鸟类秘闻（2012）

五子雀夫妇要花两天 使它达到理想的尺寸
'It takes the nuthatch pair two days to achieve the desired size.'
就是那 牠们已经完成了所有的建造工作
And there it is. They've finished all the building work now.
是不是很惊奇？
Isn't that amazing?
牠们占据了一个稍大的洞
They take a hole that's a little bit too big
却通过垒填湿泥来使它大小合适
and make it the perfect size by packing it down with wet mud.
上面的泥仍然有点潮湿
That mud is still a little bit damp up there.
它们会让湿泥晒上一至两个星期
They'll be leaving that now for a week, maybe two weeks,
干透后 它就会像混凝土那样坚固
for that to dry out. And it's like concrete, it's so hard.
说来奇怪 她还会用小块树皮来垫窝
She'll be lining the nest inside with bits of bark, oddly enough.
当这一切都完成后
And when that's all done,
她才会安心下蛋
it's only then that she thinks about laying her eggs.
并不是所有的鸟类都在树上筑巢
'Not all birds nest in trees.
随着时间流逝 鸟类已经适应了最适合它们的环境
'Over time, birds have adapted to the habitat that suits them best.
我们现在在阿伯加文尼附近的格瓦尼山谷
'We're in the Grwyne Valley near Abergavenny.
这是一只河鸟
'And this is a dipper.
一种沿河而居的鸟类
'A bird that lives along rivers.
它正在为雏鸟觅食
'It's collecting food for its chicks.
它在河岸上筑起了一个巢
'And it's built a nest on the riverbank.'
这个巢藏的极为巧妙 与岸融为一体
This nest blends in so well. It's just on the bank here now.
这种鸟本身十分依赖河流
The bird itself is dependent on the river,
是完全依赖 因为食物来自河流
completely dependent on the river, because that's where the food is.
巢也一样
And so is the nest, really.
你会发现它总是像这样悬于水面之上
You always find it out over water like this.
原因是粪便可以直接落入水中
The reason for that is because the droppings fall in the river
直接冲走
and get washed away.
河鸟是我们威尔士唯一的
'The dipper is our only small bird
能潜游水下觅食的小型鸟类
'that swims underwater to look for food.
它在河床上捕捉昆虫幼虫
'It collects insect larvae from the riverbed.
夫妇同时喂养雏鸟
'The chicks are fed by both parents.
雄鸟每年都使用同一个筑巢地点
'The male will use the same nesting site every year
他的领地可沿河伸展达两公里
'and his territory extends about two kilometres along the river.
没人知道它们为什么要上下晃动[练瑜伽?]
'No-one really knows why they bob up and down.
喀麦登和兰代洛之间的托尼山谷
'The Towy Valley between Carmarthen and Llandeilo.
这条河不断地沿着冲积平原改道
'The river continually changes its course along the flood plain.
因此 它是顺着山谷蜿蜒而下
As a result, it flows in a serpentine way down the valley.'
当你在某些威尔士大河中看到这样宽阔的河曲时
Where you get a wide meander like this in some large Welsh rivers,
你经常会发现远侧岸边有粗砾滩
you often get a shingle bank forming on the far side.
因为河水在那堆积起了鹅卵石和小石块
That's where the river's thrown up pebbles and bits of stone.
对人类来说 它看起来太乏味了
To us, it looks quite boring.
单一且无趣
It looks uniform and flat.
但这其实是些特殊鸟类绝佳的筑巢地
But it's the perfect nesting site for a handful of specialised birds.
威尔士其中一种鸟的根据地
For one of them, the stronghold in Wales
就在托尼河这里
is here on the River Towy
这是一只金眶鸻
'This is a little ringed plover.
一种速度极快的小鸟
'It's a fast little bird.
有点儿像跑车
'A bit of a Road Runner.
它是来自非洲的候鸟 三月份会来这
'It's a migrant from Africa and arrives here during March
沿托尼河筑巢
'to nest along the River Towy.
这只正坐在蛋上
'This one is sitting on eggs.
你很难发现巢穴
'You can hardly detect the nest.
雄鸟和雌鸟会轮流孵蛋
'Both the male and the female take turns with the incubation
在换岗时 你正好可以看到鸟蛋
'and during change over, you can just about see the eggs.
真是伪装的太好了
'They're really well camouflaged.
金眶鸻是近些年才迁徙到威尔士的
'Little ringed plovers are only recent migrants to Wales.
二十世纪六十年代前 它们根本不在这筑巢
'Before the 1960s, they didn't nest here at all.
实际上 三十年代以前
'In fact, before the 1930s,
它们都不在英国栖息
they didn't nest in Britain
而从欧洲传入的那些 大部分住在
'and spread here from Europe to nest in man-made habitats,
人造沙砾栖息地
'mainly gravel pits.
但在威尔士 跟在欧洲大♥陆♥一样
'But in Wales, as on the Continent,
住在粗砾石岸边
they use shingle banks.
在威尔士新港市的拉沃斯
'Another recent nester in Wales .
可以找到另一种威尔士移♥民♥候鸟
can be found on the Newport Levels
这是一只反嘴鹬
'It's an avocet.
有着登上皇家鸟类保护协会徽章的殊荣
'A bird that has the distinction of being the emblem of the RSPB.
