NW China's Gansu records over 60,000 wintering water birds

LANZHOU, Feb. 2 (Xinhua) -- Northwest China's Gansu Province has spotted 60,128 wintering water birds from 2022 to 2023, a record high in terms of both the total number of birds and the number of bird species.

Supported by the provincial forestry and grassland bureau, experts, nature reserve administration officials, wildlife protection organizations and bird lovers formed 29 investigation teams to carry out the monitoring and survey work this winter.

Most of the wintering water birds were recorded in Gansu's inland river basins west of the Yellow River, accounting for over 88 percent of the total bird population, said Zhang Lixun, head of the wildlife biodiversity monitoring and protection team from the College of Ecology, Lanzhou University.

Heihe River, China's second-largest inland river, was the province's major wintering water bird habitat during this period, with more than 26,000 birds monitored. The majority of the recorded wild birds were anseriformes, Zhang added.

Notably, six crested ibises, a rare bird species, were also discovered to have wintered in Gansu for the very first time.

The crested ibis, with its iconic red crest and long black beak, was in the past widely distributed across East Asia and Russia's Siberia. It was thought to be extinct in China until seven wild birds were observed in Yangxian County, Shaanxi, in 1981, a discovery that prompted captive breeding and enhanced protection of the species.

Gansu is located on two international bird migration routes, namely from Central Asia to India and from East Asia to Australia. It is a globally important habitat for waterfowl wintering and breeding, which also supplies nutrients for the migrating birds.