"Look over there, the one with black feathers at the wings is oriental white stork, the class one national protected animal, more than 3,700 of them have been observed in our wetland reserve recently!" Zeng Qingfa, a staff of Jiangxi Poyang Lake Nanji Wetland National Nature Reserve, said excitedly.

On Dec. 1, Zeng found more and more birds gathered in the lake area. However, three months ago, he was worried about the wintering situation of migratory birds this year.

Since July, the water level of Poyang Lake is rapidly decreasing and a large area of continental beach is exposed. As the largest freshwater lake and international wetland in China, how can Poyang Lake, which carries hundreds of thousands of migratory birds overwintering every year, continue to provide a shelter for visitors from far away?

"To create a suitable habitat for migratory birds, this year we save lake water in sub-lakes in advance during the season when water is relatively abundant," said Hu Binhua, director of Jiangxi Poyang Lake Nanji Wetland National Nature Reserve Administration.

The permeability and connectivity of water has eased the dry and cracked condition of wetlands in the surrounding area, creating a suitable space for many kinds of wintering migratory birds to roost and feed.

The latest bird survey data of Poyang Lake Nanji Wetland National Nature Reserve Administration shows that the staff recorded 53 species of birds with 492,591 plumes in the reserve in November, among which wintering birds accounted for 71 percent, an obvious increase compared with October, representing that wintering migratory birds have arrived in the reserve one after another and tended to stabilize.

In November, Jiangxi Province has received several precipitation, influenced by the rainfall and upstream water, therefore, Poyang Lake in early December is getting full.

Every winter, the interesting landscape in Poyang Lake is unforgettable. Besides, the staff of Duchang Conservation and Monitoring Station of Poyang Lake National Nature Reserve have found the barnacle goose again after they were not seen for three years, and the staff of Poyang Lake Wetland Ecological Protection Center in Yuqan County have monitored wintering black storks for the third time after 2016 and 2021.

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