Touching: Seeing That Sand Martins Are Breeding, this Road and Bridge Company Did These Things Immediately
2020/6/2 14:03:00 本站

In April 2020, Hebei Xingtai Road and Bridge Construction Corporation not only adjusted the construction plan to protect the breeding area of sand martin along the highway, but also produced signage and railings as protection facilities at its own expense, forming a good bird watching attractions. After learning the situation, China Biodiversity Conservation and Green Development Foundation (CBCGDF) volunteer Mr. Hong quickly went to the scene to understand.

 

In late May, Mr. Hong's family saw a post on Weibo saying that someone set up a sign in Xingtai to protect the breeding ground of sand martins by the road. After learning the news, Mr. Hong went to the scene and happened to meet Cheng Tao, the head of the road and bridge company, on the construction site.

 

Mr. Cheng said that they started building this road in 2018 and dug out a rocky sand wall. In 2019, it was discovered that there were small birds building nests. After investigation, it was found that these small birds are animals protected by the state that are beneficial or have important economic and scientific research value sand martin.

 

At first, Mr. Cheng’s team didn't know how to protect them, they just saw these small creatures multiplying and didn't want to destroy their homes.

 

According to the project plan, the environment on both sides of these roads needs to be repaired, such as increasing the green area. However, in order to protect these sand martins and prevent them from being disturbed during the breeding period, Mr. Cheng and the company’s leaders decided after consultation that to temporarily avoid the section where the sand martins appears during the road’s reparation period, to reserve the birds’ nests specifically and leave room for the sand martins to breed.

 

In April this year, the sand martins went back to build nests and reproduced, and the number was particularly large. According to visual inspection, there were about 1,500 pairs of sand martins.

 

After consulting with the leaders, this company also made a railing at their own expense and set up a protective sign to introduce information about sand martins. To let the passing vehicles to slow down.

 

Since the installation of protective railings, people stopped every day to observe these sand martins while passing by. This place gradually became a landscape.

 

Now, the adult birds are feeding and have been flying in and out. After about a month, the little birds can be seen out of the nests.

 

Mr. Hong said that the depth of the sand martin's nest is generally 80 centimeters to 150 centimeters, and it takes several days to build the nest. After June, when the chicks came out of the nest, the nests were useless. Then after that, the company can continue to repair. Because the sand martins only build their nests when they breed, as long as they don’t damage the cliff itself, next year, these sand martins may continue to build nests there.

 

The initiative of the enterprise to protect sand martins is very commendable, because these signs set by the enterprise can prevent the public from approaching the nests at will, and the deceleration prompt will also allow the vehicle to avoid hitting the birds as much as possible. If the care is properly managed, it will inevitably become a small conservation, the birds will like it, and people will have an excellent example of public protection.


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Mr. Cheng (left) gave a briefing to Mr. Hong (Photo credit: Mr. Hong)


Original Chinese article:

https://mp.weixin.qq.com/s/TiZTn3xqoU9QUPBJXjxqBA


By / Maggie