A number of Siberian cranes were spotted at Poyang Lake in east China's Jiangxi Province Tuesday morning, which shows that the migratory birds have started this year's wintering in China's largest freshwater lake.

At 9:00 a.m., 14 Siberian cranes, including two fledglings, were observed at the lake. Another 79 Siberian cranes, including 19 fledglings, were spotted at 9:52, according to staff with the administration bureau of the Poyang Nature Reserve.

Statistics show that the Siberian cranes arrived at Poyang Lake two days earlier than last year.

Poyang Lake is an important wintering area for waterbirds in Asia. Each year, hundreds of thousands of birds from Russia, Mongolia, Japan and the Democratic People's Republic of Korea, as well as China's northwest and northeast quarters, winter at the lake.

About 98 percent of the world's Siberian crane population spends winter at the lake.

(Cover image via VCG.)

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