After a Year, Globally Critically Endangered Blue-winged Teal Returns to Beijing
On March 15th, globally critically endangered Blue-winged Teal appeared at the Dashihe Lake on the Red Flag Park in Fangshan District. This bird species has only about 400 individuals worldwide, rarer than giant pandas. It caused a sensation when it first visited Beijing's Dashihe Lake and Nanhai Zi area in the spring of 2019.
Blue-winged Teal are migratory birds, usually migrating from southern wintering grounds to northern breeding grounds in mid-March and starting to fly south in mid-October. It was once one of the common in China, but with the destruction of habitats and human hunting, the population number has declined sharply, and it has been listed as 'Critically Endangered' by the 'IUCN Red List of Threatened Species'.
When Blue-winged Teal first appeared in Beijing in 2019, some experts believed that it was due to the small-scale channel dredging and wetland planting of water plants carried out by the city in recent years, which resulted in the gradual expansion of wetland areas and improved water quality, with abundant aquatic plants, providing a comfortable 'green home' for the rare to rest and forage.
After hearing the news that Blue-winged Teal appeared again in Beijing, Beijing Elk Ecological Experiment Center Researcher Guo Geng rushed to Dashihe Lake on March 15th, and fortunately, two Blue-winged Teal 'flew' into his lens. They sometimes dive into the water to pick up small fish, and sometimes they stir up waves to groom their feathers. As a scholar, Guo Geng speculated that the Blue-winged Teal must have been on their way north through Beijing. 'This bird species has extremely high environmental requirements, likes natural wetlands, and Beijing's natural environment gradually improves, making it an ideal 'gas station'.
In one morning, other birds such as Crowned Chicken, Tufted Grouse, Far Eastern Mountain Finch and Zhejiang Sparrow also 'flew' into Guo Geng's lens. It is reported that since 2017, Fangshan has attracted hundreds of bird species, including Swans, White Storks, Black Cranes, Zhejiang Sparrow, Mountain Pigeon, etc., to visit.
Photography by Guo Geng
Source Beijing Daily Client | Reporter Chen Qiang, Correspondent Guo Geng
Editor: Cai Wenqing
Process editing: Wang Mengying
