Songya

Pine duck, which is called mountain monk in some places. Its producing areas are all over the northern and southern provinces of China, but there is no distribution of loose ducks in Xinjiang, Qinghai and Inner Mongolia. Adult birds are about 320 mm long. Head, back and shoulders are reddish brown; The feather color of forehead, throat and lower body is slightly lighter than that of upper body; Pure white waist and tail base; The middle of the tail feather is slightly gray and black with horizontal spots; Chestnut with wings and feathers is black with bright blue patches. A bird with a black beak, pink toes and dark gray claws. The color of male and female feathers is similar. Pine ducks belong to mountain birds. They live in mountainous forests for most of the year, rarely move to the plains, and mostly live in coniferous forests, broad-leaved forests and mixed coniferous and broad-leaved forests, but rarely in rural areas and pastoral areas. Usually, men and women live in pairs, and they have the habit of forming small groups in autumn and winter. They often wander in the mountains with food and occasionally go to the countryside for short-term activities to feed. Pine ducks feed on insects in spring and summer, including scarabs, elephants, longicorn beetles, caterpillars, cutworms and many other agricultural and forestry pests. They also eat chicks and eggs. In late autumn and winter, the staple food plants, such as peas, wild fruits and seeds of many plants, occasionally eat a small amount of insects and eggs. From April to May every year, most of the ducks build cup-shaped nests among the branches of big trees in the dense shrub forest, which are made of moss and tender roots, and are padded with soft roots and bird feathers. The nests are mostly close to the trunk of the tree, and each nest lays 3-5 eggs. The egg shells are grayish yellow with purple-brown and yellow-brown spots. The incubation period is about 17 days, and chicks are born in May. In mid-June, chicks leave their nests and begin to live independently.
Reprinted with attribution： https://cnlocality.com/(Chinese Specialty Products)