Golden Fishing Village

The Chinese merganser, the Chinese duck, is known as the giant panda among birds, and is as famous as the South China tiger, the Yunnan golden monkey, and the giant panda. It is a national first-class protected bird.

In addition, it is also called the living fossil among birds. It is a living fossil species that survived after the Tertiary glacial period, and it is more than 10 million years old.

In 1864, the British collected a male duckling specimen in my country and named it "Chinese merganser". This bird generally breeds mainly in Northeast China and Siberia, and generally hibernates in the south of the Yangtze River in winter.

However, since the reform and opening up, the economy in the south has developed rapidly and pollution has also been serious. Sewage discharge, excessive water extraction, sand excavation and other actions have affected the habitat of mergansers, making their wintering habitat selection problem, which was originally untraceable, even more unpredictable.

These news were told to Ao Muyang by Zhu Jingdian and Ma Yi. They also told Lao Ao that mergansers will even stay in the north for wintering. They were originally migratory birds, but were forced to become resident birds by humans.

"Isn't this a good thing? They have limited their habitat, so you can set up a protected area, right?" Ao Muyang asked.

Ma Yi took a puff of his cigarette and sighed, "What a good thing! Alas, it's so cold in the north in winter. If the mergansers stay, they will be frozen to death! The number of ducks is small to begin with. If more of them freeze to death, the loss will be serious!"

The Chinese bird watching organization they belong to conducts joint operations every year to find the figure of the Chinese merganser, and their footprints span most of China, involving the Yangtze River, Yellow River, Huai River, Pearl River and other ten major water systems.

Because the Chinese merganser makes a living by diving and fishing, the environmental requirements for its habitat are very strict. It must be a clear river and reservoir with sufficient food, and there are not many freshwater environments that meet such conditions.

What's more scarce is that the Chinese merganser likes to build nests in trees, and the tree holes are generally more than 10 meters from the ground, which requires that there must be big trees and preferably forests beside the rivers and lakes where they breathe.

When listening to these news, Ao Muyang looked up at Ambergris Lake.

The lake in winter is particularly cold and clear, and the lake water is like thick glass, without dust.

In this season, the activity of plankton in the lake is poor, and the activity of fish, shrimps and crabs is even worse, which makes the lake water extraordinary clear.

There is a circle of big trees growing on the shore of the lake, and these trees are specially protected because the branches are natural shade sheds in summer, and every shade can entertain tourists.

There are not many mergansers coming to Ambergris Lake. According to statistics, there are 25, which is a small group. They like to live in groups.

Ao Muyang admires Zhu Jingdian and his group very much. These people have spent a lot of effort to protect birds, and they have also suffered a lot. Their skin is tanned and rough, just like the old fishermen who eat at sea.

First, out of admiration, second, want to know more about mergansers, and third, to appease the emotions of the group. After all, they were scared enough today, so Ao Muyang invited the bird watching team to dinner in the evening.

The steamed crabs that were caught earlier had already been fattened up, so Lao Ao steamed a pot of them. There were also large eagle claw shrimps, which were easy to eat after blanching in boiling water, and they were very delicious.

Chicken, duck, fish and meat were served on the table, and Ao Mudong went to fetch wine, and a feast was set out.

Ao Muyang looked at the wine and food and said, "Well, wait for me, I'll go to Brother Kang's place to get a smoked rabbit or something, he just got a pot of smoked goods today."

He went to Ao Mukang's house and saw the father and son fighting again as soon as he entered the door.

Ao Mukang chased Ao Xiaojun with a broom in his hand. Ao Xiaojun jumped up and down, and his dodging skills were like boxing champion Mayweather, and his father couldn't hit him.

Ao Muyang smiled and asked, "What's wrong, Brother Kang? Did Xiaojun fail the final exam?"

Ao Mukang's face was livid and he was about to speak, and Ao Xiaojun cried with a sad face: "Uncle Xiaoyang, help me, don't blame me this time, really don't blame me!"

"Don't blame you?" Ao Mukang said angrily, "Fuck, my brother-in-law gave me a bottle of original Lao Baigan a while ago, I didn't want to drink it, and as a result, this kid added salt to it!"

Ao Xiaojun said loudly: "Dad, you didn't tell the whole story, you said that this bottle of wine was too light, I was kind enough to help you add salt to the wine!"

"You are quite convincing." Ao Mukang picked up the broom and chased.

Ao Xiaojun dodged in a panic. He couldn't stand it anymore and shouted, "Dad, I'm warning you. If you keep hitting me like this, I can do anything!"

"Can you do the math problems? Can you do the English problems? Can you do the physics, chemistry and biology problems?" Ao Mukang hit him even harder.

Upon hearing this, Ao Xiaojun encouraged himself to do some water floating and escaped over the wall.

Ao Muyang went into the house to get the smoked rabbit, smoked chicken gizzards and smoked pig's trotters. At this time, he saw that the family tree had been hung on the north wall of Ao Mukang's living room. Under the family tree were chickens, ducks, fruits, and the Wenquxing electronic dictionary...

"The family tree was hung so early." Ao Muyang said.

Ao Mukang sighed, "There's no way. Let the ancestors come out to watch Xiaojun do his homework together. I can't watch him anymore. I hope they can give me a dream and tell me how to educate my children."

"Poor parents in the world!"

Ao Muyang sighed and went out, then smiled crookedly.

This sumptuous dinner really delighted Zhu Jingdian and his party. Their company was a public institution, which was considered a stable job, but there was not much meat in the rice bowl. The salary was just enough to support the family. There were subsidies for going out, but no one was willing to spend them and just made do with what they could.

So, someone opened the second pickup truck and found a lot of instant noodles, ham sausage, and compressed biscuits. Everyone was just trying to survive.

And Ao Muyang treated them to a feast of fish and meat. The fish was delicious hairtail and golden pomfret, the meat was free-range goat meat and stupid chicken that grew fat by eating insects, plus steamed crabs and eagle claw shrimps. This was a feast!

In addition, Ao Muyang also opened a room for them in the name of the village committee. They originally brought thick tents and slept in coats at night.

This condition is naturally not comparable to the fishing house, and the village's hospitality really made everyone flattered.

They thought Ao Muyang had some plan, but he didn't mention anything, just let them eat and live well in the village.

Zhu Jingdian and Ma Yi, the two team leaders, thought about it and decided to do everything they could to keep the mergansers that flew in temporarily in Ambergris Lake. If the ducks stay here, they can stay here too.

Otherwise, the merganser flock would fly to another lake in the wild, and they would have to continue sleeping in the wind and snow for many years.

During this period of the twelfth lunar month, there were empty rooms in the village, so Ao Muyang kept them temporarily.

Of course, he couldn't entertain the group of people for dinner and drinks every day, as he still had to lead the team out to sea.