Riding the wind of rebirth

The white-rumped munia is about the same size and shape as a sparrow, but its upper body is reddish-brown with white feather shaft stripes and a colored rump. Only the tail feathers are chestnut brown, similar to a sparrow. Its forehead, beak, eyes, chin, and throat are blackish-brown, while the sides of its neck and upper chest are chestnut, and its lower chest and abdomen are light white. It is indeed much prettier than a sparrow.

"Another characteristic of these birds is that they gather in large flocks in autumn, whether they are flying or resting, they are often crowded together," Zhou Zhi said. "When they fly, they flap their wings very fast, and when they fly in large flocks, they collectively make a 'whooshing' sound as they fly, moving forward in the air like waves."

"Is this bird easy to catch?" Yan Xiao clicked his tongue. "Yang He, you're an expert at catching sparrows, aren't you?"

"I stopped catching sparrows a long time ago because Zhouzi told me that my hand would shake when I wrote if I caught one." Yang He smiled as he recalled his mischievous childhood.

“Catching them is definitely easy. Their habits are similar to sparrows. They often move around in low bushes, thickets, bamboo groves and grass, and they often gather in courtyards, fields and on the ground. At night, they roost in groups in trees or bamboo,” Zhou Zhi said. “As long as we find their habitat and set up bird traps to the east, we will have a good harvest the next day.”

"Why branch the network in the east?" Yan Xiao asked.

"Because the east is where the sun rises, the sunlight shines directly towards them, so they can't see any danger ahead."

"You're fucking vicious," Yan Xiao commented.

“You’re the one asking!” Zhou Zhi said. “Knowing the technique and having the ability to harm others but never using that ability is true adherence to morality.”

Besides plants and animals, there are other things worth studying along the mountain road, namely the irrigation canals and pumping stations.

The pumping stations are actually small ponds, distributed at different altitudes along the way from the foot of the mountain to the reservoir. The elevation difference between each pumping station is about 30 meters, and the five pumping stations form a vertical elevation difference of 150 meters.

The pumping stations are connected by water pipes. Each pond has a pumping station powered by solar or wind energy. The pumping stations gradually lift water from the Meigu River from bottom to top, eventually raising the water to the reservoir at the top of the mountain. This converts unstable solar and wind energy into stable hydroelectric potential energy that can be used to power the hydroelectric power station.

Of course, the functions of these five pumping stations are not just limited to water pumping, energy storage, and power generation. They are also water conservancy and regulation facilities for tens of thousands or even hundreds of thousands of acres of orchards on the southern slope of the entire mountain range. Each pumping station is responsible for the irrigation of all orchards and grasslands along the 50-meter vertical contour line below its altitude. This is crucial for the Liangshan Prefecture mountainous area, which is arid and water-scarce most of the time.

Where there is water, there is life. The ponds at each pumping station have now formed an ecological zone. What used to be grasslands that turned yellow in autumn are now covered with aquatic plants, as well as cattails, reeds and other plants near the water's edge. These plants provide excellent shelter for animals, and many wagtails and tits come to the water's edge to forage.

"Ah! What's that in the ditch?! Didn't you see the pork knuckle just now?!" Liang Hong shouted from behind the horse team.

There is a drainage ditch by the roadside. When the pumping station has too much water, it will drain away through the drainage ditch, so there is always water in it now, forming a small stream.

"Is there something?" Zhou Zhi jumped off his horse. "What did you see?"

"They're all dark and look a bit like lizards!" Liang Hong said. "There are several of them!"

Everyone dismounted and came to the water's edge, but they didn't see the animal Liang Hong had mentioned.

"It ran under the crack in the rocks," Azi said. "It's quite big, like a giant salamander!"

“I’ll move the stones. Yang and Yan Xiao, you two block both ends. Let’s see what it is!” Zhou Zhi started rolling up his sleeves.

"Alright!" Yan Xiao also chimed in enthusiastically.

"Be careful, they might bite!" Mai Xiaomiao cried out worriedly. "Give me the child first," Feng Xueshan said. "Yang He, be careful, make sure you look carefully before you grab anything!"

Zhou Zhi carefully straddled the middle of the ditch and lifted the stone.

Under the rock were two dark creatures, seemingly unafraid of people or simply slow-moving, swimming leisurely in the puddle even after being exposed.

"A giant salamander, and it's quite big!" Yan Xiao exclaimed.

"A four-legged snake, perhaps?" Yang He said.

"It doesn't seem to be either of them!" Zhou Zhi had already figured it out; Yan Xiao and Yang He were both wrong, but it was definitely an amphibian.

Zhouzhi was no longer afraid of amphibians; they didn't bite, or if they did, it didn't hurt. Although the aquatic animals were ugly and quite large, Zhouzhi still reached out and grabbed one.

"Not a lizard?" Yang He also asked, "Hey, it doesn't seem like it, does it? I've never seen a lizard with a tail that looks like a flat ruler!"

“This is a salamander.” The thing was slippery and didn’t stay still in Zhou Zhi’s hands. “But I’ve never seen one this big before. Xiao Miao, take a picture quickly, and we’ll show it to the Agricultural University when we go down the mountain.”

Salamanders can also be found in Jiachuan, but the salamanders in Jiachuan are not very big, generally no longer than the length of a palm. However, the two salamanders here are both over 20 centimeters long, more than one-third larger than the salamanders in Jiachuan.

Salamanders are generally considered ugly, but the one Zhou Zhi caught was particularly so. Its tail was much longer than its head and body combined, its head was flat, and its body was round and stout. Its mouth was nearly square; the length and width of its head were almost equal. Its most distinctive feature was the two prominent ridges that ran from the back of its mouth to the inner sides of its upper eyelids, down to the glands behind its ears. There was also a distinct ridge running down the middle of its back from the back of its head to the base of its tail. These features made it look very similar to a lizard, which explains why Yang initially mistook it for a lizard.

However, this giant salamander also has a rather beautiful feature: the parotid glands, the toes of its four feet, the area around the anal fissure on its abdomen, and the line from the tail are all a very bright orange-red.

Although both are amphibians, the differences between these salamanders and giant salamanders are quite significant.

"Are salamanders this big?" Yang asked.

"Isn't this it?" Zhou Zhi showed everyone the wriggling salamander in his hand, and also had Mai Xiaomiao take pictures of it from all angles: "Salamanders and giant salamanders are close relatives. Giant salamanders can grow to dozens of kilograms, and this one is only a tiny little thing."

"Anyway, you still don't recognize it," Feng Xueshan teased. "How dare you grab such an ugly thing!"

"You haven't heard this witty saying before? It's called 'The weirder it looks, the faster it gets sentenced.'" Zhou Zhi smiled as he put the salamander back into the water and washed his hands. "It means that the more unusual or strange an animal we find, the more likely it is to be a high-level protected animal."

"That makes sense," Yang He said with a smile. "The rarer something is, the less often it's seen!"

"Azi, have you ever seen this kind of salamander before?" Zhou Zhi took the small slingshot from Feng Xueshan's hand again and hung it around his neck, asking Azi.

Azi shook her head: "I've never seen anything like this. I've only ever seen one that Grandpa caught and used as medicine, I think it's called 'Water Monk,' or 'Bone-Melting Pill.'" (End of Chapter)