Brown-headed Paradoxurus (Zhangjiagang Newnan Community)
There is a bird that is rarely noticed by people. Today, I happened to encounter a flock of it at Yongfu Bridge in Sanshan Community, Zhangjiagang. It is the Brown-headed Paradoxurus (Paradoxornis webbianus), a bird belonging to the order Passeriformes, the crow family, and the crow genus. Its head and wings are reddish-brown, its back is chestnut-brown or grayish-brown, its tail is dark brown, its throat and chest are pink, its abdomen is gray-white with reddish tints, its iris is dark brown, its beak and feet are grayish-brown, and the rest is yellowish-brown and brown. It mainly feeds on invertebrates such as insects, arachnids, and mollusks, as well as plant fruits and seeds. It has a wide distribution throughout China.
The Brown-headed Paradoxurus is very small, you can call it 'tiny dot'. If you must use an object to describe its size, you can only say that its individual size is about the size of a table tennis ball, perhaps a little larger or a little smaller.
Most birds are very wary of humans, and the Brown-headed Paradoxurus is a typical example. It always keeps a certain distance from humans and does not allow humans to get too close (some materials record that it is courageous and not very afraid of people, perhaps due to regional or subspecies differences). Even when feeding, it will lift its head to observe the surrounding movements while eating. Moreover, it has a characteristic: it is never silent. In shrubs or grasses, it constantly jumps up and down, or continuously repeats the actions of lifting its head to observe and pecking at food, or constantly calls while jumping and running. When it feels any discomfort while foraging or hears any noise, it immediately flies away without hesitation.
Today, I quietly held the camera and waited for it to enter the lens, taking pictures and videos, hoping to shoot the Brown-headed Paradoxurus nesting, laying eggs, and reproducing next time, to understand, record, summarize, and master the habits of the Brown-headed Paradoxurus, and to contribute to the ecological protection of Sanshan Community.
