△ Yellow-billed River Tern Image source Yingjiang Rong Media
Recently, the reporter photographed 3 Yellow-billed River terns in the Dayingjiang River Basin of Yingjiang County, Yunnan Province, which sometimes combed their feathers in the shoals, sometimes fished and frolicked in the river, and sometimes flew in the air to patrol. The movements are agile and the calls are crisp.
The Huangzui river tern is a national second-level key protected animal, and in recent years, this species has only been recorded in China in the Dayingjiang River Basin of Yingjiang County, Dehong Prefecture, Yunnan Province. From the end of each year to the beginning of the following year, the Huangzui river terns will gradually migrate to the Daying River Basin, breeding from April to May, and migrating from the Daying River Basin around July.
At present, the domestic yellow-billed river tern population is in jeopardy. After years of continuous monitoring, 7 Huangzuhe terns were recorded in the Dayingjiang River Basin in 2017, only 5 were observed in 2018, the population of Huangzuihe terns rose to 13 in 2019, and in May 2020, 5 Huangzuihe terns successfully hatched 6 young birds in the Dayingjiang River Basin, and the population reached 11. This is also the number of wild Yellow-billed River Terns that can be observed and recorded in China. According to reports, the sparse population, the unknown destination at the end of the breeding period, and the unstable number of returns are the biggest bottlenecks in the recovery of the population of the Yellow-billed River Tern. At present, the local monitoring and protection has been strengthened to escort the wintering breeding of the Yellow Zui River terns in the Daying River Basin. (CCTV reporter Li Changming Yingjiang Rong Media Yin Yihu)
(Edited by Cui Zhilin)