Rare Birds 'Fall in Love' with Southwest Qian
Summary: Recently, journalists “chanced upon” a group of mysterious birds in Ping Village, Maolíng Town, Xíngyì City.
Common-billed Gull Gui Song, Qie Song photographed.
Common-billed Gull Gui Song, Qie Song photographed.
Common-billed Gull Gui Song, Qie Song photographed.
Chinese crested grebe Xing Gui long photographed.
Recently, journalists “chanced upon” a group of mysterious birds in Ping Village, Maolíng Town, Xíngyì City.
In the fields, there were twenty or thirty large birds gathered together, sometimes lowering their heads to forage, sometimes pausing to rest, and sometimes taking off in soaring flights. A flock of white egrets also excitedly joined this “spring party”, alongside these faraway birds. Farther away, villagers were busy with spring farming. Under the blue sky and white clouds, humans and birds did not disturb each other, creating a harmonious spring landscape.
Local villagers said: “These birds have been flying to my fields frequently during this period. We have never seen such birds before.”
Another villager said: “I observed them for several days, and they mostly forage in the field ditches. They are probably catching mud crabs and shrimp there.”
The journalists observed that these large birds had white plumage, gray-brown feathers in winter, and black flight and tail feathers. Recently, similar groups of birds have been found in many places in Xíngyì, and the estimated number exceeds one hundred.
The Common-billed Gull is a second-level protected species, also known as ‘Common-billed Gull’, which is listed in the ‘IUCN World Conservation Union’ 2013 Red List of Endangered Species. It feeds on soft-bodied animals in wetlands and along the coast and is a large migratory bird. It migrates from spring to June. It mainly lives in Southeast Asian countries such as Vietnam.
The Common-billed Gull is a wading bird that requires relatively humid and rain-abundant feeding grounds. Its habitat includes rice fields, shallow beaches, river mouths, freshwater and brackish lakes. Rice fields are often agricultural areas and paddy fields.
In fact, this is not the first time that rare birds have “visited” Southwest Qian, Guizhou.
In 2016, approximately 120 Common-billed Gulls were found in Lu Chuanping Village, Rǔhóng County, Xíngyì; there were also occasional sightings in Zhaotī National Wetland Park, Ālong County, where white egrets, gray cranes, and Common-billed Gulls settled as early as five or six years ago. In 2017, Chinese crested grebes “visited” again...
The Chinese crested grebe is a medium-sized wading bird that has been listed in the ‘IUCN’ 2012 Red List of Endangered Species. It prefers to inhabit flat grasslands, ranches, lakes, reservoirs, mountain foot plateaus and low mountains and streams, ponds, dry fields and wetlands.
As we all know, whether it’s white egrets, gray cranes, Common-billed Gulls, or Chinese crested grebes, rare birds have high requirements for their habitat. Southwest Qian’s good environment makes it a “favorite” place for many rare birds.
Southwest Qian is located at the junction of Yunnan, Guizhou, and Guangxi, known as “the Southwest Barrier” and “the Yunnan-Guangxi Key”. Its natural scenery is unique and abundant, with peaks, canyons, waterfalls, clouds, hot springs, caves, and pits. It is a typical representative of the world’s conical karst geological landform, and a veritable mountain tourism resort and outdoor sports playground. Southwest Qian has no severe winter in winter and no severe summer in summer, with abundant rainfall and fresh air, enjoying a pleasant climate. In recent years, the Xíngyì Autonomous Prefecture has earnestly practiced the “green water and green mountains are gold and silver mountains” green development concept, firmly guarding the two bottom lines of development and ecology, and has taken a new path of high-quality development driven by ecological priority and green development. As of the end of 2019, the forest coverage rate of the Xíngyì Autonomous Prefecture reached 60.18%, and the quality of the air was excellent for 7 consecutive years, ranking among the best in Guizhou Province, with 5 years reaching 100%.
Southwest Qian has many mountain villages, stretching for thousands of miles, with ancient trees towering, it's no wonder it's loved by rare birds.
Netizen comments
@Seeing such news, as a person from Southwest Qian, I am very proud. How discerning rare birds are to their natural environment!
@bXMarthaI have seen this bird in Wanfenglin, relevant departments should dispatch people to conduct a thorough investigation of how many Common-billed Gulls are in Xíngyì this time.
@If there are large-scale sightings of rare birds, it is also a beautiful landscape, like along the Dianchi Lake in Kunming, it should be managed well.
@flowSo we should be more protective of our ecological environment, protect green water and green mountains, so that we can get gold and silver mountains!
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