Road building project suspended to protect nesting birds

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01:04

Construction work on a highway project in northwest China's Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region has been suspended as a flock of rosy starlings have recently begun breeding on the gravel at the construction site.

A group of photos showing rosy starlings breeding were posted on China’s Twitter-like Weibo on June 25 by Guard the Wilds, a Chinese environmental protection group.

The group called the Xinjiang Petroleum Construction Company to halt the project until the baby birds finished hatching, which is expected to take no more than a month.

CGTN Photo

The State Forestry and Grassland Administration stepped in immediately after the post and the project was paused the next day.

Rosy starling is a strong migrant bird. The birds breed in tight colonies in a very short breeding season timed to take advantage of peak abundance of grasshoppers during May to June.

They are also greatly beneficial to farmers as they prey on pests such as locusts and grasshoppers, thereby limiting their numbers.

VCG Photo

Xinjiang is the only place in China where rosy starlings reproduce. For now, plastic netting has been set up around the breeding area to protect the birds.

Xinjiang Petroleum Construction Company will postpone its 480 million highway project to a month later until these rosy starling left, but the delay may cause a loss of about one million yuan.