Shandong Rizhao Bird Watching Record: The World's Critically Endangered Species "Chinese Crested Tern"

On Saturday morning, we drove to Rizhao, Shandong Province, with the bird watching teacher we had agreed to make the night before, for a small group of Chinese crested terns heading north. Beijing to Rizhao more than 600 kilometers, refueling and resting twice, the whole journey of more than seven hours to reach the destination at about 2 pm on the same day. Checking in, having a bite to eat, putting down your bags, changing into your shorts, and heading to the beach. Standing on the slopes of the high coast and looking at the coast, the local fishermen did not find any trace of terns on the wooden stakes of shrimp farming, so they searched for the tidal flats along the coast. Just as I was concentrating on photographing the water birds, my companion called me "coming", and looked in the direction of my fingers, and there were indeed two terns standing on the stakes in the sea, at this time the sea had risen to a high level, and the beach was submerged and could not approach the stakes, and only a few blurry pictures could be taken in the distance. The next morning, five Chinese crested terns visited the stakes again, and we anxiously awaited the low tide. At half past nine, the shoals gradually emerged, and along the soon-to-be-exposed beach, carefully wading close to these rare seabirds. Although the quality of the light spoiler photos is not good, I still cherish this group of photos.

Chinese crested tern, also known as the black-billed crested tern. It is the rarest bird in China and is listed as a critically endangered species on the Red List of Birds in the World. The Chinese crested tern was discovered in 1861 on the Indonesian island of Halmakhra and was named in 1863 and has remained little known. In 1937, the Chinese crested tern appeared on Muguan Island in Qingdao, Shandong Province, and has since disappeared. In 2000, a photographer found 4 pairs of Chinese crested terns in the Matsu Islands, and the Chinese crested terns that had disappeared for 63 years reappeared. In August 2004, about 20 Chinese crested terns were finally found on an uninhabited island in the Lishan Islands of Ningbo. Since then, the Chinese crested tern has entered people's field of vision and is well known to more people. In the summer of 2020, ornithology experts monitored that 76 Chinese crested terns were mixed in more than 5,000 large crested terns on the Leek Shan Archipelago, and 19 chicks were successfully hatched. At present, the global population of Chinese crested terns is only more than 100, which is still very rare, but the crisis of population extinction has been eliminated. (From today's headlines)

There are other gulls and birds perched on this beach.

Black-tailed gulls

The silver gull, whose mouth is hooked by a fish hook, is in urgent need of human help.

Gull-billed noisy gulls

Silver Gull Cub (Doubtful)

Silver Gull

Black-tailed Gull and Great Sandpiper (doubtful)

Flock of silver gulls

Ordinary terns

A small bird of prey in a tree on the shore, brown-backed Burrow.

Brown-backed Burrow

In the sky, hovering white-bellied harriers. Thanks for appreciating!

White-bellied harrier