying to approach them quietly.

but…

   Before he took two steps, he saw a red head protruding vigilantly from the reeds, with black bean-like eyes staring in their direction, and then let out a loud cry.

   As soon as he flapped his wings and combined his legs, he flew gracefully into the air.

   Above the lake, it made a long cry while hovering.

   Then I saw cranes flying up from the reeds.

   There are red-crowned cranes, as well as gray and white cranes.

   There were probably tens of hundreds of them, and they circled for a while, squawking, and then flew to the eastern sky.

   "My good fellow, this is a group of cranes. They are really exquisite, and there are sentries."

  Their group of adults and children were quite stunned.

  After the surprise.

  The children became even more excited, "Wow, the cranes lived here."

  It seems to have discovered some terrible secret.

   One by one, they rushed to the lake with the eagerly barking dogs.

   Lake Yamanaka is very deep.

   is the original Savage Ditch.

   is deeper than the reservoir.

They didn't rush forward either, and hit the narrow reeds by the lake with bamboo poles. Compared with the reeds in the reservoir and the old river bend, the reeds here are narrow and narrow. Compared with those, this place is just A very small slice.

  So the dolls discovered the secret after such a dig.

   Then his eyes lit up, and he waved his hands vigorously at Chen Ling and the others and shouted, "Uncle Fugui, this place is full of crane nests, come quickly."

  Chen Ling walked over to have a look.

   Among the reeds, there are nests scattered at almost every distance.

  These nests have the same shape as bird nests, but they are enlarged many times, like big bowls.

   It's just not set up yet.

   Still some semi-finished products.

  It turns out that those cranes were busy building their nests here just now.

   "This is about to lay eggs."

  Chen Ling only took a look, and said with certainty.

  Hearing what he said, Wang Qingwen and Chen Baoshuan hurried over to watch.

  Even the eyes of Xizi, who is not very talkative, lit up: "Uncle, are the cranes going to lay eggs here?"

   "Yes, the crane is going to lay eggs here."

  Chen Ling smiled. The locals often say, "Eggs are eaten in the north, and geese are eaten in the south. Just look at it." This refers to wild geese, so why not all kinds of cranes?

   Except for egrets, maggots, and water camels, there has never been a colony of large migratory birds on their side.

  Every spring and autumn, they go through the motions here.

  But now, these cranes are going to build nests and lay eggs here, which means they regard this place as another home.

  This means that from now on, they will also live here on the crane.

   Really a happy thing.

   "Wow, this is great, we will also have cranes here in the future."

   "I want to watch the crane lay eggs. After laying eggs, I want to hold the baby crane to raise."

   "I want to raise it too."

   "..."

  The cranes, which I only see on TV and in the pictures in textbooks, actually want to live near my home, build nests, lay eggs, and hatch young cranes.

  The things in the story happened before my eyes.

  For the children, this feeling is too happy.

  At this time, Wang Qingwen suddenly thought of Zhao Gang who hurried away on a motorcycle with his dog in the morning, and couldn't help being happy: "That Comrade Zhao Gang left in a hurry, and now he missed another rare event."

   "Don't talk about him, Uncle Zhao and the others probably know about it, and today they will regret not following Baoshuan up the mountain to pick mushrooms."

   Chen Ling jokingly said that he had already thought of the expressions of the two old men after missing such an interesting event.

  …

  This person, after paying attention to one thing, he will focus on it frequently.

  In the next two days, Chen Ling and his uncle would often quietly search around the mountains, the mountains, the riverside ditches.

  After this exploration.

   Sure enough, I found that the cranes and egrets were constantly picking up dead branches and straws to build their nests.

  The same is true for the six red-crowned cranes.

  Usually, I eat and drink in the village in a big way, and people wait on me.

  But when there is no one at noon or at dusk, they will sneak around near the threshing field or under the big trees beside the road to pick up dead branches and straws.

  When I saw a person, I picked up a dead branch from a distance, and flew away screaming.

   Usually careless towards people, but when it comes to laying eggs, these thieves have become more cautious.

   It's just a sneaky look, which makes people look very funny.

  In order not to disturb them, Chen Ling and Wang Qingwen didn't take the dogs with them when they came out. They chose some time when they went out to look for food and went to explore the situation near their dens.

   Then I found out.

  Like the flock of red-crowned cranes, many of those egrets and Qingzhuang also nest in reeds and grass.

   And there are various places to pick.

   Some are around the lake in the mountains, some are on the mountain behind the farm, some are beside the river ditch at the foot of the mountain, and some are on the grass and trees behind the temple of the earth...

   It is said that they are not far from the farm.

  And the closer there are, the more places there are, and often these flocks of cranes and egrets will fight with each other in order to compete for positions.

  Chen Ling's family, including Chen Ling, were puzzled at first.

   They also think that they are for the convenience of stealing fish.

  It was later discovered that it was not.

   But to prevent the eagle.

  (end of this chapter)