The Napa Lake Nature Reserve in southwest China's Yunnan Province is seeing a record number of black-necked cranes, China's first-class protected species, leaving and flying back to their breeding grounds in northwest China's Qinghai Province.
Currently, fewer than 100 black-necked cranes remain in the reserve. The number peaked at 573 during the winter season, indicating that more than 80 percent have started their northward migration, according to the statistics from the reserve.
Black-necked cranes typically travel north together in spring and summer. However, as the ecological environment improves in Yunnan, the birds have been observed in the reserve all year round for three straight years.
"We started monitoring in 2023 and found that black-necked cranes stay at Napa Lake throughout the year. This shows that local environment is now a good habitat for the birds. If the trend continues, it's also possible that one day we will be able to see black-necked cranes breeding at Napa Lake," said Zhao Xuyan, an engineer with the Napa Lake Nature Reserve.
Record number of black-necked cranes leaving Yunnan for breeding in north
