Honghe National Nature Reserve in northeast China's Heilongjiang Province has built 100 new artificial nests for oriental white storks, an endangered bird species.

The oriental white stork, a migratory bird species under first-class state protection, has been listed as "endangered" by the International Union for Conservation of Nature.

At the beginning of this year, the reserve added 100 artificial iron bird nests instead of the wooden ones installed previously, as the iron nests are believed to be more secure and resistant to decay, thereby having a longer service life and ability to attract wildlife more efficiently.

The reserve will gradually replace the artificial wooden bird nests with the iron ones, said Zhu Baoguang with the reserve's administration bureau.

With a total area of 21,835 hectares, the reserve is dubbed as "China's home to oriental white storks," and it is also a major breeding habitat for many rare migratory birds.

To restore the population of the endangered stork, the nature reserve has so far built 389 artificial nests since 1993. By the end of 2021, it had successfully helped the wild species breed 1,748 oriental white stork fledglings.

(Cover image via CFP)

(If you want to contribute and have specific expertise, please contact us at nature@cgtn.com.)