This aerial image handled Dec. 25, 2021 programs birds flying at the Yellow River Delta National Nature Reserve in east China’s Shandong Province. (Image by Yang Bin/Xinhua)
JINAN, Dec. 22 (Xinhua)– The Yellow River Delta National Nature Reserve has actually invested years enhancing its wetland environment, supplying much better shelter for its initial bird occupants while drawing in brand-new types.
When the nature reserve, situated at the Yellow River’s estuary in east China’s Shandong Province, was very first developed in 1992, it signed up just 187 types of birds, according to Shan Kai, senior engineer with the reserve.
Today, the number swells to 372 bird types, consisting of asian white storks and Saunders’s gulls, both of which are under first-rate nationwide security in China.
In the early 1990s, the overall variety of Saunders’s gulls found around the world simply exceeded 2,000. “Today, they have actually ended up being regulars at the reserve,” stated Xin Hongquan at Yiqian’ er Station, among the reserve’s management stations.
” This year, almost 10,000 Saunders’s gulls have actually been found throughout and around the nature reserve. In the location of Yiqian’ er alone, 3,522 nests of the types have actually been spotted,” stated Xin, vice-head of the station.
For experienced staff like Xin, who has actually operated at the station for 28 years, modifications in the reserve have actually been remarkable.
In 1997, he remembered, a storm rise swept Yiqian’ er, leaving the location treeless and birds there shelterless.
” The storm rise led to soil salinization and after that greenery destruction,” Shan stated.
The reserve has actually consequently released water replenishment jobs, penetrating groundwater into wetlands. Plants has actually slowly recuperated, and biodiversity increased, Shan included.
This aerial image handled Oct. 18, 2022 programs surroundings at the Yellow River Delta National Nature Reserve in Dongying, east China’s Shandong Province. (Xinhua/Guo Xulei)
Over the last few years, the reserve has actually invested 1.37 billion yuan (about 196.52 million U.S. dollars) in 17 wetland repair jobs to safeguard the environments of essential types, save native plants, bring back marine communities, and enhance biodiversity.
Because 2019, it has actually renewed 533 million cubic meters of water and brought back 188 square km of wetland and 52,000 mu (3,466.67 hectares) of Suaeda salsa and sea-grass beds.
The reserve has actually likewise constructed fish environments and synthetic islands for birds to satisfy their foraging and reproducing requirements. For asian white storks, in specific, it has actually installed 115 synthetic nests and monitoring video cameras at 50 places.
Now the reserve has actually handled a makeover, verdant with shrubs, reeds, and Chinese tamarisk.
Every year, countless birds flock to the reserve for wintering and breeding. The reserve has actually likewise seen migratory birds pick to remain and end up being “resident birds.”
This image handled Might 13, 2021 programs asian white storks at the Yellow River Delta National Nature Reserve in east China’s Shandong Province. (Xinhua/Guo Xulei)
This year, 470 asian white storks were born at the reserve. More than 330 red-crowned cranes were found, compared to less than 100 seen in previous years. The variety of Baikal teals found rose to 45,000 this year from around 22,000 the year prior to, according to the reserve.
Likewise, in 2022, the Chinese nuthatch was found in the reserve for the extremely very first time.
To much better safeguard its occupants and track their activity, the reserve has actually been updating its tracking toolkit.
” We have actually stepped up clever tracking, established the Yellow River Delta environmental tracking center, benefited from huge information, remote picking up, and other innovations, and established a thorough tracking and management system,” stated Liu Jing, director of the tracking center, which was developed by the reserve in 2021.
In 2022, the reserve has actually performed a year-long bird study in the wetlands at the Yellow River’s estuary, gathering information for functions of clinical research study, tracking, and security, according to Liu. ■
