Two red-crowned cranes roost among aquatic plants in Shandong's Yellow River Delta National Nature Reserve on May 13. Photo by Xinhua News Agency reporter Guo Xulei
Jinan, 16 Dec (Xinhua) -- Since the beginning of winter, the scenery of the Yellow River Delta Nature Reserve in Shandong is more like the exquisite picture of the scenery film -- between the ripples of the water, the reeds on the shoals are like snow, flocks of migratory birds or strolling comfortably, or spreading their wings and soaring, and the beautiful chirping sounds rise and fall one after another.
In accordance with the strict protection system, journalists go through the application process and visit the protected area under the guidance of scientific researchers. The red-crowned crane walks gracefully, the white crane, warty-nosed swan and the white spoonbill are circling at a low altitude, and the oriental white stork has a solitary personality, except for going out to forage, most of the time a male and female quietly stay in the nest...
Liu Jing, head of the Yellow River Delta Ecological Monitoring Center, told reporters that the number of birds in the reserve has increased from 187 species when the area was established to 371 species now, of which 25 species of birds are protected at the national level and 65 species are protected at the second level. The number of 38 species of birds exceeds 1% of the global total. Millions of birds migrate through here every year, some of them even overwintering and breeding here.
In the Yellow River Delta National Nature Reserve in Shandong, the nest of the Oriental White Stork with a diameter of several meters on a telephone pole. Photo by Xinhua News Agency reporter Guo Xulei
The Yellow River is the second largest river in China, flowing into the Bohai Sea in Dongying City, Shandong Province, forming the Yellow River Delta with a warm temperate wetland ecosystem, and was listed in the List of Wetlands of International Importance by the International Convention on Wetlands in 2013. With a total area of 153,000 hectares, this protected area on the shores of the Bohai Sea has played an important role in protecting nascent wetland ecosystems and rare and endangered birds since its establishment in 1992.
"When it was cold, the birds migrating on a large scale flew south from here. So, this place has the reputation of 'bird international airport', but this 'airport' is busier. Zhao Yajie, a researcher at the reserve, said that among the nine bird migration routes in the world, the two routes of East Asia-Australasia and the Western Pacific Rim pass through the Yellow River Delta.
In the view of researchers, the national first-class protected bird Oriental White Stork is a witness to the continuous improvement of the ecological environment, this internationally endangered bird first only passed through the Yellow River Delta in the middle of migration, began to nest here in 2003, and bred 2 nests and 7 young birds for the first time in the wild in 2005. Observations have shown that this year, the Oriental White Stork breeds 120 nests and 324 chicks, with a total of 2278 breeding. "According to the information we have, this is undoubtedly the largest breeding ground for the Eastern White Stork in the world." Zhao Yajie said.
Researchers in the reserve believe that adhering to the concept of giving priority to conservation and natural restoration is not impossible to take the initiative. For example, the Oriental White Stork likes to nest in tall trees to lay eggs and hatch chicks, while the Yellow River Delta does not have this type of tree, and after careful research, the reserve has built 115 artificial nests for the Eastern White Stork, which has proved effective. The reporter saw that on the high cement pole, the bird's nest with a diameter of more than 2 meters was quite eye-catching.
Due to the harsh requirements on breeding grounds, black-billed gulls are often regarded as indicator species of changes in the ecological environment of wetlands. This rare bird is listed in the Red Book of Endangered Animals of China and the Red List of Endangered Species of the International Union for Conservation of Nature, and is a nationally protected bird in China. In 1992, two breeding grounds for black-billed gulls were first discovered in the Yellow River Delta Nature Reserve, and since then its population has expanded, with surveys in the spring of 2021 showing that the breeding population exceeded 10,000 for the first time.
The Yellow River Delta Nature Reserve is also the largest natural vegetation area for nascent wetlands along the coast of China. Monitoring shows that the number of wild animals and plants in the area has reached 1630 species and 685 species respectively. Xu Mingde, director of the management committee of the reserve, said that they insist on using ecological methods to manage ecology, yilin is forest, wet is wet, and the wetland area of the reserve has increased by 12.3% and 188 square kilometers since 2017.
According to reports, Dongying City has cooperated with more than 30 state-level scientific research institutions such as the Chinese Academy of Sciences to set up 8 field monitoring and scientific research teaching platforms, established the Yellow River Delta Ecological Monitoring Center, and is committed to scientific and technological research such as wetland restoration mode and treatment of alien and harmful species, forming more than 20 important scientific research achievements.
At the same time, since 2002, the local government has taken advantage of the favorable opportunity of water diversion and sand diversion of the Yellow River to replenish water, and has successively implemented the habitat protection project of key species such as the Eastern White Stork and the Black-billed Gull, and the species and number of birds have increased significantly.
Aerial footage taken from the Yellow River Delta National Nature Reserve in Shandong Province on October 27. Photo by Xinhua News Agency reporter Guo Xulei
"Water is the life of the wetland, there are water and fish, there are fish and birds." Wang Tianpeng, director of the 1,020 Management Station of the Reserve, said that water replenishment for many years has effectively curbed the degradation of wetlands, the ecology has been restored, the biodiversity of wetlands has grown steadily, and more and more birds have been attracted to inhabit and breed here.
Adhering to the concept of respecting nature, conforming to nature and protecting nature, China has continuously strengthened the protection of wetland ecology. At present, China has 64 wetlands of international importance and 899 national wetland parks, and the wetland ecosystem continues to improve.
It is understood that the Yellow River Estuary National Park, which is integrated from 8 natural protected areas such as the Yellow River Delta Nature Reserve, has entered the stage of creation and implementation. With the goal of building China's first integrated land-sea national park, the local government is solidly promoting a series of ecological protection and restoration projects to promote a healthier ecosystem and further enhance biodiversity.