The first batch of whooper swans has arrived earlier at Sanggan River basin in Shuozhou City, north China's Shanxi Province for a stopover during their journey to the south. According to the local forestry bureau, the whooper swans arrived earlier this year and in a larger number.  

"The whooper swans arrived about 15 days earlier than last year. And the flock is also larger to reach some 40 birds, while last year only a dozen swans arrived in the first group," said Jia Jianjun, the director of the Wildlife Conservation Station at Shuocheng District Forestry Bureau, Shuozhou City. 

The whooper swan is enlisted as a class II protected species in China. In the Sanggan River Wetland Park, many whooper swans were swimming and eating after a long-haul flying, which was unimaginable a few years ago.

In Chinese, “Sang” in “Sanggan” refers to the mulberry and “gan” means dry. It is said that “Sanggan River” gets the name because the river starts to dry as the mulberry gets mature. Back then, Sanggan River almost ran dry due to ecological deterioration, which endangered the whole wetland ecosystem.  

The local government launched an ecological restoration project in 2011, and after years of great efforts, the ecology of the area has been mostly restored, and it has become a good stopover for migratory birds.  

Now about 1,000 whooper swans come to a stop here on their way south annually. The wetland is also home to other species of birds including geese, mallard ducks and black stork geese.