这是种优雅的鸟
'It's an elegant bird
有着长长的向上微弯的喙
with a long, up-curved beak.
它们也是陆上筑巢的鸟类
'They,too,are ground-nesting birds.
2003年 它们首次在此繁殖
'They bred here for the first time during 2003,
这也是威尔士仅有的育种鸟群
'and this is the only breeding population in Wales.
雄鸟和雌鸟共同筑巢
'The male and female share nesting duties
现在 它们要换岗了
'and here they are swapping over.
反嘴鹬十分好斗 会赶走所有
'They're very aggressive birds and will chase off any intruder
敢于靠近筑巢地的入侵者
'venturing close to the nest site.
威尔士拥有1500英里左右的海岸线
'We have around 1,500 miles of coastline in Wales.
相较于国内的其它地区
'More birds nest in this habitat
在这里栖息的鸟类更多
than in other parts of the country.'
我们威尔士有这样惊人的海岸线 何其幸哉
We're lucky in Wales because we've got this incredible coastline.
像这样的岩石海岸是鸟类的绝佳栖息地
A rocky coast like this is a fantastic place for birds.
这里到处都是海鸥 有的飞在海面上
Here you've got gulls dotted everywhere, some out on the sea.
还有长鼻鸬鹚
But you've also got shags,
它们在我对面的峭壁上筑巢 就在那
they're nesting on this cliff facing me.just over there
长鼻鸬鹚是一种小型鸬鹚
Shags are like small cormorants.
通常会被误认成燕八哥
Usually you see them and you think it's a blackbird,
但是在阳光照耀下的特写镜头下
but close-up like this with the sun on them,
它们极其美丽
they are stunning.
正如你所料 以鱼为食的它们
'As you'd expect, for a bird that feeds on fish
是游泳健将
'they're great swimmers.
如今是四月初
'It's early April
这些长鼻鸬鹚开始在峭壁上筑巢
and these shags are nesting on cliffs near Trefor
地点位于屈弗地区的林恩半岛北岸附近
'on the north coast of the Lleyn Peninsula.
这些长鼻鸬鹚在威尔士是独一无二的
'These shags are unique in Wales.
筑巢期比其他鸬鹚早一个月
'The nest a month earlier than other shags.
谁也不知道原因
'Nobody really knows why.
它们常常全年都待在繁殖地附近
'Shags tend to stay close to their breeding site throughout the year
初春时 这里的食物可能会格外的好
'and the feeding here may be particularly good in early spring.
在峭壁上筑巢有其明显的危险性
'Cliff-nesting has its obvious hazards.
重点是建在安全的岩层上 且远离海浪
'It's important to build on a safe ledge and away from the waves.
经验丰富的鸟都会这么做
'It's what the experienced birds do.
有些巢穴已经重复使用了几十年
'Some of the nests have been here and re-used for decades.
它们利用各种各样的材料
'They use all sorts of material.
大多数鸟都在孵蛋
'Most of these birds are sitting on eggs.
有一些则仍在求偶
'But some are still courting.
这是一对年轻识浅的夫妻
'This is a young,inexperienced pair.
雄鸟高昂着醒目的头冠 递着筑巢材料
'The males raises his prominent crest and offers nesting material.
但雌鸟似乎不为所动
'But the female isn't particularly impressed.
尽管他们想繁殖后代
'Though they may try to breed,
但寻找筑巢空间并不容易
finding nesting space is difficult.
他们选择的地点很不理想
'The spot they have chosen will not be suitable,
这对夫妻很可能无法繁育幼鸟了
'and they'll probably fail to raise young.
彭布罗克郡北海岸离卡迪根不远
'The north Pembrokeshire coast, not far from Cardigan.
这里是凯博海湾
'This is Ceibwr Bay.
这里的岩壁相对来说遮蔽性好
'The cliffs here are relatively sheltered
春♥夏♥之♥交♥ 家燕会在此处筑巢
'and during late spring and summer, house martins nest.'
我记得小时候 总是有家燕在
I remember as a kid, we used to have house martins nesting
我家房♥檐下垒窝
under the eves of the house.
我常常观察它们 一看就是几个钟头
I used to watch them for hours on end,
还满怀疑惑
and wonder,
"我们盖房♥子之前 家燕在哪做窝呢"
"Where did house martins nest before we built houses?"
许多年后我才知道到它们在岩壁上垒窝
It took me years before I realised that it was on cliffs,
就像在彭布罗克郡这里一样
like this one here in Pembrokeshire.
它们在悬崖正下方筑泥窝
They'd build their mud nests right underneath an overhang,
就像在我们房♥檐下那样
just like they do under the eves of our houses.
如今 威尔士全境
And now, in the whole of Wales,
可能还有六处像这样的
there are maybe half a dozen locations
仍旧使用天然环境的家燕栖息地
where they still use natural sites like this.
家燕垒泥窝
'House martins build mud nests.
它们在附近的池塘或水沟取泥
'They source the mud from nearby pools and ditches.
这群燕子在路边找到了不错的"泥矿"
'These have found a good supply by the side of a road.
然后泥中加草 团成平滑的小球
'They then add grass to the mud, forming a neat bowl,