Nearly 100 yellow-breasted buntings, a nationally protected rare species in China, were recently spotted foraging in a wetland in Chengmai County, south China's tropical island province of Hainan.
Feeding among reeds and nearby shrubs, the birds moved in flocks, pecking at seeds and perching in the morning sun. Their return in such numbers highlights improving wetland habitats due to China's ongoing efforts in biodiversity conservation.
The yellow-breasted bunting gets its name from the bright yellow feathers on its chest. Its diet changes with the seasons. In spring and summer, it mainly feeds on insects and their larvae, while in autumn and winter it feeds on plant-based foods such as grass seeds.
Since 2017, the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) has upgraded the Yellow-breasted Bunting's status from "endangered" to "critically endangered." In 2021, China put the bird on the list of Class I national protection.
Nearly 100 rare yellow-breasted buntings spotted foraging in south China's Hainan
China's Shenzhou-23 crewed spaceship blasted off from the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center in the country's northwest on Sunday, sending three astronauts to its orbiting space station.
The spaceship, atop a Long March-2F carrier rocket, lifted off from the launch site at 23:08 Beijing Time (15:08 GMT).
The crew members consist of mission commander Zhu Yangzhu, and fellow astronauts Zhang Zhiyuan and Lai Ka-ying, who is also the first astronaut from China's Hong Kong Special Administrative Region.
In another notable first, one of the crew members is set to undertake a year-long stay aboard the space station, double the usual duration of previous Shenzhou missions.
After entering orbit, the Shenzhou-23 spaceship will perform a fast automated rendezvous and docking with the radial port of the space station core module Tianhe, forming a combination of three modules and three spacecraft.
Shenzhou-23 marks the 40th flight of China's manned spaceflight program and the seventh manned flight mission since the Tiangong space station entered its application and development phase in late 2022.
China launches Shenzhou-23 manned spaceship
