At about 10:00 a.m. on the 11th, photography enthusiasts Wu Xiaodong and Jiang Xianmei and their husband and wife practiced their photographic skills in Longhu Park along the beach in Zigong City, and successively photographed wild animals such as black water chickens, small eels (pì tī), and small egrets. Among them, the two accidentally took a photo of a small water bird foraging in the center of the lake. It was later confirmed that the water bird' scientific name was Cotton, and it was the smallest water duck in the world and was very uncommon.
According to Shen Yumo, secretary general of the Zigong Bird Watching Association, the cotton blade weighs about 190 grams and is 30 centimeters long, which is the thinnest water duck in the duck family, known as the smallest water duck in the world, mainly distributed in China, India, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, Myanmar, Thailand, Indonesia, Malaysia and northeast Australia.
Although the cotton is protected at No Risk (LC) on the IUCN Red List, it is not common in the country. The grade of cotton is rare in the Red Book of Endangered Animals in China, and it is included in the "List of Terrestrial Wild Animals Protected by the State or of Important Economic and Scientific Research Value" issued by the State Forestry Administration of China on August 1, 2000.
Shen Yumo said that with the improvement of the ecological environment, wild birds appear more and more in the urban area and the ecological parks around the urban area, but it is rare to find traces of cotton. Shen Yumo hopes that with this initiative, while the ecological environment continues to improve, the broad masses of people can actively establish the awareness of protecting the ecological environment and protecting wild birds, so that more rare birds can fly back to the urban area and live in harmony with people.
Chengdu Business Daily client reporter | Yuan Wei Photography | Wu Xiaodong
Editor| Jinglingyan