Tianshan network reporter Zhang Ting
In winter, the sky of Ulungu Lake is high and cloudy, and in the wetland park under the cover of snow, there are birds resting in the treetops from time to time, attracting photography enthusiasts to stop and take pictures.
"Two months ago, the last white-headed hard-tailed ducks migrated away, and we have observed the white-headed hard-tailed ducks and their young birds here for many years, indicating that they have made their home here. Last spring, more than 160 were observed. On December 12, Xinjiang bird watching enthusiast Gou Jun said.
Explore your footprints
Looking back on the process of bird watching for many years, Gou Jun found that in the past, bird watching was the pursuit of the accumulation of bird species, the rarer the better, and with the passage of time, it became more and more difficult to play. Can you concentrate the strength of many bird watching enthusiasts to make some contributions to the protection of birds in Xinjiang while looking after the birds around them?
After having preliminary ideas, these bird watching enthusiasts decided to find out the types and numbers of birds around them, and put them together to form a "map" of the status of birds in Xinjiang, providing guidance information for the development and popularization of bird watching activities, and providing bird support data for the government's ecological decision-making.
The white-headed hard-tailed duck was included in the observation.
On April 3, 2020, Gou Jun and more than a dozen Xinjiang bird watchers joined the patrol team of Wulunguhu National Wetland Park to carry out the first bird survey of this year's "Ren Bird Flying" project in the wetland, and the focus of the survey was the white-headed hard-tailed duck.
At this time, when the migratory birds of Ulungu Lake returned, a large number of various water birds had migrated on the surface of the small lakes on both sides of the lakeside avenue to feed, and various gulls flew in the air, and the scene was very noisy and busy. The investigators were observing the birds recording the surface of the water through telescopes at the water's edge, when suddenly, there was a whistle from the air caused by the flight of birds in groups, and a large group of wild ducks landed from the sky into everyone's field of vision, and the sky was suddenly quiet.
Through the telescope, Gou Jun saw a dense blue beak, which is the most typical feature of the white-headed hard-tailed duck male, which is named after the white head and often cocked tail. After repeated counting and checking, there were 114 of them!
"This is the largest population recorded for the white-headed hard-tailed duck currently observed in China!" We were lucky enough to witness the spectacular scene of the bald-headed hard-tailed duck returning from the wintering grounds of West Asia to Lake Ulungu. According to Gou Jun, the white-headed hard-tailed duck belongs to the bird family Of the goose-shaped duck, which is rated as an internationally endangered species by the International Union for Conservation of Nature, with a global population of about 7,000 to 13,100, mainly distributed in Spain, Russia, Turkey, Iran, Mongolia and other countries, and has only bred in Xinjiang in China, with only a few dozen in the past, and has been upgraded to a national key protected wild animal in 2021.
White-headed hard-tailed ducks frolick in the water. Photo by Deng Yunjun
As early as June 2007, bird watcher Zhang Yaodong first observed three white-headed hard-tailed ducks at the Jiujiawan Reservoir in Urumqi, and bird lovers subsequently found a small population in the wetlands of Xishan Baihu (now known as Bai bird lake) and the suburban wetlands of Kuitun. This is the first time that a breeding population has been found in China.
In the following ten years, in order to find out the population of white-headed hard-tailed ducks in Xinjiang, bird enthusiasts such as Gou Jun and Ma Ming, an expert in birds at the Xinjiang Institute of Ecology and Geography of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, traveled all over the north and south of the Tianshan Mountains to do survey work, and finally basically found out their distribution in Xinjiang. The white-headed hard-tailed duck breeds only in the wetlands of Urumqi and the suburbs of Kuitun and a few sites in Altay, and there are sporadic records of migration periods and winters in wetlands in northern and southern Xinjiang.
In the survey, they found that the white-headed hard-tailed duck has strict requirements for the environment in which it lives, prefers to choose small disturbances, and grows dense reeds in lakes and wetlands to thrive, and maintains a healthy breeding population in the altay region with a good ecological environment over the years.
