A species under first-class state protection, brown eared-pheasants were only found decades ago in a small region that straddles Beijing and the north China provinces of Hebei, Shanxi and Shaanxi. 

In 1987, only a few hundred remained in the wild due to hunting and habitat loss. More recently however, the population of brown eared-pheasants in China has seen stable growth, thanks to the protection measures taken by forest rangers over the past few decades.

Jiao Jianfeng is one of them. 

In the spring, a female brown eared-pheasant appeared in the forest on Taiyue Mountain in Qinyuan County, Shanxi Province – an important habitat for the birds. 

It lay in its newly-made nest for a long time. Worried about its wellbeing, Jiao kept an eye on it.

"The brown eared-pheasant was lying in the nest, so I thought it was sick. After a while, it stood up and walked away, then I saw there were two eggs in the nest. That's the day that the brown eared-pheasant started to lay eggs," said Jiao.

Many animals in the forest however coveted the eggs, and the poorly concealed nest was not able to protect them.

"Wild cats, Eurasian badgers and wild boars might come to eat the eggs," said Jiao.

He built a fence to protect the nest and prevent other animals from devouring the eggs when the mother was out foraging for food. Eventually, the brown eared-pheasant laid 12 eggs in six days. Of those, 10 successfully hatched.

(Cover image by CFP)

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