The picture shows the White Bird Lake Patrol Team Leader Rock Lizard leading the newly joined rangers to familiarize themselves with the surrounding environment. Photo by Dina
Urumqi, May 10 (China News Network) (Dina) Recently, a dead white-headed hard-tailed duck was found in the reeds of the White Bird Lake Wetland in Urumqi, Xinjiang, and the White Bird Lake Wetland Patrol Team immediately reported the case to the local forest public security, and after receiving the report, the Nanshan Forest District Police Station of the State-owned Forestry Administration in the east of Tianshan Immediately sent personnel to the scene to check and found that the dead white-headed hard-tailed duck was male, and the left skull was broken by marbles, and the time of death has exceeded 3 days.
On the 10th, the reporter came to the Urumqi White Bird Lake Wetland, and two White Bird Lake patrol members were inspecting the lake area under the scorching sun, and from time to time dissuaded citizens who tried to get close to the lake area.
A haven for rangers of the Shiratori Lake Wetland Reserve. Photo by Dina
The white-headed hard-tailed duck is a genus of hard-tailed ducks in the family Pharyaceae, a worldwide endangered species, and wetlands international organizations recently estimate that its global population is lower to 8,000.
According to the Rock Lizard, the leader of the Shiratori Lake Patrol Team, there are 153 species of birds inhabiting The Lake, the most precious of which is the white-headed hard-tailed duck, which was listed as an endangered species in the world in 2008. "In 2007, 47 white-headed hard-tailed ducks were first found in White Bird Lake, five or six were observed in White Bird Lake in 2012, six were observed in 2016, 24 were found when they flew out of the white bird lake wetland in September 2016, and 8 adult white-headed hard-tailed ducks came in 2017, 3 males and 5 females, and one male white-headed hard-tailed duck has died."
It is reported that in May, the white-headed hard-tailed duck entered the breeding and incubation stage, the female white-headed hard-tailed duck will fly away if disturbed, resulting in the inability of the young birds to hatch, the female white-headed hard-tailed ducks have to relocate the site to lay eggs and hatch, due to the delay in time, the young birds are not mature, they are likely to die in September on the way to the southwest migration of nearly 10,000 kilometers. Dissuading citizens from staying away from the lake area has become the most important task of the patrol team, and in the more than 1 hour of reporter interviews, three groups of citizens tried to enter the lake area, and finally were persuaded by the patrol team to go back.
"Hurry up! This is a protected area and cannot be entered without permission! 700 meters away from the reporter, a woman wearing a sunhat and holding a curved iron hook heard the shouts of the rangers and slowly walked toward the shore. Rock Lizard, the leader of the Shiratori Lake Patrol Team, told reporters that there are many people who come to dig wild vegetables like this, and they dig pits on the shores of the lake. There are also some people who come to steal eggs, and the "bird mothers" will not come to this area to breed when they see that the eggs are missing. In 2016, the White Bird Lake Patrol team discouraged nearly 300 people per day, and in 2017, the number was relatively reduced, with an average of nearly 30 people per day.
It is reported that at present, the White Bird Lake Patrol Team currently has a total of 45 core volunteers, and recruiting volunteers has become the most difficult problem for the White Bird Lake Patrol Team. Rock lizard told reporters that the most lacking is actually volunteers. "We hope that everyone can take a day or a few hours to participate in our patrol work, to expand our patrol team, when everyone works hard for this matter, the reward is that there are more animals in this lake area, and we hope to give Back Tor lake a quiet environment and give these wild animals a quiet home."