Critically-endangered birds show up in S China
By CGTN's He Weiwei
["china"]
00:45
A Chinese photographer accidentally got a chance to snap a photo of some birds with spoon-shaped bills in Yangxi County, south China's Guangdong Province.
The bird is called spoon-billed sandpiper. It's listed as a Critically-endangered Species by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN), a category closely following “Extinct in Wild,” warning an extremely high risk of extinction of the species. The bird has an estimated population of less than 500 in wild, even fewer than the giant panda.
Even an adult Spoon-billed Sandpiper is only 15 cm in length, smaller than a man's palm. /CGTN Photo

Even an adult Spoon-billed Sandpiper is only 15 cm in length, smaller than a man's palm. /CGTN Photo

A sign of Guangdong's improved environment

Guangdong is the No.1 province in China in terms of nature reserves, which account for 16.39% of the province's area. The abundance of wetland, forestry and coastline makes Guangdong an attractive transit point for thousands of migratory birds every year.
Zou Fasheng, associate director of Guangdong Institute of Applied Biological Resources, believes the appearance of the spoon-billed sandpiper is a sign of Guangdong's improved environment. “If the species can be carefully protected, its habitat is well preserved, the species can be restored in the end despite its small population at the moment."
A spoon-billed sandpiper. /CGTN Photo

A spoon-billed sandpiper. /CGTN Photo

Guangdong Province is making big efforts in anti-poaching as well. In 2018, the local government removed 35,263 meters of illegal net, and freed over 30,000 birds from the dirty hands of poachers.
(Lai Shiwen also contributed to the story.)
(Cover photo via VCG.)
(If you want to contribute and have specific expertise, please contact us at nature@cgtn.com.)