Blue-headed diving ducks forage in the water. Photo by Geng Yuzhuo
Jiagdaqi, May 8 (China News Network) -- The Jagdaqi Forestry Bureau of Daxinganling, Heilongjiang Province, released information on the 8th that the world's critically endangered species and national first-class protected wild animal blue-headed diving ducks were found for the first time in the forestry bureau's shiye area.
According to Geng Yuzhuo, deputy director of the monitoring section of Heilongjiang Gagdaqiganhe National Wetland Park, she recently found a group of red-headed diving ducks during daily scientific research monitoring, one of which is very special. "Its head is very large, dark blue, its eyes are white, its chest is russet, I feel very much like a blue-headed diving duck, so I took a few pictures of it."
The Forestry Bureau of Daxing'anling In Heilongjiang Province discovered the blue-headed diving duck for the first time. Photo by Geng Yuzhuo
Subsequently, Geng Yuzhuo submitted the picture to the Protected Area Management Office of Daxinganling Forestry Group Company. Mao Lanwen, deputy director of the management office, carefully identified the photos and compared them with the bird atlas to determine that the birds in the photos were the world's critically endangered species and the blue-headed diving duck, a national-level protected wild animal in China.
Geng Yuzhuo said that the blue-headed diving duck has extremely high requirements for migration and habitat environment, mainly inhabiting lakes and rivers with gentle water flow and abundant aquatic plants, and usually likes to mix with red-headed diving ducks and crested diving ducks. The blue-headed diving duck generally breeds in Russia, Heilongjiang, Jilin and Liaoning in China, and overwinters in Myanmar, Thailand, the middle and lower reaches of the Yangtze River in China, as well as coastal areas such as Fujian and Guangdong.
Blue-headed diving ducks like to mix with red-headed diving ducks and the like. Photo by Geng Yuzhuo
Due to over-hunting and habitat degradation, the population of the blue-headed diving duck has become very rare. Since 2012, the blue-headed diving duck has been designated as "critically endangered" on the IUCN Red List and listed as a nationally protected wildlife in China. (End)
Source: China News Network