In late-January, members of the Bird Watching Association of Qinghai National Park in northwest China’s Qinghai Province captured images that seemed to be of a Chinese merganser, an endangered bird species, in a national wetland park along Huangshui River in Xining, capital city of the province.
Photo shows Chinese mergansers, an endangered bird species. (Photo courtesy of Bird Watching Association of Qinghai National Park)
In mid-March, similar images were captured again in the same place, and this time experts confirmed that the bird was a Chinese merganser. This is the first time that the bird species has been discovered in Qinghai since it was recorded in the province more than 30 years ago.
Classified as “endangered” by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Red List of Threatened Species, the Chinese merganser is under first-class state protection in China.
The Chinese merganser is extremely sensitive to changes in its living environment and is therefore regarded as a barometer for the health of a region’s ecological environment. The presence of the bird in the Huangshui River basin indicates that the local ecological environment has improved.
Photo shows Chinese mergansers, an endangered bird species. (Photo courtesy of Bird Watching Association of Qinghai National Park)
In recent years, Qinghai has vigorously promoted the integrated conservation and restoration of mountain, water, forest, farmland, lake, grassland, and desert ecosystems. The province has also continued to intensify its efforts in conducting wildlife surveys and monitoring while engaging in work on biodiversity conservation and research with a focus on bird surveying and monitoring.
Photo shows Chinese mergansers, an endangered bird species. (Photo courtesy of Bird Watching Association of Qinghai National Park)
Photo shows a Chinese merganser. (Photo/Sun Nan)
原文地址：http://en.people.cn/n3/2022/0323/c90000-9974929.html