Oriental white storks at Xingkai Lake National Nature Reserve in northeastern China's Heilongjiang Province have been tagged and banded with GPS tracking technology.

Workers at the reserve, along with researchers and staff members from the National Bird Banding Center took part in the activity earlier this week, timed to coincide with the birds' breeding season.

"We came to the Xingkai Lake this time to tag oriental white storks and use the GPS to track their migration data," said Chen Lixia, an assistant research fellow at the center. 

The experts also measured the body length, wing span, beak size and various dimensions of the 21 oriental white storks breeding at the reserve.

The Xingkai Lake National Nature Reserve is one of the most important breeding places for the bird in China. This spring, the nature reserve welcomed 40 pairs of oriental white storks. After May, each pair of oriental white storks would normally see three to four eggs hatching.

According to estimates, more than 130 oriental white storks are expected to be born in the park this year.

(Cover image via VCG)

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