Each year, just before summer arrives, an airy creature lauded as "the prettiest bird of China" duly returns to Nanling. The blue-throated bee-eaters come all the way to fulfill the mission of procreation.

About 'Journeys in Nature': Southern Lingnan series

Nanling Mountains stand in China's southern region. It divides the Yangtze River valley from the basin of the Pearl River. After eons of changes and upheavals, Nanling embraces myriad mid-subtropical life-forms as their habitat and refuge.

(Cover image via VCG)

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