"The most important job in protecting the white-headed hard-tailed duck is to protect their habitat." Gou Jun said that now, with the national to local government functional departments on ecological protection is getting stronger and stronger, the awareness of environmental protection of the broad masses of the people of all ethnic groups is getting stronger and stronger, and more and more protection actions are carried out by social forces such as bird lovers.
Stay together
Ayimratti Dawuletibek, 36, is a ranger at the Ulungu Lake National Wetland Park. In the past 6 years of work, he has traveled to almost all corners of the wetland park. From not being able to distinguish the difference between geese and wild ducks, to knowing the individual characteristics, living habits and habitats of various birds, he has become a well-known "bird expert" in wetlands. Today, he can call out the names of more than 130 birds just by looking at the color of the birds' coats; he can identify more than 50 species of birds just by listening to the birds.
Speaking of the story with the white-headed hard-tailed duck, Ayimratti excitedly opened the conversation box.
"In early April 2019, during the patrol, I found a bird with a bright blue beak shell in the reeds of shallow waters, which was very unique. I immediately picked up my phone and the bird atlas to check the information, and learned that this was the prototype of the 'Donald Duck', the white-headed hard-tailed duck, and it was an endangered animal, and I watched their every move every day since that day. Ayimratti said.
One morning in June 2019, Ayimratti was patrolling the wetlands when a "croak" call caught his eye – pulling open the reeds around him, he found two white-headed hard-tailed ducks with four baby chicks. Speaking of this discovery 3 years ago, Ayimratti's eyes shone with soft light: "I am particularly excited that the world's endangered species have actually bred here." ”
Fast forward half a year, the chicks grew up, and Ayimratti watched them follow their "mother" to forage, learn to swim, and learn to take off, and this observation process continued until the end of September. "With reluctance at the time, I waved goodbye to them."
Since then, Ayimratti and the white-headed hard-tailed duck have formed a special friendship, and every spring, he will wait for these "friends" in the wetland park, and in the autumn, watch them leave.
"In fact, animals are as spiritual as people, and by spending time with these white-headed hard-tailed ducks, I find that as long as they are at a safe distance, they will swim around in front of our eyes, and at this time, I will be their cameraman, and they will also pose in various shapes to match me." 」 Ayimratti said with a smile.
In recent years, Ulungu Lake National Wetland Park has taken a variety of measures to protect birds. The Park Authority has set up a patrol team of 18 stewards and built eight stewardship stations to better protect the bird park.
"Through annual monitoring and protection, we find that the ecological environment of Ulungu Lake is getting better and better, the water is getting clearer, the species and number of migratory birds are increasing, and I am proud to be a steward, and I have not wasted everything I have done with them." In the future, I will continue to improve my knowledge of birds and contribute to the protection of birds. Ayimratti said.
The Road to Protection
"Love birds, so shoot birds, and shoot birds to protect birds." During the interview, this was the sentence that Deng Yunjun said the most.
Deng Yunjun is a photography enthusiast in the Altay region, and in his home, there are various bird photos.
"You see, this is what I photographed in Lake Ulungu." Only to see in the photo, a pair of white-headed hard-tailed ducks with their cubs foraging in the lake water, walking around, very leisurely. "The successful breeding of the globally endangered species of white-headed hard-tailed duck in the wetlands of Lake Ulungu is a big event and a happy event!" Deng Yunjun said happily.
The process of taking this picture is very difficult. Deng Yunjun said that the white-headed hard-tailed duck is very alert, and shooting it is a challenge. It is common to stand in the sun, in the grass, in a pond or lie down for hours. "Sometimes it's 10 hours, and in the summer, I get bitten by mosquitoes all over my body..." Speaking of the experience of shooting, Deng Yunjun gushed endlessly.
Through consulting various materials, Deng Yunjun learned about the life habits and migration time of the white-headed hard-tailed duck. What excites him is that in the nearly half a year of squatting in the wild, he has photographed the vivid picture of white-headed hard-tailed ducks breeding in the wetlands, foraging, teaching chicks to swim and play.
