Known as the "bird of legend," the Chinese crested tern is one of the world's most critically endangered tern species.

Over the last decade, the number of adult Chinese crested terns sighted in eastern Zhejiang has increased from fewer than 20 to nearly 150. The Chinese crested tern was first recorded in Indonesia in 1861, but it appeared to vanish after the 1940s. Ornithologists once assumed that this species had become extinct.

More than 60 years later, this seabird was rediscovered on offshore islands along the coasts of Fujian and Zhejiang provinces in east China.

Since 2013, ornithologists have worked tirelessly to assist the species in establishing families and breeding on small islands throughout the provinces.