"This is a picture of a mother white-headed hard-tailed duck with five chicks foraging for food." In the picture, only five "little babies" are imitating their mothers, sometimes foraging and playing in the water, sometimes burrowing into their mother's wings, revealing a round and slippery little head, and a young bird is very naughty, and climbs on the mother's back, and has not come down.
The mother white-headed hard-tailed duck forages with five chicks. Photo by Deng Yunjun
After two consecutive days of observation, Deng Yunjun found that the female white-headed hard-tailed duck "protects the cubs" very strongly, and once it finds other wild ducks or bone-top chickens close to the young birds, the mother duck will immediately swim to each other and pose as ready to start a war.
"Although the shooting process was arduous, I think it is more meaningful to show these pictures and call on more people to join the ranks of protection." Over the years, Deng Yunjun has exhibited his photographs in the bird corridor of Ulungu Lake National Wetland Park as a popular science, and the pictures are vividly interpreting the "ecological changes" here.
Deng Yunjun said that whenever he saw these beautiful elves soaring in the air, swimming in the water, and watching them get good protection in Xinjiang, he would feel very relieved. He hopes that through these exquisite bird photos, more people will like and understand birds, so as to protect birds and their living environment.
The reporter's codex丨 take action to protect biodiversity
Zhang Ting
This year, the news of rare birds entering Ulungu Lake is frequent, in addition to the population of national key protected birds such as giant swans, white-tailed sea eagles, and curly-winged pelicans, the population has steadily increased; rare and endangered birds such as flamingos and red-necked webbed sandpipers have also been found in the wetlands. This fully demonstrates the beauty of ecology and nature, and also shows the effectiveness of biodiversity conservation in our region.
Xinjiang's vast territory, complex and diverse landscapes and climates, have bred rich and unique ecosystems, species and genetic diversity.
In recent years, Xinjiang has firmly established the concept of "green water and green mountains are golden mountains and silver mountains", and has continuously increased the construction of ecological civilization and environmental protection.
Take Fuhai County, for example. The reporter learned that in recent years, Fuhai County has actively explored the path and mechanism for the effective protection of biodiversity, increased the integrated management of grass and sand in landscapes, forests, lakes, and lakes, increased ecological protection and restoration, implemented a reward and punishment mechanism for wildlife protection, strictly implemented the management system of the perennial fishing ban area in the water area and the fishing ban period in natural waters, and built a wetland management station and a bird rescue and breeding station, and the number of wetland fish and birds continued to increase. Not long ago, the Ulungu Lake National Wetland Park built a "hotel" for insects and a "villa" for birds.
With the continuous improvement of the ecological environment, at present, there are 101 species of animals and 23 species of fish in the area of Lake Ulungu, and the number of birds monitored in 2017 has increased from 67 to 271 at present.
Not only in Fuhai County, the Iwu-Bali kun section of the G7 Jingxin Expressway has built a passage for herders to transfer and wildlife migration; in the operation of section 185 of National Highway 218 in Nilke County, in order to protect the pink starlings in the "neonatal stage" in the stone pile, the construction unit decided to temporarily suspend work for a few days, and then continue construction after the young birds fly away with their mothers... It can be seen in each detail that people's awareness and ability to protect ecological protection are increasing.
Building a beautiful home in harmony with all things is inseparable from the formation of a joint force by many parties. During the interview, the reporter learned that the functional departments of governments at all levels are becoming more and more vigorous in ecological protection, the awareness of environmental protection of the broad masses of people of all ethnic groups is getting stronger and stronger, and more and more protection actions are carried out by social forces such as bird lovers.
To protect biodiversity is to protect the diversity of a better life for mankind, and everyone has the responsibility and responsibility of everyone. Let us respect nature, conform to nature, respect life, actively take action, participate in biodiversity conservation, and strive to make Xinjiang's sky bluer, the mountains greener, the water cleaner, and the environment more beautiful.